China probes bizarre death of falling birds

[Guest guest]

- luckypig

[Paranormal_Research] China probes bizarre death of falling birds

 

China probes bizarre death of falling birdsFri Feb 6, 7:11 AM ETBy Benjamin Kang LimBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have been quietly investigating the mysterious deaths of thousands of tiny birds said to have fallen from the sky over Communist Party chief Hu Jintao's birthplace, sources say.The Yangzi Evening News and the Nanjing Daily said more than 10,000 bramblings dropped like "bird rain" from the sky in Taizhou, in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, on Tuesday, considered a bad omen at the beginning of the new lunar year.The editors of the newspapers stood by their stories.The Yangzi Evening News said on Friday authorities had ruled out bird flu, which is sweeping across Asia, as the cause of death and buried the dead birds.A spokesman for the Taizhou city government said the cause of death of the bramblings was unknown but he suspected poisoning."Dead birds have been retrieved from villagers," he said. "Farmers have been told not to sell or eat the birds."The Beijing Times ran a similar story on Thursday, calling it an "inconceivable scene". It quoted a veterinarian as saying migratory birds could die from eating or drinking poisoned food or water.Villagers who ate or came into contact with the dead birds had been put under surveillance, the Yangzi Evening News said on its Web site www.yangtse.com .Samples have been sent to a lab for tests.Bramblings -- small birds that are members of the finch family with an orange breast and shoulder patch, a white rump and a black tail -- fly south from China's northeast every winter.The Communist Party, which is obsessed with stability and frowns on superstition and rumour-mongering, is looking into the newspaper reports."Such reports are not conducive to stability," said a source familiar with the workings of the party's media overlord, the Publicity Department."Beijing is concerned," the source said, adding that the government had sent investigators to Taizhou.Some Chinese are abuzz, seeing the incident as a portent of bad luck. Others were dismissive of birds falling from the sky."This is scary. Is it bird flu?" said Wang Weilan, a 22-year-old restaurant waitress in Beijing from the neighbouring province of Shanxi."I hope nothing bad will happen to President Hu."For thousands of years, Chinese emperors, fearful of losing the mandate of heaven, paid close attention to rumours and reports of natural phenomena such as mysterious deaths of flocks and livestock or inauspicious star formations.China's atheist Communist Party virtually wiped out superstition in the years after sweeping to power in 1949, but such beliefs have grown in the wake of economic reforms, amid a spiritual vacuum.China is battling outbreaks of the deadly bird flu virus in 13 of its 31 provinces, regions and major cities. About 50,000 poultry have died from the disease and more than 1.2 million have been culled to prevent it from spreading.The disease has ravaged Asia and killed at least 18 people. 2004 Reuters Limited. 2004 Inc. All rights reserved.«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»Paranormal_Research - Scientific Data & Health Conspiracies Paranormal_ResearchSubscribe:... Paranormal_Research- Un:Paranormal_Research- Any information here in is for educational purpose only, it may be news related, purely speculation or someone's opinion, If health related always consult with a qualified health practitioner before deciding on any course of treatment, especially for serious or life-threatening illnesses.**COPYRIGHT NOTICE**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107,any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml