Discovery of dead chicks at Glenashley shopping centre sparks social media outrage

DURBAN North resident, Candice McAllister, said she was shocked to find several chicks scattered on the tar below the Eastman’s SPAR on Friday last week. 

McAllister took to Facebook to share a post, claiming that an employee who was standing on a ladder had thrown the birds from their nests which were under the eaves. 

She said some of the chicks had died, however, she managed to rescue some of them by placing them in one of the discarded nests. 

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While some 300 social media users reacted to the post with almost 100 people expressing their concerns, Eastmans SPAR responded, saying the employee was removing Christmas decorations when the nests, which were entangled in the decorations, fell. 

McAllister said she had reported the matter to the Durban & Coast SPCA.

“I have provided them with my affidavit and now this is a closed matter in my book. I doubt it will end up with charges, but I hope that one of the positives that will come of this is that it will create awareness. There is space in our beautiful suburb for all manner of birds and beasts to live in harmony with us; from the Crowned Eagles right down to the baby Manakins. If you have birds nesting somewhere that bothers your sensibilities, please only remove the nests after the babies have departed, and immediately wire up the space to ensure that they don’t return. They will find other spots where they can remain undisturbed and safe,” she said. 

Garth Slater, general manager for Eastmans SPAR said an employee transported the chicks to the Centre for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) on the day of the incident.

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“After an investigation with senior management we learned that the Eastmans centre maintenance employee was carrying out the task of removing front of house festive decorations and in doing so the nests fell down when removing the lines of lights that had become entangled with some nests. At no stage was any instruction given to remove any nest. In fact, management were not even aware they existed. The employee has been dealt with internally and taken through the proper disciplinary procedures as well as educated on the importance of our ecological responsibility. We’d like to deeply apologise for the events that took place. We did the best we could after learning the extent of the situation taking place by immediately taking the birds at hand to CROW. On the same day we transported the chicks to CROW. We also made a cash donation to CROW,” he said.

CROW director, Clint Halkett-Sidall confirmed the organisation had received a call for help.

“Six birds came in. One, a finch, was already dead, but we had five live Manakins come in. They are still with us. We dispatched our nurse to the area and she found two nests – one had unhatched eggs and one had dead chicks in it,” he said.

Halkett -Sidall said they try to raise awareness about baby season to inform the community of bird nests.

“We advise the community to always make sure there are no nests in trees before chopping them down and rather to wait until winter before chopping down trees, so it is not nesting season. If birds start building nests in an area that is not ideal, contact CROW and we will be able to assist,” he said. 

The Durban & Coast SPCA did not send their comment at the time this article was published. 

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