These Birds Are Booze Hounds!
Johnson: On November 6, around 50 Cedar Wax Wings and other birds slammed themselves into the Deli Mart windows on First Avenue in Iowa City, some of the birds dying on impact. The birds were drunk, having gone on a bender with fermented berries on a nearby tree. "It's a real tragedy." said Jason Mantello, who was restrained from sampling the berries himself. "Poor dumb birds."
Animal Rehabilitator Jeremy Richardson was quoted in the Iowa City Press Citizen as saying, "They are eating wine."
To impose a kind of avian prohibition on the fleathered drunkards, city officials put a tarp over the tree and and spread non-alcoholic berries and bananas around the tree. Animal Control Officer Chris Whitmore was heard to say, "The bar is closed for tonight."
Although 30 tipsy birds were reported wobbling on the treetops and 40 or so more lay passed out in the parking lot, no free rides home were offered and no arrests were made.
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