Video: Massive fish kill deepens dead bird mystery

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2. Transcript of: Massive fish kill deepens dead bird mystery

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   BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: We mentioned this earlier and we're back now with the puzzling story of a massive kill of wildlife in the state of Arkansas . Birds falling out of the sky, the result of some sort of trauma, and fish found dead in the water , thousands of them in separate incidents in the same state. We get our report tonight from NBC 's Janet Shamlian in Beebe , Arkansas .

   JANET SHAMLIAN reporting: They rain down on a small Arkansas town like a scene from a horror movie. Thousands of dead black birds on front lawns, and so many in the street, drivers could barely avoid them.

   Mr. CHARLES MOORE (Resident): I went out to get the paper and I looked and I said, 'Wait a minute, what is this?' And there were birds all -- we probably had 14 or 15 just in the front yard.

   SHAMLIAN: As many as 5,000 bird carcasses littered across a one-mile radius after dropping from the sky on New Year's Eve . So you had them just about everywhere?

   Mr. MOORE: Oh, my goodness. They were all over the place .

   SHAMLIAN: What could have caused it? As the state veterinarian examined the birds today, theories have run the gambit from their being hit by lightning or high altitude hail to being spooked to death by New Year's Eve fireworks.

   Dr. GEORGE BADLEY (Arkansas State Veterinarian): They do have a lot of trauma. I mean, they were like they were hit by something.

   SHAMLIAN: Beyond the birds and adding to the mystery, a massive fish kill also here in Arkansas just one day earlier. As many as 100,000 drum fish dead along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River . It's 100 miles from the dead birds but the Internet was ripe with conspiracy theories. One Twitter user writing, "5,000 dead birds , now 100,000 dead fish, definitely an alien invasion happening in Arkansas ." The experts call it coincidence.

   Mr. KEITH STEPHENS (Arkansas Fish and Game Commission): Extremely unusual, having two events like this at practically the same time. We don't think that there's any connection whatsoever.

   SHAMLIAN: Wildlife officials say the fish likely died of disease, not a pollutant. Too alarming. Some have called biblical type of events that have many residents wondering what's next. Janet Shamlian , NBC News, Beebe, Arkansas .

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