21 dead geese found along Northeast Kingdom lake

By Rachel Mann
Published: Nov. 30, 2022 at 11:18 PM EST

BARTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Wildlife experts are investigating what happened to a flock of geese in the Northeast Kingdom after 21 were found dead at Crystal Lake State Park in Barton last week.

Josh Degreenia and his friend, Larry Allard, were there with metal detectors, looking for coins or maybe a gold ring. They say the shore was lined with bird cadavers.

“I’m 35 years old and I’ve never seen anything like this in Vermont,” Degreenia said. “There was one that was still alive, but it wasn’t moving,” Allard said. “It just had its head up, so you knew something had happened.”

David Sausville with Vermont Fish and Wildlife says they’ve never had anything like this happen among the Canadian goose population in Vermont, though, he says there was a similar situation in New Hampshire this spring where roughly 30 geese died from the avian flu.

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