Bye Bye Birdie

I continue to be fascinated by the increasing stories of unexplained wildlife death throughout the US and in other parts of the world. If these occurred as isolated incidents -- here and there over a long period of time -- that would be one thing, but most of these events are taking place in a brief window of time. I realize each may be unconnected to the other, but it still makes a person wonder.

One thing that is fueling much speculation concerns the weak explanations provided by "the authorities". In the case of mass bird deaths in Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisiana, I find it very, very odd that "the authorities" were quick to assure the public that disease or poison was not the culprit. Even before they had formulated their somewhat murky explanations, these two causes were swept off the table.

As I've mentioned in previous posts on this topic, the "fireworks" explanation simply doesn't seem believable. It defies commonsense. In a contemporary world beset with various loud noises, explosions, sonic booms, piercing sirens and jets taking off/landing at airports across the globe, for this kind of explanation to be believable, one would think we would have reports of this nature periodically. Yet, no one in the media nor anyone I've communicated with can think of another time when fireworks were suspected of causing massive bird deaths.

In an article posted on USA Today, Randall Cerveny, a professor of geography at the School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning at Arizona State University in Tempe, says that such incidents are not uncommon. To buttress his position, he provides a list of 12 examples. The list is not very convincing to me because these 12 episodes occurred over a span of 100 years, several spaced decades apart. This rationale in no way helps to explain several incidents in different parts of the world within the same week.

And it's not just birds either. In fact, birds only represent a small fraction of this ever-evolving story. More than birds, there have been several massive fish die-offs all over the globe.

In Brazil, ParanaOnline has reported 100 tons of dead catfish, croaker and sardines. In New Zealand hundreds of dead snapper have been found. And Swedish officials are reporting the deaths of dozens of birds. The Baltimore Sun is also reporting the sudden death of 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay...

In each case, while the official cause has yet to be determined, "the authorities" are quick to pooh pooh any connection between the wildlife deaths in their locale with similar deaths occurring in other parts of the world. In many of these cases, unbelievable explanations -- like the one in Beebe, Arkansas -- are being fed to a bewildered public.

I don't know who put it together, but someone has created a Google Map that is recording many of these reports. The vast majority seem to be centered in the eastern half of the US.

Could all these die-offs be related in some manner? That is my suspicion. Some people have suggested it might be related to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Others have theorized that it has something to do with nerve gas experiments. Still others points to global warming. And, of course, the religious nuts are convinced it's a definite sign of the end times!

At this juncture, I haven't the foggiest idea what the connection might be, but I do think it's probable that some connections exist for some of these events and, possibly, all of them. The thing that convinces me that something is afoot is the speed at which "the authorities" are attempting to dissuade the public from that very notion.