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Louisiana investigates new mass bird kill

LABAREE, La., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Wildlife officials in Louisiana say they will send some of the dead blackbirds found along a highway this week to a federal lab for testing.

Some of the estimated 500 birds killed in Pointe Coupee Parish would be sent Tuesday to federal wildlife research centers in Wisconsin and Georgia for necropsies.

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The blackbirds and starlings apparently fell to earth in Labaree on Monday, a few days after a similar mysterious calamity involving about 3,000 birds was reported in neighboring Arkansas.

Speculation into the incidents has included a lightning strike on an in-flight flock or even the concussion and noise caused by New Year's Eve fireworks.

Louisiana State Wildlife Veterinarian Jim LaCour said weather may have played a role in the Pointe Coupee incident. He told the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate that cold temperatures could cause a large die-off within a flock weakened by a disease.

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