Flocks Of Birds Dying From West Nile In Crestmoor Neighborhood

DENVER (CBS4) - One Denver neighborhood is seeing flocks of birds die from the West Nile virus and people are worried about their pets.

The birds are dying in the Crestmoor neighborhood. CBS4 received emails from viewers who wanted to know what was going on. In the first five minutes of arriving in the neighborhood CBS4's Suzanne McCarroll saw a dead bird and several ailing crows.

Initially residents thought someone was putting out poison, but then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out and said the birds were getting sick and dying from West Nile.

"I've actually been having nightmares about crows," Julie Mackay-Percy said.

Mackay-Percy has had so many die in her yard she now recognizes the symptoms when the birds get sick.

"It takes them about 24 to 48 hours to die and the CDC scientist said they are getting weaker and weaker," she said. "It looks to me that they are becoming paralyzed."

The neighborhood association is now asking that residents not put out bird baths or bird feeders.

Veterinarians say it is highly unlikely that a pet will contract West Nile from an infected animal.