10,000 Cattle Dead In Vietnam: Cows, Buffalo Part Of Mass Die-Off / Wisconsin farmer shocked to discover 200 dead cows / Chicago Fish Die-Off: Thousands Of Shad Dead In Lake Michigan / Birds Fall From

In the latest of a string of mass animal deaths, 10,000 cows and buffalo have died in Vietnam.

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed the news this week that more than 10,000 cows and buffalos died nationwide due to harsh weather conditions.

Cattle have been dying throughout Vietnam, which has had a particularly intense winter. The northern mountainous province of Cao Bang was hardest hit with 2,260 dead cattle, per Thanh Nien News. Some have said the number of total dead cattle may be as high as 13,000.

Mass animal deaths have been in the news quite a bit lately. Hundreds of birds were found dead in South Dakota early this week, and before that birds were found dead in Italy and birds fell from the sky in Arkansas, among other incidents.

Some of the mass die-offs have been explained - for instance, indigestion is thought to be the cause in Italy and the U.S. government has admitted involvement in the South Dakota case. But others remain up for debate.
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The Portage County Humane Society is investigating what killed 200 cows. First it was birds in Arkansas. Then it was fish in Maryland. And now authorities are trying to figure out what killed 200 cows in a pasture in Stockton, Wisc.

The owner of the cattle told sheriff's deputies he suspects the cows died from a virus – most likely IBR (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis) or BVD (bovine virus diarrhea), which can cause respiratory and reproductive problems, the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune reported.

Samples of the dead animals were sent to Madison to be tested, but officials said other animals and people in the area will likely not be affected by whatever killed the cows. The Portage County Humane Society is handling the investigation, the newspaper said.

Attempts by local media to reach the unlucky farmer were unsuccessful.

The death of the cows is just the latest in mass animal deaths in the US.

Last week, an estimated 300 birds were found out the side of a highway in Alabama. Experts told WAAY-TV that a large vehicle, most likely a tractor trailer was responsible for the deaths.

The attention to large-scale animal deaths began on New Year's Eve when thousands of black birds fell from the sky in Arkansas, prompting speculation about everything from mass poisoning to a sign of the apocalypse.

In reality, officials said, the bird deaths were probably a result of a change weather conditions.

"Not to worry," Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson told the AP earlier this month. "These are not portents that the world is about to come to an end.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Over 100 birds were found dead along a California highway this past weekend, and thousands of dead fish were reported along Chicago's lakefront prior to that. A smaller incident of around 30 dead birds was also reported in Missouri.

According to the AP, the dead birds found along Highway 101 in California "were intact and had not been shot." Thousands of gizzard shad, a member of the herring family, were found dead in Chicago's harbors, many floating in ice, The Sun-Time reports. Even more abnormal, according to wildlife experts, was the sight of Canada geese and mallards munching on the dead fish, something not ordinarily a part of their diet.

California and Illinois join countless other states that have seen mass animal deaths in the past weeks. Thousands of dead birds and fish were reported in Arkansas within 100 miles of each other, and then days later hundreds more dead birds turned up 300 miles away in Louisiana. Reports of similar incidents continued, with dead birds turning up Kentucky and millions of dead fish appearing in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay.

The incidents haven't been isolated to the U.S., as hundreds of dead birds were discovered in Italy, and dozens of birds fell from the sky in Sweden. Massive fish kills were reported in Brazil and New Zealand, while England experienced an estimated 40,000 dead crabs washing onto its beaches.

Various wildlife officials attest that the events are unrelated, and are not uncommon. Multiple explanations have been suggested as likely causes for various incidents. Experts believe the dead birds in Italy suffered from indigestion after overeating, while fireworks have been blamed for bird deaths in Arkansas, Louisiana and Sweden. Unusually cold weather has been speculated as the culprit in many of the fish and crab deaths, with some suggesting the same for the bird incidents.

As for the latest reports of birds falling from the sky in California and dead fish washing ashore in Chicago, officials are currently uncertain as to what could be responsible.


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On Wednesday, GeaPress reported hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of dead and dying birds in Italy. Countless turtle doves were found scattered in the streets, in flower beds and hanging tragically from trees "like Christmas balls" in the town of Faenza. Many of the birds that fell dead from the sky were discovered with a mysterious blue stain in their beaks.

