Continuing on our apocalyptic series covering dead birds, dead fish and dead crabs, there are now reports of thousands of dead turtle doves falling from the sky in Italy. All the birds are said to have a blue tinge to their beaks, which is normally associated with lack of oxygen or poisoning.
Massimo Bolognesi, of the local World Wildlife Federation, said: “We first started getting reports on Sunday and since then they have been coming in every day. We have collected more than 1,000 turtle doves corpses but there is also the odd pigeon. All have this blue tint to their beak.
“Tests are being carried out on the bodies by the local forestry commission and we should get the results next week but it’s the numbers that make this such a notable event and, for the moment, it is a mystery.”
