Birds fall out of the sky in Western Australia

A strange silence was the first clue that something was wrong. The dawn chorus that usually woke residents of the picturesque coastal town of Esperance, in Western Australia, had stopped. Then birds began falling out of the sky. The people of Esperance were alarmed when they came across dead lorikeets, wattlebirds, honeyeaters and silvereyes in their parks and back yards. Health officials told them not to worry. But they tested their rainwater tanks, the main source of drinking water, and found dangerously high levels of lead or nickel in more than a third. Authorities still insisted there was no cause for concern. Then they tested the seabed at the Esperance port, through which nickel and lead carbonate mined inland are shipped to Asia. Some samples contained 130 times the recommended health levels of the two metals. It was also established that 4,000 birds had died of lead poisoning. There was lead in the air, lead in the drinking water, and lead in the sea. And when health officials finally admitted that there might be reason to be anxious, and began testing the population, they found lead in their blood. Out of 900 people tested, 12 - including two young children - had higher levels than those deemed acceptable by the World Health Organisation. Lead is a particular hazard for small children and pregnant women.