Monday 3 January 2011

1,000 Blackbirds drop dead in sky above US town!

MORE than 1,000 blackbirds have dropped dead while flying over a town.

Wildlife officials think they may have been struck by lightning or hail, or they may have died from stress caused by New Year’s Eve fireworks.

The flock fell in a mile-square area on Friday in Beebe, Arkansas.




Wildlife officer Robby King collected about 65 dead birds, to be sent for testing to the state’s Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Wisconsin.

Ornithologist Karen Rowe doubted the birds were poisoned as they showed physical trauma.

She said birds have died like this elsewhere but tests were inconclusive.

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