In the past week, similar incidents of mass animal deaths have been reported across the world. Thousands of dead birds fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, and similar incidents were reported on different days in Louisiana, Kentucky and Sweden. Two million fish were discovered dead in Maryland, with other fish kills also reported in Brazil, New Zealand and Arkansas -- approximately 100 miles from the bird incident. 40,000 crabs washed up on England beaches in the past few days, as well.

While the events are likely unrelated, most still remain a mystery. Officials suggest fireworks are likely responsible for many of the bird deaths and that unusually cold weather could be to blame for the strange mass deaths of fish and crabs.

GeaPress suggests that the blue stains found in mouths of the dead and dying birds in Italy could be the result of poisoning or possibly signs of hypoxia. Both the local forest service and the WWF in Faenza have sent some of the dead birds for testing, though the results likely won't be available for at least a week.

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Dead fish in the Chesapeake, birds dying in Arkansas and Kentucky, thousands of crab corpses littering beaches in England.

These random incidents around the world have unleashed a flood of conspiracy theories, each proclaiming government cover-ups or apocalyptic proclamations about the end of the world.

"Personally, I definitely do believe we're in the End of Days, and I believe there is a lot of evidence of that," Steve Wohlberg, an author and theologian who has written several books about the end of the world, told the Daily News.

Although he believed experts needed time to perform tests to determine how and why these animals perished, the deaths are "mysteriously interesting," and part of a larger picture that indicates the world is spiraling downward towards its end.

"I'm an observer of the times," said Wohlberg, who hosts a nationally syndicated radio show and has appeared on several television documentaries about the Bible and the Apocalypse. "The End of Days will have a parallel to the days of Noah," he said.

For example, Wohlberg explained, God used animals to signal the flood was approaching by having them gather two-by-two and enter the Ark.

"On the Earth today, there's a lot of violence, and a lot of corruption," Wohlberg said. "Indicators are flashing that there's a storm ahead of us."


A dead starling (l.) and red-winged blackbird lay along the side of a road in Louisiana. (Condo/AP)

Religious fears of the world's collapse are not the only theories emerging from the recent slew of animal deaths. Government coverups are also being fed, including the theory that the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program known as HAARP is behind the death of the birds.

The Alaska-based facility states it is used to conduct ionospheric research, but is often blamed for causing earthquakes and storms and is described by some as a super-secret weapon operated by the government.

"That's been a popular one for the last two decades," said Dr. Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and a columnist for Scientific American. "It naturally generates paranoia, it's like Area 51."

There are even reports claiming to link the suspected murder of one of the champions of the Vietnam War Memorial, John Wheeler, to the death of thousands of birds in Arkansas on New Year's Day.

The 66-year-old former special assistant to the secretary of the Air Force was, according to the conspiracy theory, going to expose a link between chemical weapons and the strange incident involving thousands of red-winged blackbirds.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doomsday believers got more signs of the apocalypse on Wednesday, as reports of mass animal deaths continued to emerge around the world.

Hundreds of dead birds were found on the streets in Murray, Kentucky, officials announced Wednesday, marking the second time this week that the state has made such a discovery. Earlier in the week, several dozen dead birds were found in Gilbertsville Kentucky, according to local station WPSD.

The animal deaths in the western part of the state seem to have occurred last week, according to state officials, who told The Associated Press they discovered the dead grackles, red wing blackbirds, robins and starlings after someone called police with a tip.

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources spokesman Mark Marraccini said the birds were not found to have diseases and did not appear to have ingested poisons, based on test results. He cited weather or natural events as possible explanations, according to the AP.

Sweden also reported discovering 50 dead jackdaw birds on a street in Stockholm, while 40,000 dead crabs washed up on beaches in England, according to European media reports.

These reports come on the heels of a string of mass animal death stories from Arkansas, Maryland, Brazil and New Zealand, which have caused many to joke or speculate that the world is on the verge of the apocalypse.

So far, however, each incident has been accompanied by a seemingly scientific explanation.

The birds in Kentucky may have died as a result of fireworks in the area, officials told the AP, while environmental experts say cold water likely led to the demise of the crabs in the U.K.

