BERKELEY, Calif. - For three months, a group of dead seagulls lay near the tracks at Amtrak's Berkeley stop on University Avenue, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Chronicle reader Stan Huncilman, who believed the animals might have been felled by West Nile virus, called the Berkeley City Council and other city agencies to ask that they be removed.
A month ago, Huncilman says, one of the agency's staff members told him the city couldn't pick up the dead gulls because "animal-control people can't go on the railroad tracks."
Other dead gulls were still near the tracks, about 10 feet away, causing Huncilman to say, "Shouldn't they pick them all up?"
Monday afternoon, Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Richmond said, "We'll send someone out to look at the situation. From time to time, it does happen that we get wildlife that goes out there (on the tracks) and gets struck."
In the future, Richmond said, people who see dead animals on Union Pacific tracks can call the railroad company at (888) 877-7267.
(This item appeared April 14, 2009, in the San Francisco Chronicle.)
April 14, 2009
-- Edited by Troll on Tuesday 14th of April 2009 03:29:59 PM
