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Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Birds are getting drunk and passing out all over Yukon - Authorities had to set up a Drunk Tank to help them sober up -

Birds are getting drunk and passing out all over Yukon - Authorities had to set up a Drunk Tank to help them sober up - 

Birds are getting drunk and passing out all over Yukon

Friends, don’t drink and fly.

Birds are having a bit of trouble holding their liquor in the Yukon. As the cold weather approaches, Bohemian waxwings are busy stuffing their faces full of mountain ash berries in preparation to wait out the frosty season. But the declining temperatures are affecting the bird’s favourite snack in a way you’d never expect.

“What happens around this time of year is that after the frost, the berries will ferment and so the birds actually can get a little intoxicated from eating these berries and they do in fact get drunk,” Meghan Larivee with the animal health unit at Environment Yukon told the CBC.

A “little intoxicated” is probably an understatement. The alcohol makes the birds’ flight patterns a little wonky, and they’ve begun crashing into windows and other objects. As a solution, Environment Yukon set up an avian drunk tank to help the birds sober up. Residents are even being encouraged to pick up any drunk or unconscious birds they find and bring them in so the animals can ride out what’s sure to be a nasty hangover.

And for any birds that require a little extra care, they’re sent to a rehab (we’re not kidding) at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.

Never. Drinking. Again.

Read more - 
http://www.theloop.ca/birds-are-getting-drunk-and-passing-out-all-over-yukon/