‘Birds Don’t Let Other Birds Fly Drunk’: Pair of Vultures Drunk on Fermented Garbage Apprehended and ‘Detoxed’ By Rehab Center

(Photo: A Place Called Hope/Facebook)

A pair of black vultures in Killingworth, Connecticut stumbled into trouble after they unsuspectingly ate fermented garbage from an open dumpster.

Wildlife rehabilitation center A Place Called Hope initially suspected the worst when they encountered the “dynamic duo.” Stumbling from a garbage container near a local meat market, staff imagined that the birds had either been shot or hit by a passing car.

“They were literally drunk. Unable to balance, stand, kept passing out or in our eyes, actively dying… we ran every test and in the end, they were too drunk to fly,” said A Place Called Hope in a Facebook post detailing the incident.

Within a matter of hours, staff were able to figure out the bizarre circumstances.  The birds were given fluids, left to rest overnight and fed a “big breakfast” the next day before they were released to rejoin their colony.

“Enjoy and remember, your cocktail fruit that ends up in a dumpster can end up intoxicating wildlife if the dumpster is not kept closed. Birds don’t let other birds fly drunk… this dynamic duo had each other’s backs, but I don’t know if any lessons were learned on their end…”

Believe it or not, the inebriated bird phenomenon is surprisingly common, particularly over the summer and autumn.

In most instances, fruits and berries fall to the ground during the harvest season before getting trampled underfoot by passing animals. As the rotting fruits are crushed, friction speeds up the fermentation process. Not enough to get a human drunk, mind you, but more than enough to affect a smaller-sized bird.

“The consumption of these fermented fruits can cause the birds to lose much of their coordination and capacity to fly,” warned the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in a 2023 PSA. “This can cause them to crash into windows and other obstacles. Sadly, they can also die directly from alcohol poisoning if they ingest enough of the fermented fruit.”

The phenomenon has inspired its fair share of grabby, borderline unbelievable headlines over the years.

In 2018, the small town of Gilbert, Minnesota was unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight after a sharp uptick in drunken bird incidents drew national media attention. The situation inspired headlines like “Drunk and Disorderly Birds Are Causing Chaos in Minnesota,” “Bird Guilty of Flying While Drunk,” and of course, “Party Fowls!“. The New York Times even wrote a full story investigating the issue.

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