Residents in a Scots town have been left baffled after around 20 decapitated birds were found strewn on the ground.
Locals in Alloa on the River Forth in Clackmannanshire were shocked by the bizarre phenomena last week. Around 20 headless birds – including gulls, seabirds and waders, are said to have been found strewn across the ground on an industrial estate on Monday, December 30, with the exact reason why they died still a mystery.
One local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Alloa Advertiser they had never seen anything like it in their lives, claiming the birds had been decapitated. “In over seven years staying in the Harbour Way area, I have never seen scenes that I have just witnessed this morning,” the resident said.
“Occasionally, over the previous years, a bird will be found dead in the water, but 15-20 dead birds of different breeds, all decapitated and deposited on the silt indicate such a macabre ritual to the suffering and death of the birds. [It was] Very strange.”
Samples were later taken from the birds by Scottish Government public health officials in order to test for bird flu.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government added: “As part of the Great Britain dead wild bird surveillance scheme, scientific samples were collected from a small number of gulls, seabirds and waders found dead at a location in Alloa to be tested specifically for avian influenza virus. Results can take up to two weeks to be reported.”
It’s not the first time Brits have been flummoxed by strange items falling from the sky. Reports of frogs falling from the sky have occurred in the 1950s, 80s and 90s which were thought to have been swept up in a storm and deposited to the ground below. And in 2002, residents in Great Yarmouth reported a deluge of silver fish raining from the the sky.
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