The thousands of birds that fell from the sky just before midnight New Year’s Eve in Arkansas likely died from massive trauma, according to a preliminary report released Monday.
The birds, most of which were dead when they were found, were red-winged blackbirds and starlings. They were found within a one-mile area of Beebe, about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said.
Initial autopsies on 17 of the thousands of blackbirds indicated that they died of blunt force trauma to their organs. Poison was ruled out.
As of Saturday, between 4,000 and 5,000 birds had been found dead.
In the meantime, officials were investigating the deaths of up to 100,000 fish in the stretch of the river near the city of Ozark. Ninety-five percent were drum fish, indicating they likely died of disease. Had it been a pollutant, all of the fish would have been affected. It will take about a month for officials to pinpoint a definite cause of death.
Other related stories. Click on links:
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/offbeat/2011/01/03/moos.its.raining.birds.cnn
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/01/04/dnt.la.bird.deaths.wafb
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/01/03/lklv.lavendera.birds.cnn
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/01/03/exp.nr.bird.deaths.beeper.cnn
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/01/03/sotvo.ar.birds.examined.kthv
