Suspected flu birds were 'drunk'

Experts who conducted tests on 40 songbirds found dead in Vienna say they didn’t die of bird flu as initially feared, but slammed into windows after becoming intoxicated from eating fermented berries.

The birds – whose remains were carefully examined to ensure they were not victims of avian influenza – had livers so diseased “they looked like they were chronic alcoholics,” Sonja Wehsely, a spokeswoman for Vienna’s veterinary authority, told Austrian television today.