Several Canada geese found dead in Whitby Harbour this week

Several Canada geese were found dead in the Whitby Harbour on Monday and testing will be done to determine if avian flu is to blame, according to town officials.

Whitby Animal Services collected eight dead geese near the Port Whitby Marina on Monday, the Town of Whitby said in an email on Tuesday. Staff went to the scene after receiving a report of dead geese and will be monitoring for more.

"Right now, the cause of death is unknown," the town said in the email.

Terrol Maciver, an Oshawa resident, said she saw at least two dozen dead geese and several more that appeared to be suffering on Monday morning.

“It was like a gravesite ... It was heartbreaking, actually. And to watch some of them die in front of me was — I’m tearing up now because it’s awful.”

Maciver said she has never seen anything like this before. Many of the dead and dying birds had their heads in the water, she added.

“I noticed that the seagulls were acting odd out on the ice surface. They were eating something. I thought that it was fish, and when I looked closely, I noticed that they were eating geese," Maciver said.

Maciver said she called Whitby Animal Services to report the dead birds. She said she knew right away that the deaths weren't the work of coyotes. There was no trauma on the bodies, she added.

There were still some carcasses on the ice on Tuesday and the dead geese were attracting hawks, eagles and herons, Maciver said. She said her concern is that, if a disease caused the deaths, then it could spread to other birds.

Brian Stevens, a wildlife pathologist at the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Ontario/Nunavut Region, said in an email on Tuesday that the organization has received reports of more than 25 Canada geese dead on the waterfront.

Samples of the remains have been sent to the co-operative in Guelph to be tested, according to town officials. The cooperative is tasked with monitoring wildlife to determine which diseases they are suffering from and to work with governmental agencies to respond.

Stevens added in the email: "I can't say for certain what has caused this mortality event but based on the everything we know about it, we suspect it is related to an avian influenza outbreak.

Stevens said officials won’t know for sure if it’s avian flu until after they conduct autopsies on the birds, but that it's not uncommon to see an avian flu outbreak in geese in the fall and winter months.

Avian flu does affect Canada geese severely and could be passed to animals that scavenge on the dead birds, he added.