Fact check: Image shows birds that died in 2018, not from Ohio train derailment

Eleanor McCrary, USA TODAY
·2 min read
7
A Feb. 4 drone photo shows portions of a Norfolk Southern Railroad freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. More than 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride were released and burned.

The claim: Image shows birds dead in Kentucky after Ohio train derailment

A Feb. 16 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) features an image of a dozen birds lying dead on a street.

"Maybe we should be concerned with what's going on In Ohio," reads the caption. "These birds dropped de@d in Ky."

The post was shared over 600 times in less than a day.

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Our rating: False

This image is not from Kentucky and predates the Ohio train derailment. It was taken in Arkansas and has been circulating online since at least 2018.

Photo was taken over four years ago in Arkansas

On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, resulting in the controlled release of toxic chemicals into the environment, USA TODAY reported.

Fact check: Baseless claim that Ohio train derailment was a 'false flag' operation

The birds in this photo did not die from those chemicals, though.

The image was taken in Little Rock, Arkansas, in April 2018, long before the train derailment, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The birds likely died after eating fermented berries, according to an ornithologist quoted in the Democrat-Gazette article.

When birds eat the alcoholic berries, they become intoxicated and fall out of trees or off buildings and die, the ornithologist said.

As of Feb. 20, the only animal deaths confirmed to have been caused by the derailment are 3,500 fish in Ohio, USA TODAY previously reported. However, there are anecdotal reports of animals in East Palestine becoming sick soon after the Feb. 3 wreck.

No such impact has been seen in Kentucky, however, the border of which is hundreds of miles away from East Palestine.

"We are always concerned with the health of the fish and wildlife in our rivers," Kevin Kelly, with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, told USA TODAY on Feb. 17. "Fortunately, there are no acute impacts expected to fish and wildlife in the Kentucky portion of the Ohio River based on current information and testing."

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Image of dead birds is from Arkansas, not Kentucky