Just a couple of days after the deaths of 5,000 birds in Arkansas on New Year’s Eve, about 500 birds were found dead in Louisiana on Monday.
Thousands of dead red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in an Arkansas town on New Year’s Eve after massive trauma, tests by Arkansas veterinary officials concluded Monday.
Dead birds on a street of Lousiana, US (AP)
“The birds suffered from acute physical trauma leading to internal hemorrhage and death. There was no sign of chronic or infectious disease,” the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said in a statement. The birds were otherwise healthy, it said.
One theory is that birds were spooked by New Year’s fireworks and flew into buildings or other objects. Another theory was that severe weather such as lightning accounted for the load noises but this was discounted because the violent weather had already left the area.
Another strange occurrence of dead fish took place on Dec. 30, 2010, over a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River near a dam in Ozark, 125 miles west of Beebe on Dec. 20, 2010.
Meanwhile, a large number of dead birds were also found in Kentucky on Wednesday. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources said the birds were not found to have diseases or ingested poisons.
Sweden also discovered a large number of dead birds in the city of Falkoping on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The Swedish National Veterinary Institute concluded that the birds died due to “sudden, hard external blows.” They had no signs of infection or other illnesses, and there were no external signs indicating what killed them.
England also reported 40,000 dead crabs on beaches in England. A string of mass animal death stories causes speculations that the world is about to face apocalypse.
With the cause of the massive deaths of birds and fish shrouded in mystery, rumors are raging rapidly online in search of possible causes.
Secret weapon test by U.S. government
Two hosts of a conspiracy theory website called Watson and Jones (prisonplanet.com) claim that the death of the birds is due to a secret weapons test conducted by the U.S. administration. They insist that the birds’ deaths can be explained by electromagnetic energy from the test.
Terrorism
The website also floated speculation that terrorism is behind the puzzling deaths. The site’s claim is based on an excerpt from an interview of former Secretary of Defense William Cohen in 1997. Cohen said a terrorist can manipulate the climate by controlling electromagnetic waves remotely, and natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruption can also be manipulated in the same way.
Alien activities
Some conspiracy theorists discussed the possibility that aliens might have been involved in the mystery. They mentioned the sudden disappearance of cows and sheep in the past. The animals were later discovered dead with their bodies torn apart. The believers claim that aliens might be the culprits for the bizarre incidents.
Apocalypse
As with other unusual incidents, the sudden deaths of birds and fish are encouraging some religious cult members to say that the incidents are a sign of imminent Apocalypse. A group of endism believers claim that the mystery deaths of birds are the harbinger of the total destruction that will hit the world in 2012, citing the Mayan Calendar.
(Herald Online and news reports)