Cold water was also labeled the culprit in the deaths of millions of fish in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay this week.

That may be the result of climate change -- this winter marked the chilliest December to hit Britain in 120 years, according to the Daily Mail.

The panic began when roughly 5,000 dead blackbirds dropped from the sky on New Years Day in Beebe, Ark, causing some residents to call 911.

"They are like bleeding out of the mouth and some of them are not dead. I think they have been poisoned," said one caller, in a 911 call released this week.

Despite the unusual timing of the events, officials say the explanation is probably nothing out of the ordinary.

As wildlife expert Tony Child told the Star, "It's just part of the circle of life."

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It isn't 2012, but a rash of animal deaths is making this year look like the End of Days.

Following on the heels of thousands of red-winged blackbirds dying in a small Arkansas town, several hundred more mysteriously died farther south in Louisiana.

Officials are trying to determine what killed an estimated 500 of the small birds, who littered Louisiana Highway 1 near Pointe Coupee Parish when they fell out of the sky, according to Baton Rouge's The Advocate.

Among this new batch of dead birds were several starlings, the newspaper reported.

"We have sent bird carcasses to two individual labs to obtain toxicology reports," Bo Boehringer, spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, told the Daily News.

He said it was not clear what had caused the birds to die off, despite random theories including fireworks or hail, as well as the wrath of God and government conspiracies. Boehringer downplayed any connection between the red-winged blackbird deaths in Louisiana to the ones in Arkansas, several hundred miles away.

"It's too early to connect the two scenarios," he said, noting that it could be a week or more before the results come back.

Meanwhile, as officials in Arkansas continue to investigate what may have killed nearly 100,000 fresh water drum in the Arkansas River, wildlife experts in Maryland are looking into their own massive fish kill in the Chesapeake Bay.

"We are seeing small/juvenile menhaden, croaker, spot fish dead, in very large fish kills," said Dawn Stoltzfus, director of communications for Maryland's Department of the Environment. "The numbers are estimated in the hundreds of the thousands at this point."

Officials began receiving reports of the dead fish last week. The species there generally leave for warmer waters during this time of year, but it was not clear why that did not happen, she said.

"The drop in water temperatures has been quite quick in December, and cold stress is the likely cause [of the deaths]," Stoltzfus said.

The last time the Chesapeake saw such a massive fish kill was in 1976, records show, when about 15 million spot died due to the cold.

Mysterious animal deaths so far this year have not been limited to the United States.

Nearly 100 tons of dead fish, consisting mostly of sardines, hit the beaches of Paranagua, Brazil, on Sunday.

According to Paraná Online, a team from the Environmental Institute of Paran?/a>? is conducting tests to determine what killed them. As a precaution, the sale of seafood in Paranagua has been suspended.

The website also reports dead fish have begun to appear along the coasts of Antonina, Guaraquecaba and Pontal do Pontal do Paraná.

"We desperately need a solution to this," said Edmir Manoel Ferreira, president of the Federation of Fishermen of Paraná.

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An estimated 100,000 fish have died in the northwest of Arkansas, the same state where up to 5000 dead birds recently fell from the sky.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it suspected disease was to blame for the death of the drum fish, which floated in the water and lined the banks of a 30-kilometre stretch of the Arkansas River near Ozark, about 200km northwest of Little Rock, CNN reported on Sunday.

Ozark is about 200km west of the town of Beebe, where game wardens were trying to find out why up to 5000 blackbirds fell from the sky just before midnight on New Year's Eve, CNN said.

Keith Stephens from the game and fish commission said fish kills occurred every year but the size of the latest one was unusual, and suggested some sort of disease was to blame.

"The fish kill only affected one species of fish," he told CNN.

"If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish."

A tugboat operator discovered the dead fish on Friday night, and fisheries officials collected some of the dying animals to conduct tests.

Meanwhile, game and fish commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said the blackbirds found in Beebe showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail", the Associated Press reported.

The AP said more than 1000 birds fell from the sky but CNN put the number at up to 5000.

The commission said that New Year's Eve revellers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.

The commission said on Saturday that it began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11.30pm local time the previous night.

The birds fell over a two-kilometre area, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.