Dead birds found throughout Oklahoma Sunday morning
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) - After a brutal early morning of severe weather including golfball-size hail many people in Oklahoma City, Mustang, and elsewhere woke up to hundreds of dead or injured birds in the street.
"When we get a severe weather event like the one we had last night we tend to see this," said Medical Director at Oklahoma WildCare Dr. Kyle Abbott. "Right now we are seeing them come into our office in the dozens if not more."
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Videos going viral within the first few hours show the damage done with one taken from an Oklahoma City parking lot showing black birds lying motionless on the ground.
Dr. Abbott said that most of the birds they've seen affected by the storms were called Purple Martins.
"They travel in large groups and they are relatively small so hail big enough could cause a lot of unfortunate damage to them," said Dr. Abbott.
Oklahoma WildCare has taken on the task of caring for the birds. Dr. Abbott said his volunteers and many who know their office have been bringing in the birds that didn't die and need help.
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"Yeah as of this afternoon we have around 70 so far and we expect to get a lot more than that," said Dr. Abbott. Two hours later, a Facebook post from Oklahoma WildCare would show they have 112 birds.
While Purple Martin's have been the most affected by the storms, Dr. Abbott said that they have had Doves come into their office along with a couple of other species.
"This was the worst event we've seen come into our office, it's very unfortunate," said Dr. Abbott.
For now, his office has mesh pet carriers lined around their rooms with many Purple Martins who have been helped but need to heal.
Dr. Abbott said that if someone does come across one of the birds that are injured they should give their office a call at (405) 872-9338.
"Our group works primarily on donations so if anyone does want to help they can do so monetarily," said Dr. Abbott.
If you'd like to donate to the group you can visit their website.