Quotes of the Day

When it comes to mass animal death in 2011, birds do it, fish do it, and now even cows do it. For a number of Christian theologians, it's enough to suggest the end of days is near.

The latest in a bizarre series of animal deaths occurred on January 14. The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune reported that the Portage County Sheriff's Department dispatched police to the town of Stockton after a cattle owner discovered "numerous dead cows" in a field. The owner, whose name has been withheld by authorities, told deputies that he suspected the animals died of IBR (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis), a respiratory condition, or BVD (bovine virus diarrhea), an illness that can damage a cow's digestive and immune systems, lead to pneumonia and kill unborn calves. Authorities have sent samples from the cow corpses to Madison to determine the exact cause of death. (More on Time.com:

Regardless of the outcome of those necropsies, plenty of people find the herd's mysterious death somewhat apocalyptic, especially in the wake of events that claimed the lives of thousands of birds and fish in Arkansas, and hundreds of birds in Sweden, Louisiana and Kentucky.

Some Christians, including online theologian Paul Begley in Indiana, believe the animal deaths were divined from above as a sign the end of days is approaching. The death of cows, birds and fish in particular seems to follow the prophecy set out by the Bible in the Book of Hosea, and are said to result when man turns his back on God. "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood," the prophecy goes. "Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away."

"There's something biblically going on with the signs of the second coming of Christ," Begley says on his YouTube channel. His message could creep out believers and non-believers alike. But don't expect the second coming any time soon. He adds that "we still need seven years of tribulation" and "the rise of the anti-Christ" for that to happen. (via the New York Daily News.) (More on Time.com:

• WILLIAM LEE ADAMS