An East Bay community is trying to figure out why so many dead birds are appearing in their neighborhood.
A Ring video in Richmond's East Richmond Heights neighborhood showed a bird falling from what appeared to be a power line, just moments after a loud pop.
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WATCH HERE“I heard the pop, looked up. I looked up before the bird crashed,” Richmond resident Tommy said.
Tommy lives in the neighborhood and a similar incident happened two months ago.
“At that point, I’m like shoot, is that where all these dead birds are coming from?” he said.
Sharon Anderson said the same thing happened a few weeks ago. It took place with a sheriff’s deputy on scene, responding to reports of birds being electrocuted from a powerline.
“This bird just falls from the wire right in front of the sheriff. I was still about a half a block away,” she said.
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In just the past two months, residents have counted more than 50 dead birds. They said it’s connected to the power lines.
But when PG&E came out to survey the site, they told residents it's not true.
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SIGN UP “It’s impossible. They would have to be touching two lines at once, which I understand they’re logic because the lines are pretty far apart," Tommy said.
PG&E did pass along two of the dead birds to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for an evaluation. The department confirmed to NBC Bay Area Tuesday night that the birds showed no signs of being electrocuted.
PG&E released the following statement Tuesday night:
“They have shared that the birds show no evidence of electrocution, and that their deaths were caused by trauma, potentially from a pellet or BB gun or a slingshot. PG&E does not believe that there was an issue with our electrical equipment and agrees that these birds were not electrocuted.”
The community is now left wondering who they can turn to for answers to a problem that’s not going away.
