Hundreds Of Dead Birds In South Dakota Were Killed By U.S. Government (VIDEO)

When hundreds of dead birds were found Monday in Yankton, South Dakota, many residents were puzzled, thinking it was the latest in a string of similar mysterious mass animal deaths around the world. But this is one instance of the many where a clear cause has been identified, as the U.S. government claims responsibility for killing the more than 200 starlings.

It was initially believed that cold weather may have caused the bird deaths, but then Yankton police received a call from the USDA, attesting that they had poisoned the birds at a feedlot 10 miles away, KTIV reports. Apparently, some 5,000 of the birds were defecating in the feed meal, posing a threat to the animals and farm workers, when the USDA decided killing them would be the best action to take.

A bait laced with the poison DRC-1339 was used, though officials were surprised the birds made it so far before dying. They assure that the poisoned dead birds do not pose a risk to nearby animals or humans.

While the mystery of dead birds falling from the sky in South Dakota was quickly solved, similar mass animal deaths around the world remain enigmatic. 200 dead cows were recently found on a farm in Wisconsin, with a disease or pneumonia suspected as the culprit. Prior to that, mass bird deaths ranging from dozens to thousands were reported in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, California, Italy and Sweden. Mass fish death had been report in Arkansas, Maryland, Chicago, New Zealand and Brazil, and 40,000 crabs washed ashore beaches in England.

Officials don't believe any of the incidents are related, and suspect a wide range of causes to be responsible, from cold weather and fireworks to semi-truck collisions and overeating, though they admit in many instances a clear cause may never be identified. According to The AP, mass animal deaths are not a rare occurrence.

WATCH KTIV's video report:

Comments

[Birdmaster Bird]

02:48 PM on 02/07/2011

Humane bird control systems which do not harm any birds are still the best solution for any type of bird infestation.There is no need to poison or kill them.

[KarlaElisa]

01:35 PM on 01/27/2011

The USDA is quite simply out of control.

[Tara Wright]

01:36 PM on 01/26/2011

For the USDA to claim there's no threat of secondary toxicity is a lie, because there has been at least one documented case of secondary toxicity related to this poison. The USDA shouldn't be using toxins like this so indiscriminately.

[emilio portal]

07:14 PM on 01/25/2011

and two, how is it that a people, whose ancestry is the same as the starling, suddenly support their genocide?

as the starling, the vast majority of the north american population is in fact "invasive, non-native, and parasitic" by their very history and nature. i am not advocating some kind of guilt trip, but rather wish to talk about the reality of world as it is, not as some very small majority (namely the usda & us government) claims it to be for very specific purposes of manipulation.

what i have learnt in my life is that nature is not something that ought to be controlled. this is a perspective that humans have propogated for their own blinded selfish desires of security. i say that these desires are blinded because too often we forget that we are in fact part of nature. we are inherently natural; we are not inherently industrial.

[emilio portal]

06:52 PM on 01/25/2011

i have read a few of the comments posted below and find them very disturbing and even offensive. some of those comments i am re-posting here for your comtemplation:

"They are leaving nature alone. The starlings are not native to North America. They do not belong in our ecosystem.

Starlings are an invasive, destructiv­e species. If we could push a button and remove 100% of them from North America, our ecosystem would be better off for it.

Bah - Starlings. Non-native pests. They are responsibl­e for the decline of many native bird species in the U.S. I love birds, but starlings need to be controlled­.

They are starlings. They are not native to North America. They are a parasite breed brought over from Europe. They are the bane of backyard feeders. This is a good start. Sorry I shouldn't be that nasty about any living thing, but they ARE starlings."

in the comments above, some of the words used to describe the starlings are "non-native, invasive, destructive, pest, and parasite". let us look at that for a moment. this article talks of 200 to 300 birds falling out of the sky, dead, poisoned by the usda in order to control the losses to a specific meat-producing farm/corporation, yet so many have turned around and supported the killing of these so-called "parasites".

two things emerge for me: one, it is plainly obvious how disconnected we, as humans, have become from the natural world.

[pingudo]

02:17 PM on 01/24/2011

haha , they poisoned the birds?
sounds funnier than "fireworks" killed the birds.

[Chilidawg]

01:51 PM on 01/24/2011

Starlings are flying rats.

[Chilidawg]

01:41 PM on 01/24/2011

Bah - Starlings. Non-native pests. They are responsible for the decline of many native bird species in the U.S. I love birds, but starlings need to be controlled.

[fearmonger1]

01:39 PM on 01/24/2011

Why don't we hear about hundreds of elderly dying over the weekend in nursing homes?

Ants die by the thousands in Florida (Raid, ant spray)

Millions of skin cells fall from human bodies every day.

Get a life people

[GaiasChild]

01:19 PM on 01/24/2011

o my gosh, the human race, over populating, trashing everything, eating everything, using everything, what a horror we are and with our awareness, responsible responsible responsible.

[dnharris14]

09:21 AM on 01/24/2011

They are starlings. They are not native to North America. They are a parasite breed brought over from Europe. They are the bane of backyard feeders. This is a good start. Sorry I shouldn't be that nasty about any living thing, but they ARE starlings.

[HapticZ]

07:17 AM on 01/24/2011

have you ever seen those clouds of swirling starlings? like a clattering, rustling smoke in the sky, changing direction, soaring and settling for a few minutes on anything they can perch on! and the droppings! OMG, make sure you wear a hat! when they perch, they chatter, razzz, buzz and make sooooo much spooky noises! Alfred Hitchcok couldnt have done better!

[Chilidawg]

01:52 PM on 01/24/2011

--- and the droppings! OMG, make sure you wear a hat! when they perch---
--------------------------
Aparently, that was the problem, they were crapping up the food supply for the ranches.

[Glaxon]

11:42 PM on 01/23/2011

So the government kills thousands of birds at the behest of a giant factory farm run by an unnamed corporation and it is just business as usual. That stink of corruption is so strong I might vomit.

[Vanitas1301]

06:39 AM on 01/24/2011

Only the USDA or the state can legally kill the birds. It is not corruption, it is the way the laws are set up. On large farm tracks there is plenty of food and few to no predators so the bird populations easily get out of control. Do you want to eat bird poop in your muffins/donuts in your breakfast? Well I doubt the cows appreciated it either.

[Chilidawg]

01:43 PM on 01/24/2011

Agreed 100%. Starlings, house sparrows are non-native pests. Cowbirds are native pests, they all have negative impacts on other bird species.

[rgphil]

11:23 PM on 01/23/2011

As an artist, here's my take on the mass bird death topic. "Birds before the Fall", watercolor, wax, photography http://rgphil.com/?s=300

[Luke Powers]

06:56 PM on 01/23/2011

Is it just me or do these local anchors have creepy hand gestures?