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Dead blackbirds again in Arkansas

post #1 of 4
1/1/12 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
Dead blackbirds fall again in Arkansas town
Quote:
Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year's Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence Saturday as 2012 approached.

Police in Beebe said dozens of blackbirds had fallen dead, prompting officers to ban residents from shooting fireworks Saturday night. It wasn't immediately clear if fireworks were again to blame, but authorities weren't taking a chance.
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post #2 of 4
1/2/12 at 6:00am

 


Quote:
The blackbird die-off, coupled with tens of thousands of dead drum fish that washed up on the shores of the Arkansas River....

 

Fireworks have been lit for decades all around the world, and birds are all over the planet.    Coupled with tens of thousands of dead fish, I'm thinking that the government there isn't being honest about an environmental contamination.

 

Personally, I'd want detailed autopsies done on the birds and fish and tests done of water supplies, the air, and the like before I would be willing to write this off as some sort of fluke and coincidence.  

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post #3 of 4
1/2/12 at 6:16am
Thread Starter 
That really could be - maybe the birds/fish are in a very weakened state due to pollution, and the stress caused by the fireworks is the proverbial last straw.

One thing I'm wondering is whether there have been changes to the laws regulating fireworks in Arkansas. Germany just changed the law to allow up to 50% more gunpowder in fireworks. The result was 40% more fires this New Year's Eve, i.e., 40% more than on your average December 31st, three fatalities in our county alone, and reports of birds falling dead from the sky, though I haven't seen any dead birds around here, despite walking all over looking for a missing cat.

The blackbirds might also be weakened by a virus: Fears grow of deadly tropical virus killing blackbirds
Quote:
Fears are increasing in Germany that blackbirds are being wiped out by a tropical disease, while tests are being conducted on a number of cadavers to try to find out why they died.
Reports of mass deaths of blackbirds through the Rhine-Neckar area of Germany have been gathering pace over the last few weeks, and on Wednesday the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, pointed the finger at the Usutu virus which comes from Africa.

Occurrence of Usutu virus in Southern Germany

Here's an update: About 200 birds found dead in Arkansas city for second straight New Year's Eve
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post #4 of 4
1/2/12 at 6:21am
Unfortunately further investigation showed someone lit firecrackers inside the roost this year. It's a manmade criminal phenomenon, not environmental.

The fish were last year, not this year.
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