In article , "Frank Logullo"
wrote:

I did have a dead crow in the back yard early in the epidemic. The
state wanted these deaths called in to check for disease but the wild life
agent was lazy and said he was busy and then a day later said he would only
pick up if crow was refrigerated - it was July. At any rate he said you
cannot catch virus from dead bird.
Frank

Sorry for your encounter with a typical lazyass couldn't-care-less badguy.

Though there is no possibility of dead birds per se infecting anyone with
WNV, parasites on the bird just might be able to transfer the disease. It
is believed the disease reaching certain hawk populations because of a
tendency to scavenge dead birds & having infected bloodsucking parasites
transfer to a new host. Humans get it from mosquitos & mosquitos can
transfer it from any number of mammals or birds to humans. So though I
don't think it has been studied, it's at least a credible hypothesis that
contact with infected parasites could provide a mild threat to humans.
There are several other zoonotic diseases for which parasites are
intermediate carriers.

In some regions, most dead crows that get analyzed did have the virus as
cause of death, but for birds more broadly, analysis of thousands of
corpses shows the primary cause of death generally to be pesticides.

-paghat

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/