Scorned as a “bin chicken” because of its remarkable ability to scavenge through waste in Aussie cities, the native white ibis isn’t respected by many locals.

Wildlife rescuers who attend to injured and sick birds are used to ibis welfare being a low priority in the community because of a perception they are dirty. But a discovery at a Sydney property has even the most experienced first responders shocked.

Details of what exactly unfolded are sketchy, but the result has been described as an ibis “massacre”. But four weeks on it’s unclear whether there will be ramifications for those responsible.

Warning: Confronting images of ibis ‘massacre’

Over a dozen dead, dying and displaced ibis were found at a business park at Chullora, in the city’s west. Video and images supplied to Yahoo News from August 3 show a decapitated ibis, a dead chick with blood strewn across the car park, and abandoned nests still full of eggs lying in the gutter.

“I was like: Oh my god, this is a bloody massacre,” a bird expert from Sydney Wildlife Rescue told Yahoo News.

“There were nine perfect little nests cut down, there were dead carcasses and entrails all over the place, and smashed eggs.”

‘Chaos’ after trees trimmed at business park

A day earlier, another rescue service WIRES, received multiple calls from concerned tenants and staff members at the site, and responded to a “critical rescue”.

A tenant who witnessed the situation before rescuers arrived claims to have seen palm trees at the business park being trimmed, displacing nesting ibis. “Then they put the babies in the nests on the grass and in the bushes,” she said.

A WIRES rescuer who arrived on August 2, told Yahoo there were some adult ibis still sitting in palm trees that had recently been trimmed, but there were juveniles and several empty nests on the ground.

“It was just chaos, there were ibis everywhere. There were nests all over the ground and it looked like crows had picked off some of the babies after the nests were cut down,” he said.

He described the situation as “upsetting”, adding there appeared to be a “blatant disregard” for the birds.

“Ibis get a really bad wrap for being bin chickens, but it’s actually illegal to disrupt any of their nests,” he added.

“It was quite disturbing.”

Business park manager claims to be investigating

When contacted by Yahoo News, the large landscaping company that contracted the works to a third party, said it did not wish to comment and hung up the phone.

That company was engaged by ESR Australia, which is one of the largest real estate investment management companies in the country. Its parent company ESR Group is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and based in Hong Kong.

After Yahoo contacted ESR Australia with questions about the August 2 incident, it declined to be interviewed and instead issued a statement through a public relations company.

“The alleged incident happened during planned site maintenance conducted by third-party contractors. ESR, together with our external facilities manager, is currently investigating the allegations which we take very seriously and as such has no further comment while the investigation is ongoing,” it said.

Mystery over fate of ibis chicks

When WIRES attended the scene on August 2, it’s understood they found at least seven chicks, one of which had a broken leg, and they were taken to vets at RSPCA NSW for treatment.

The WIRES rescuer who collected them said they were “hot” and appeared to be “stressed out”. “They were sitting in the sun cooking and not in very good shape,” he said.

Whether the chicks survived remains unclear as rescue groups in Sydney say they have no records of being called to collect them. RSPCA NSW did not respond to direct questions from Yahoo about the outcome.

The NSW government’s Parks and Wildlife service told Yahoo an investigation is being conducted into what happened at Chullora by RSPCA NSW. However RSPCA NSW declined to provide any information about the incident while it remains under investigation.

Finding medical treatment for ibis is a struggle

Getting medical treatment for native birds is a struggle in Australia right now, because some vets aren’t seeing them due to concerns about avian influenza.

But when it comes to white ibis, one bird rescuer said getting treatment for the species has always been a challenge.

Speaking generally she said, “The species is treated horrendously across the city. It’s one of these things where vets euthanise them out of convenience. And there aren’t enough carers to look after them.”

“The situation isn’t sustainable. I had 300 last year. If an animal has fur, or even if it’s a kookaburra it will get treatment. But if it’s an ibis no one gives a sh**”.

After the Chullora incident, she took eggs home from the site and incubated them. Most were already too cold to survive.

“They just exploded because I think they were out too long,” she said.

“I’ve got one left. But I don’t think he’ll survive. I might need to give up on him.”

Love Australia’s weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the week’s best stories.