100k Fish And 5k Birds Die In Arkansas On New Years Day

What is going on in Arkansas, people are wondering.  Discovering the thousands of blackbirds dead on the ground was quite disturbing to many residents. There are many explanations, and some are of the conspiracy nature, while others are more scientifically grounded.

There were over 100,o00 drum fish, which are bottom feeders, found along the Arkansas River as well, feeding into the local fears of contamination or disease.With the fishing community, there was consternation as to how many other species were to be affected, but the local authorities said it was safe to continue fishing in that community.

The fish were found Thursday by a tugboat operator along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River near the city of Ozark.

The mass kill occurred just one day before thousands of blackbirds dropped dead from the sky in Beebe, Ark., which is 125 miles away.

According to the Press Association, workers from the U.S. Environmental Services removed the final bird at 11am on Sunday morning. They estimated that they had collected around 2,000 of the animals. The town’s mayor said that workers wore protective suits as a matter of course and not because they feared contamination.

Theories to explain the sudden death of the blackbird flock have come thick and fast. Speaking to CNN Radio on January 2, Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the AGFC, said that the incident isn’t that rare, and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail.

Initial examinations of the dead birds showed trauma, including head injury. Such trauma could have resulted from something contacting them in the air—or from impact with the ground.

Rowe ruled out poisoning. “It’s important to understand that a sick bird can’t fly. So whatever happened to these birds happened very quickly,” she said. “Something must have caused these birds to flush out of the trees at night, where they’re normally just roosting and staying in the treetops … and then something got them out of the air and caused their death and then they fell to earth.”

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