Over 1000 Dead Birds in Italy Mystify Authorities in Wake of Worldwide Animal Die-Offs

In the wake of mass animals die-offs all over the world, wildlife officials in Italy have met with their own mysterious dead bird population. Or populations, that is, because the dead birds being found in Italy are dying by the hundreds and have done so in a series of mass deaths in the past week. The Telegraph reported Friday that the Italian forestry commission had picked up over a thousand dead birds, mostly turtle doves (but also pigeons and a few other representatives of other species), in the past week, with the latest being a group of 300 in the city of Faenza.

Italian officials noted that in the recovery the latest set of dead birds, the beaks had a blue tinge to them. This would indicate that the birds had either been poisoned or had somehow died from hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, experts said.

The Telegraph noted that the series of Italian dead birds were the largest case of bird deaths in Europe reported thus far. The only other report was one out of Sweden where a small population of just over 50 jackdaws were found dead. Wildlife experts there determined that the dark birds had died from "sudden, hard external blow."

That determination echoed the findings of Arkansas officials attempting to assess and determine what might have caused the sudden deaths of 5,000 birds in central United States. Although the red-winged blackbird population was found to have died from "acute physical trauma," experts and authorities were at a loss to determine what caused the large population of birds to fall from the Arkansas night-time sky on New Year's Eve.

That strange occurrence had followed a massive fish kill about a hundred miles to the west. On the same day the Arkansas fish kill was discovered, millions of sardines, mullet, and catfish washed up on the shore in Brazil.

More bird kills followed in Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas. Fish kills also followed in New Zealand, Maryland, Florida, and South Carolina.

In England, over 40,000 dead devil crabs, along with various other sea creatures, washed up on the shores of Kent.

Most of the massive animal die-offs have been explained away by abnormal weather conditions, normal overpopulation die-offs, and other agents, such as vehicular collisions with some of the bird populations, but not all of the kills have had ready or easily acceptable explanations. Some have turned to conspiracy theories, UFOs, and bibles to explain the strange occurrences.

A local newspaper in Italy made the comment that it was hoped that the dead birds had been poisoned or had fallen ill "because that would be easier to deal with than it being a sign the world is coming to an end."

Massimo Bolognesi, of the local World Wildlife Federation, told the Telegraph that the reports began on January 2 and had been coming in every day since then. He said that over a thousand of the collected bird corpses were of turtle doves and all the birds, including the pigeons, had had the blue tint around their beaks. He noted that they would know more when test results returned Monday, but, he said, "it's the numbers that make this such a notable event and for the moment it is a mystery."

As is the the Arkansas bird kill still...

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Source:

Nick Pisa, "More than 1000 Turtle Doves fall from the sky in Italy in latest mass bird death case," Telegraph.co.uk