STARKS -- Could nonstick coating material used on some kitchen cookware have caused the deaths of a dozen exotic birds this past weekend?

Probably, says Dr. Anne Lichtenwalner, director of the diagnostic laboratory at the University of Maine, who performed a necropsy -- an examination of the internal organs -- on several of the dead birds.

Contacted late Wednesday, Lichtenwalner said her test results point to fumes from nonstick coatings on cookware as the most likely cause of death.

"The lesions common to the several birds that we necropsied were consistent with acute death due to an inhaled toxicant," Lichtenwalner said. "I was able to reach the caretaker of the animals who said she was cooking with a pan; it was a nonstick pan.

"That is the most likely cause. That's likely to have been the case."

The cockatiels, parrots and parakeets died suddenly Sunday night as a woman was making dinner for herself and two other adults.

The birds, said Starks Fire Chief Julie Costigan, were in cages just 10 feet from the cooking area. They all died within 30 minutes of one another.

One of 13 birds survived, Costigan said.

Gail Schleier, 40, who was watching the house on Sandy River Road for her parents in this rural Somerset County community, told authorities she was cooking supper when the birds dropped dead to the bottom of their cages.

Schleier said she was cooking pork chops at the time.

She said she was using a frying pan coated in nonstick type material, approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration decades ago.

"I just had one (coated) pan going; the others were stainless steel," she said. "I'm just hoping it's not my fault. I would feel real bad. My mother loved those birds."

Schleier said she had the chops on low heat.

A report by the Environmental Working Group, based in Washington, D.C., says that in two to five minutes on a conventional stovetop, cookware coated with a non-stick substance can reach temperatures at which the coating breaks apart and releases toxic particles that have killed pet birds.

The birds were all in cages -- some paired with mates. One pair of love birds sat on a nest of eggs, Costigan said.

Other pets -- fish and a dog -- did not get sick, she said.

Fire crews and technicians from Starks, Anson and Madison tested the air, the chimney, the furnace and appliances and found nothing, the Starks chief said.

"We were baffled," she said.

DuPont, makers of the trademark Teflon coatings, says on its Web site that non-stick products are approved by the federal government and are safe if used under proper conditions.

"Because birds have extremely sensitive respiratory systems, bird owners must take precautions to protect them," the Delaware-based chemical company states. "Cooking fumes, smoke and odors that have little or no effect on people can seriously sicken and even kill birds, often quite quickly. "This is why bird owners should take steps to protect their pets, such as keeping their birds out of the kitchen, never leaving cookware unattended, never allowing pots and pans to overheat, and making sure that their kitchen is properly ventilated at all times."

A call to the company for comment this week was not returned.

Donald Hoenig, the state veterinarian in the Belfast office of the Maine Department of Agriculture, said initially there was no proof that non-stick coating was the culprit in the birds' deaths, but it was at the "top of the list" of possible causes.

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534 ext. 342

dharlow@centralmaine.com