Dead birds rain down on US town

Thousands of poisoned birds have dropped dead in an Illinois town.

Jo-Ann Thole had to pick up hundreds of starlings from her lawn in Breese after they were killed by agricultural officials.

She has turned her garage into a makeshift bird mortuary.

"I've got 117 pounds of dead birds - I weighed them," Mr Thole said.

The European starlings were killed by poison distributed by the Agriculture Department at the request of local farmers, who said the birds had been eating cattle feed and causing other problems.

Kirk Gustad, director of the Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services unit in Springfield, Illinois, said the agency received about two dozen requests from Illinois farmers to kill the starlings.

This week, thousands of dead birds dotted the streets of Breese, a southwestern Illinois town of 4,000 people.

The birds have been seeking out trees to sleep in after spending their days eating feed - and poisoned pellets - at nearby farms.

There were so many dead birds last weekend that police Chief Jim Hummert told residents to put the carcasses in containers at the kerb with their garbage.

"There are some subdivisions with so many dead birds and so much bird droppings that kids can't go out and play," Chief Hummert said.