NORTH LIMA, Ohio (WKBN) — First News is still waiting to learn what caused the death of six chickens in their North Lima coop the morning after the controlled release in East Palestine on Feb. 6.
Kayla Miller is worried about her animals.
“I don’t know where to go from here,” Miller said. “All I can do is monitor.”
Standing outside her home in Negley, the smell of paint thinner filled the air. Miller said she’s gotten used to it, but started showing symptoms of a respiratory infection on Sunday.
“I’m starting to get burning in my nose and in my throat, so I don’t know that’s not normal that’s not something that I’ve ever had before,” Miller said.
She says since the train derailment in East Palestine, three of her animals have gotten sick. One hen had seizures, and her pig had mucous and was dropping weight.
Five other animals died: Three rabbits and two roosters, one of which had to be put down after she says it took a turn for the worst on Feb. 7, the day after the controlled release.
“He started to get to the point where he could not walk anymore. He could move his legs, but they weren’t working properly,” Miller said. “It was like his brain was not functioning properly with his legs.”
She says her sick animals appear to be recovering. She didn’t have necropsies on the ones that died due to the cost.
She says she believes the train derailment in East Palestine is the issue.
“I have dead animals, but ‘everything’s fine’ — explain that. It doesn’t make any sense,” Miller said. “It doesn’t take a genius to put the pieces together.”
Meanwhile, in North Lima, Amanda Breshears is still waiting to learn how her six chickens died after she found them all dead in their coop Feb. 7.
“By now, we would have eggs — that’s why we had our hens, for egg purposes, and now we have none,” Breshears said.
She disposed of three of the birds, bagged the others and has been keeping them on ice. She’s now waiting for a New Jersey-based toxicologist to perform tests to determine how the birds died.
“Hopefully, we get some real answers, because this is going to affect us from now until who knows when,” Breshears said.
