Scented Candles Can Be Fatal to Birds

by Real Macaw member Beth G. Shery

with Monica Sudds, Beakers Exotics

Monica Sudds, a parrot breeder and the president of Beakers Parrot Society in Iowa, got a call from a customer, Judy, telling her that three birds had died in Judy's house within two days. The first one to die was a lutino female lovebird on eggs, the second was another peachfaced lovebird, the third was a Quaker, the last bird Judy had added to her collection about a year and a half ago. Judy said that the birds became trembly and then stopped perching and then just died. What happened? she wanted to know.

Monica immediately assumed a viral problem, but she knew that Judy only bought birds from her, and she had had no other problems with any birds becoming sick from merchandise from the store. So, they began examining what could be different in the household, (i.e. Teflon overheating, new perfumes, hairsprays, anything with fumes being emitted). Within minutes of asking the right questions, they had the answer.

Judy and her husband Kenny, otherwise responsible pet owners, had recently purchased several scented candles and had burned them frequently for 2 days before the first lovebird died. The second lovebird died later that evening. The Quaker was acting strange on the third day and by that afternoon was also dead. The time between the first sign of shakiness and death was a matter of a couple to a few hours.

Judy and Kenny did a carbon monoxide check all over their house and the monitor showed nothing until they lit a candle and set it next to it for a few minutes. The indicator went into the lethal range. The birds had all been in separate rooms when they succumbed, and but there was a candle burning at different times in all of the rooms. Since they have ruled out every other possibility, Monica believes the cause of death to be the heavy fragrance fumes. The Glade candles that were involved in the 3-day period were vanilla, peach, potpourri, cinnamon and one Walmart-brand scented candle, spiced apple.

Monica spoke with Lee Langsly in the medical issues department of SC Johnson Wax, the maker of Glade Air Products. He was quite helpful and showed concern. He also cautioned that there are warning labels about pets on some of their products.

If you have questions about some of the products that you already have in your homes, you may want to check with Glade about the toxicity of their products. Numbers to note are the Medical Department 1-800-228-5635; Chemical Division 1-800-725-6737; Customer Service 1-800-558-5252; or Consumer Questions 1-800-494-4855. Their mailing address is S.C. Johnson Wax, 1525 Howe St., Racine, WI 53403-2236.

The best course of action might be for those interested to write letters asking Glade to put a warning on their fragrance products about the possible harm to pet birds. The products that may prove harmful to your pets include spray and solid air fresheners, potpourri spray, Glade Basics®, Lasting Mist®, plug-ins, clip-ons, carpet & room deodorizer, Candle Scents, and neutralizer.

If something so innocuous seeming as a scented candle can cause the death of birds, then many other highly-fragranced items could also be harmful.

There was another report recently on the Internet about someone who used Carpet Fresh powder while vacuuming, and within an hour had eight dead birds. When she brought them in for necropsy, all eight showed Carpet Fresh powder in their lungs. The company denied responsibility.

So please, exercise caution when using scented products around your birds.