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DNR looking into crow deaths in Springfield

Posted at 4:34 PM, Mar 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-16 18:09:54-04

SPRINGFIELD, Mich. - A Battle Creek man made a bizarre discovery over the weekend, finding hundreds of dead crows along a section of railroad track.

Tim Hill made the discovery and shot video which he posted on social media.

"You ever had one of them moments where you said something ain't right here? Either you better get out of the situation or figure it out. Well, that's what my gut. There's something not right here," Hill told FOX 17 over the phone.

He reported it to the Department of Natural Resources which is investigating. Biologist Sarah Thompson said foul play hasn't been ruled out. She also said they may have been hit by a train.

"But we don't know what happened to them prior to them getting hit," Thompson said.

She questioned, "How were they acting? Were they flopping around and already in distress before they got hit by the train? That's what we don't know. So we need to look into what caused them to be in the way of the train and not get away."

The DNR said this is the second time in the past month they've seen a massive number of dead crows along these tracks.  A lab test on those birds showed they suffered trauma and broken bones, so they concluded they were likely hit by a train.  This second occurrence is making the DNR do further tests, including a liver biopsy to make sure the birds weren't poisoned.

Results from the liver biopsy are expected back in three weeks.