Environment
The World's Most Polluted Bird Hails From Vancouver
The city's toxin-ridden hawks are so contaminated they're "flameproof."
Congrats to Vancouver—it now holds the title of having the "most polluted wild bird that has been found anywhere in the world."
Technically, the toxin-ridden Cooper's hawk was found in the greater metro area in Langley, British Colombia, but here's hoping that won't dissuade city elders from awarding it a grime-stained medal. The bird certainly deserves it. With a polybrominated-diphenyl ethers (PBDE) count of 196 parts per million, it's more contaminated than birds tested at an "electronic waste site in China," according to a study in Science of The Total Environment.