With the year 2012 rapidly approaching, humanity is both anxious and perhaps even a bit frightened of what the Hollywood-produced year will bring. Recent spikes in mass deaths of wild animals, natural disasters and political tension have given merit to the supposed impending doom, leaving everyone left to wonder if any of the rumors could really be true.

On New Years Day, well over 1,000 birds were found dead over a 1 mile radius of Beebe, Arkansas. There is much speculation as to how all of these birds could have died at once. Poor weather conditions, fireworks, and toxic chemicals are just some of the theories that are being spread around the country.

Yet, this occurrence is more common than people think. In 2010, there were eight documented accounts of 1,000 or more birds suddenly dying. “Mortality events happen all the time among various bird species,” assured Kevin Keela, a veterinary pathologist at  College of Veterinary Medicine at UGA. “The significance is in the size of the population that is affected, the frequency and the number of animals that die.”

America is not alone; events such as these are happening all over the world. On Jan. 4 hundreds of red snapper fish washed up on New Zealand shores. Sydney biologists began investigating, trying to determine the cause of the deaths. After some study they claimed the cause was starvation, due to harsh weather conditions.

“It is not that unusual,” said Kristen Schuler, scientist at the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Center.
“There is nothing apocalyptic or anything that is necessarily out of the ordinary for what we would see in any given week.”

In the United Kingdom, more than 40,000 Velvet Swimming Crabs were found dead all over the beaches. In addition to the crustaceans there were also deceased lobster, starfish, anemone, and sponges. UK officials also said  it was just extreme weather conditions. They were apparently moving to warmer waters when they were swept away by moving water flow and froze in the colder waters.

These are just some of the mass animal death accounts. The reason people are panicking about this is several biblical verses mention these events, Ecclesiastes 9:12-“For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” Another verse people may consider bothersome in association with this event is Zephaniah 1:3 which says, “I will consume the birds of the heavens and the fishes of the sea.”

This is getting religion and apocalypse fans hyped up because this could be one of the early signs of the rapture. For those who need to be caught up on their dooms day knowledge; the rapture is an event where true Christian believers will be gathered together to meet Jesus Christ and live with him while all non-believers perish on the post-apocalyptic earth.

Whether this is scientific or superstitious it is strange nonetheless. Whether or not this is a sign of the end of the world, we as a species are certainly more on our toes because of these crazy incidents.