{"id":682980,"date":"2026-05-20T12:48:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/682980\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T12:48:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:48:54","slug":"scientists-investigate-mystery-illness-paralysing-and-killing-hundreds-of-magpies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/682980\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists investigate mystery illness paralysing and killing hundreds of magpies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wildlife carers are worried about a potential magpie population decline as hundreds of the birds continue to fall sick with a mystery paralysing and often fatal illness.<\/p>\n

Perth’s major wildlife hospital said it saw 500 sick or dying magpies with the disease over the past year, with another 500 recorded in the previous season.<\/p>\n

Researchers working to determine its cause have now dubbed the illness “magpie paralysis syndrome”.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

Researchers are working to identify the cause of a mysterious magpie illness. (ABC News: Andrew Williams)<\/p>\n

It causes temporary paralysis in several black-and-white bird species and commonly occurs in magpies.<\/p>\n

Cases remain high in Perth<\/p>\n

WA Wildlife Hospital veterinary manager Meg Rodgers said that, while the illness was first detected in 2017, there was a “massive jump” in cases over the past two years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Meg Rodgers says she has had reports of cases as far south as Albany, and north to Geraldton. (ABC News: Pip Waller)<\/p>\n

Dr Rodgers said about half of the birds they treated for the disease died.<\/p>\n

“Typically they are paralysed or unable to move their legs or very weak,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Some of them come in really, really unwell and unable to breathe properly and lift their head.”<\/p>\n

\"Magpie<\/p>\n

Dr Rodgers says there is about a 50 per cent mortality rate for the birds treated by WA Wildlife Hospital. (ABC News: Pip Waller)<\/p>\n

Dr Rogers said while there was concern about population decline in parts of the state, magpie numbers were not being tracked as there was no surveillance program.<\/p>\n

Researchers face ‘complex’ challenge\u00a0<\/p>\n

Murdoch University scientist Flaminia Coiacetto is part of a team that has studied the disease for the past year.<\/p>\n

The team of epidemiologists, pathologists and clinical veterinarians has ruled out any notifiable diseases, including avian influenza and botulism.<\/p>\n

Dr Coiacetto has looked at post-mortem samples from affected birds for any changes in their tissue that could shed light on the disease.<\/p>\n

\"Scientist<\/p>\n

Flaminia Coiacetto says identifying the cause of the disease is a very complex and time-consuming process.\u00a0 (ABC News: Pip Waller)<\/p>\n

She said it was a very complex and time-consuming process, as most changes were subtle and could be from a variety of unrelated diseases or exposure types from the animal’s environment.<\/p>\n

“We definitely have not given up,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of work going on in the background to try and figure out what this is so we can do something about it.”\"Scientist<\/p>\n

Dr Coiacetto is looking at post-mortem magpie tissue samples under a microscope.\u00a0 (ABC News: Pip Waller)<\/p>\n

According to Dr Coiacetto, the speed of research was often dictated by available funds, which were difficult to come by.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the work we do is pro bono,” she said.<\/p>\n

Extent of spread unknown\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the city-based wildlife hospital and university has better resources and data, treating the birds in regional WA often falls to individuals or loose groups of wildlife carers.<\/p>\n

Sandie Gillard noticed a huge spike in cases last year in Dunsborough, 250 kilometres south of Perth, a town known for its cluster of magpies.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sandie<\/p>\n

Sandie Gillard says she believes warmer temperatures were a contributing factor to case numbers. (ABC News: Andrew Williams)<\/p>\n

“Since then, there has been a notable decline in the number of families in certain areas,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They are decreasing, no question of it.”<\/p>\n

Ms Gillard said there were 23 confirmed paralysis cases in town this season, and another 20 suspected cases.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

WA Wildlife Hospital has seen hundreds of cases of the paralytic disease across the summer months. (ABC News: Pip Waller)<\/p>\n

On the outskirts of Geraldton, about 400 kilometres north of Perth, wildlife rescuer Michelle Jones said she too had noticed fewer magpies in her area.<\/p>\n

“We’re definitely seeing less come in, which is leading me to believe that they’re not being found [when affected by the disease],” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Middle<\/p>\n

Michelle Jones says she saw a spike in cases last season. (ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Brianna Melville)<\/p>\n

“We know that magpies are highly territorial. They’re not going to pack up their whole family and go and move somewhere else.<\/p>\n

“Sadly, that song of the magpie and that beautiful noise that we are used to hearing in the mornings is disappearing from our areas.”<\/p>\n

There are fears the disease was also spreading further inland to the Goldfields, with a local wildlife group reporting a trickle of cases in the past six months.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mud larks, also known as magpie larks, are also impacted by the paralytic disease. (ABC News: Andrew Williams)<\/p>\n

“We’re expecting a spike in the coming summer,” said Kama O’Donnell, president of Goldfields Native Animal Care.<\/p>\n

Authorities unsure \u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said it was aware of sporadic reports of bird deaths, including magpies, mudlarks and ravens.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tissue samples from birds that died from the paralytic disease.\u00a0 (ABC News: Pip Waller)<\/p>\n

“While previous laboratory testing was unable to confirm the cause of the bird deaths in all cases, DPIRD is confident they were not the result of a nationally notifiable disease,” it stated.<\/p>\n

“The public is encouraged to take photographs or a video record of dead birds, noting the location, and make a report to the relevant authority.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wildlife carers are worried about a potential magpie population decline as hundreds of the birds continue to fall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[118750,64,63,17702,329320,329317,24705,104413,329319,86,128,329318,45,121491,338],"class_list":["post-682980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-news","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-birds","tag-magpie-deaths","tag-magpie-paralysis-syndrome","tag-magpies","tag-murdoch-university","tag-perth-magpie-death","tag-perth-news","tag-science","tag-wa-magpie-disease","tag-wa-news","tag-wa-wildlife-hospital","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}