Huge fish kill in Arkansas

The 20-mile stretch along the Arkansas River where an estimated 100,000 drum fish were found washed ashore and floating looks much different now.

Keith Stephens with Game and Fish explains, "We got a call last week from a tug boat operator that found the fish out on the river along the bank, in the river channel and we immediately dispatched somebody to the area to take a look."

Investigators from local and state agencies took samples from the affected area. Stephens says fish kills occur every year, but the magnitude of this one is unusual, and disease could be the cause.

A pollutant would have affected cross species. Stephens says, "Ninety-nine percent of them were Drum, which is a bottom feeder. It's not a game fish in Arkansas."

Read more here

In addition to that news out of Arkansas comes this shocking report:

Bemused U.S. officials are looking into why more than 1,000 blackbirds crashed from the sky in Arkansas on the final day of 2010.

In scenes reminiscent of the FlashForward drama series, state wildlife employees were searching the town of Beebe after scores of birds fell to the ground late on New Year's Eve, continuing into the early hours of the morning.

High winds and tornadoes swept through Arkansas on New Year's Eve, killing seven people, and state staff believe the bizarre incident could be down to the severe conditions.

That story here.