RSPCA Queensland is investigating the death of over a dozen rainbow lorikeets found at the Wynnum Manly Leagues Club carpark in early August. An inspector from the organization has visited and retrieved the dead birds, which will undergo a post mortem.
The incident, however, is not an isolated case as a Wynnum Manly Leagues Club spokesperson revealed that the Brisbane City Council has informed them of suspected wildlife poisonings since last year. However, the spokesperson cannot make further comments since this matter is handled by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
Nonetheless, the dead rainbow lorikeets left some of the locals who frequent the club upset as some of them are bird lovers and own this breed.
“This is not a natural occurrence, I have walked this path for over 20 years and never seen more than one dead on any rare occasion,” one of the people who found the dead rainbow lorikeets said.
Some 26 kilometres away from the Wynnum Manly Leagues Club, a dead rainbow lorikeet was also spotted at the University of Queensland. But as there are thousands of this species in the area, one bird’s death did not necessitate an investigation.
Rainbow lorikeets are native to Queensland and South Australia. A medium-sized parrot, these birds often need to be in pairs and usually fly in flocks in many parks across Brisbane.
Locals are so used to seeing them around that hand-feeding rainbow lorikeets with packets of bird food is quite a common sight in parks or sanctuaries. Since its widespread, rainbow lorikeets, with the scientific name Trichoglossus moluccanus, are classified as “least concern” under The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.