Death Pipes are everywhere and are responsible for a hidden, avian mortality epidemic. Please get involved and pass this information on to others and help raise awareness of this preventable killing of wildlife.
Any open top vertical pipe can be a death trap to birds and other wildlife. This problem is a nearly invisible. Unlike birds colliding with buildings, windows or other structures where they remain visible and obvious to people, birds trapped in pipes end up dying a slow death, completely unnoticed in open posts, sewer systems, septic tanks, or other hidden locations.
Hollow metal and plastic (PVC) pipes and posts are found throughout the world and serve a variety of purposes. Wildlife (birds, reptiles, small mammals) mortalities, including species of conservation concern, have been documented in mine claim marker posts (Brattstrom 1995, Lahontan and Red Rock Audubon Societies 2009) which resulted in passing a law in Nevada that called for the removal of all PVC mine claim markers across the state (American Bird Conservancy 2011). However, wildlife mortalities in pipes (death pipes) are not limited to uncapped mine claim marker posts.
In March, 2009, an employee of the Audubon California’s Kern River Preserve in the Kern River Valley, California discovered a fallen irrigation standpipe 6″ (15 cm) in diameter and 10′ (3 m) tall on adjacent California Department of Fish and Game land that contained numerous bird carcasses and remains of other wildlife. Alarmingly, the fallen pipe contained the remains of over 200 dead birds. Four additional pipes were identified and subsequently cut down. All contained dead bird debris (although we were unable to collect it because it fell down the vertical pipes and collected underground in the horizontal buried pipe).
Thank you for reading this information. We ask that you please get involved and pass a pdf of this information on to others and help raise awareness of this preventable killing of wildlife.
