Officials Baffled As More Than 1,000 Dead Birds Fall From Sky in Arkansas
January 3rd, 2011 - 9:20 pm ICT by GDBy Meena Kar
Jan 3, (THAINDIAN NEWS) This could be called one of the most shocking wildlife stories of 2011. The town of Beebe, in Arkansas, is home to nearly 4,500 people, and unfortunately an equal number of dead birds too. Today, the state wildlife officials went almost door-to-door for collecting the carcasses of these creatures from trees, yards and rooftops. Officials estimate something around 4,000 and 5,000 birds, mostly blackbirds which started falling from the sky since late New Year’s Eve and continued till yesterday. Officials remain dumbstruck.
According to reports, the dead birds fell on Friday night over around 1-mile area of Beebe and 40 miles from Little Rock. An aerial survey carried out, indicated that there were no dead birds found outside that particular area. On Saturday, as the workers from US Environmental Services began the clean-up, they confirmed that they removed the last dead bird at 11am on Sunday morning. The Mayor of Beebe, Mike Robertson said that there is no speculation regarding the any disease or poisoning of the birds. He reported that some hundred thousand red-winged blackbirds have used a wooded area of the town as their rest since a number of years, but surprisingly, no dead birds were found on the ground when the officials went there over the weekend. That makes it all the more evident that the death of the birds was not caused due to any kind of illness, or poisoning.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said that on Saturday the birds showed signs of physical trauma, and thought that the flock could have been hit either by high altitude hail or by lightning. Reports also say that the fireworks launched on new year’s eve could also have startled them, causing them to die out of stress. The birds would be sent to the National Health Center and the State Livestock and Poultry Commission lab for testing.
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Tags: aerial survey, arkansas game and fish, arkansas game and fish commission, beebe, carcasses, dead bird, dead birds, falling from the sky, high altitude, hundred thousand, karen rowe, meena, mike robertson, ornithologist, physical trauma, red winged blackbirds, rooftops, state livestock, state wildlife officials, wooded area