Horror in Arkansas! Thousands of Animals Dead
Steve Barton
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It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m doing my usual news sweep and come across two real life stories coming out of one state that have simply knocked me on my ass. Let me start off by saying no, this is NOT a viral marketing scheme, but it is some truly horrifying shit!
This morning CNN is reporting that thousands of dead birds have fallen from the sky and hundreds of thousands of dead fish have washed ashore in Arkansas. Though the incidents have taken place 125 miles apart from one another, it’s still pretty scary and as of yet unexplained stuff.
Check out snippets from each report below:
“Arkansas game officials hope testing scheduled to begin Monday will solve the mystery of why up to 5,000 blackbirds fell from the sky just before midnight New Year’s Eve.
The birds — most of which were dead — were found within a one-mile area of Beebe, about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said. The blackbirds fell over about a one-mile area, the commission said in a statement.
As of Saturday, between 4,000 and 5,000 blackbirds had been found dead, said Keith Stephens with the commission. “Shortly after I arrived, there were still birds falling from the sky,” said commission wildlife officer Robby King in the statement. He said he collected about 65 dead birds.
The commission said it flew over the area to gauge the scope of the event, and no birds were found outside of the initial one-mile area. Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the commission, said the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail.
A strong storm system moved through the state earlier in the day Friday. Officials also speculated that fireworks shot by New Year’s revelers in the area might have caused severe stress in the birds. Rowe said Sunday there was evidence that large fireworks may have played a role.
Biologists believe the deaths were stress-related from either fireworks or weather, Stephens said. “Since it only involved a flock of blackbirds and only involved them falling out of the sky, it is unlikely they were poisoned, but a necropsy is the only way to determine if the birds died from trauma or toxin,” Rowe said.
The dead birds will be sent for testing to labs at the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission and the National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin.”
Dead drum fish floated in the water and lined the banks of a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River near Ozark, about 125 miles northwest of Little Rock, said Keith Stephens of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. A tugboat operator discovered the fish kill Friday night, and fisheries officials collected some of the dying animals to conduct tests.
Stephens said fish kills occur every year, but the size of the latest one is unusual, and suggested some sort of disease was to blame.
“The fish kill only affected one species of fish,” he said. “If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish.”
Ozark is about 125 west of the town of Beebe, where game wardens are trying to find out why up to 5,000 blackbirds fell from the sky just before midnight New Year’s Eve.
While we eagerly await explanations for each of these happenings which will hopefully be explained away in the most natural ways possible, we can’t help but shudder just a little.
One thing’s for sure … If these occurrences are followed up this year by Uwe Boll winning a filmmaking award, Paul Anderson directing a good movie, and The Asylum becoming one of the majors, then the end may just truly be near, folks!
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