Dead birds fall from sky in central Sweden
http://www.thelocal.se/31262/20110105/
Published: 5 Jan 11 10:02 CET
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Dead birds have fallen from the sky in central Sweden, echoing a number of unexplained incidents earlier this week across the southern US.
Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, residents found 50 to 100 jackdaws on a street in
Falköping southeast of
Skövde. The site has been blocked for a veterinary inspection of the birds.
"We do not know what the cause is," said Tomas Ahlgren, officer in command at the Skövde police.
Emergency services have cordoned off an area around the site so that the birds can be examined by the county
veterinarian. According to Sveriges Radio
Skaraborg, these are between 50 and 100 dead birds.
A veterinarian was his way to investigate the birds on site on Wednesday morning. County veterinian Robert ter Horst would not speculate on what may have caused the birds' deaths.
"We will work quietly and methodically," he said.
On
New Year's Eve, an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 blackbirds tumbled from the sky on an
Arkansas town shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve.
Separately, 500 birds plummeted to the ground 580 kilometres away in
Louisiana on Monday and a Kentucky woman reported finding dozens of dead birds in her yard.
Speculation on the causes of the US bird deaths has ranged from
fireworks, the weather, noxious fumes or a "sonic boom."
In addition, up to 100,000 dead and dying drum fish have washed up in the Arkansas River and tens of thousands of dead fish have been found in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
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