City inspectors have not yet determined a cause for a bizarre incident last month when 47 grackles, a type of bird common to the area, fell to the ground on Bakersfield Street in Uphams Corner.

On Sept. 8, the Animal Care and Control division of the city’s Inspectional Services Department responded to a call from the Animal Rescue League of Boston reporting the incident. According to ISD, this was an isolated incident and no other cases of birds falling out of trees were reported anywhere in the area.

ISD has found no trace of a toxin in the birds and no evidence of possible trauma. Forty-one of the grackles died, and the other six were taken to Tufts for treatment, the director of Animal Care and Control.

The birds were tested for the avian influenza virus, or West Nile virus, and all the tests came back as negative, Kennedy said. The department also has ruled out septic processes, according to a Sept. 14 update released by the department.

“Sometimes no news is good news,” said Kennedy, who added that there are still a few tests pending, including one for viral isolation. Kennedy promised to update the community as soon as her division receives the results of the tests. “It may have just been an anomaly,” she said.

Two Uphams Corner neighborhood cats were reported dead from contracting panleukopenia – a disease only contagious to cats – around the same time of the grackle incident.

Kennedy said that it is possible that the death of the cats was independent of the grackles case. She said that her department believes that the problem is contained and there have been no new instances of panleukopenia reported in the area, but she strongly encouraged cat owners to vaccinate their cats and keep domesticated ones inside.

Mattapan outbreak impacting cats prompts some concern
An outbreak of panleukopenia in Mattapan prompted fast action last week. “The Animal Rescue League of Boston became aware of this outbreak after responding to reports of sick cats in the area around Walk Hill Street in Mattapan,” the agency said in a statement on Oct. 19. “In conducting a full investigation of the sick animals it was determined that they had contracted this potentially fatal virus, also known as feline distemper. There is a vaccine that is “highly effective” in preventing transmission.

The League and city officials offered a free vaccine clinic in Mattapan last Saturday, in which 121 cats were vaccinated. Officials told the Reporter there is “no evidence that the disease has spread any further at this time,” adding that they will continue to monitor the area.
– BILL FORRY