Falling, Dead Pigeons Mar City Festival

[matcom]

<snip>

TEXARKANA, Texas --Poisoned pigeons began nose-diving into pavement and dying on downtown sidewalks, marring the city's annual festival.

Authorities cleaned up more than 25 sick or dead birds that apparently had eaten poisoned corn from the roof of a nearby bank branch.

"The death of these pigeons was more than an unfortunate accident," local CapitalOne Bank President Lacy McMillen said in Tuesday's online edition of Texarkana Gazette. "It was not the intention of the bank to harm any of these birds."

McMillen said the bank hired an exterminator to handle its pigeon problem after a bird entered the bank and defecated on a customer.

The company hired, Anti-Pest Co. Inc. of Shreveport, La., said its goal with the treated corn was to sicken pigeons so they would leave the rooftop. Death was sometimes an unfortunate side effect, company president Jarrod Horton said.

A similar pigeon control effort at a hospital in Schenectady, N.Y., led to a hazardous materials incident in July. Emergency workers spent hours searching the hospital grounds and putting dead birds in red hazardous-waste bags after an exterminator use a pesticide to get rid of pigeons on the roof. Fire Chief Robert Farstad had described the scene as birds "coming down like dive bombers."

Vera Martin, working at Texarkana's weekend Quadrangle Festival, said the poisoning in the Texas-Arkansas border city sends a bad message to children.

"I think it's cruelty to animals," she said. "What other animals could be killed in the process of doing this?"

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2006/09/13/falling_dead_pigeons_mar_city_festival?mode=PF

[xchrom]

1. i just had an image of a dead pigeon beaning a baby in a stroller...

booooy that would ruin some one's day at the festival.

[MrCoffee]

2. Death was sometimes an unfortunate side effect

ain't it, though?

[Richard Steele]

4. Yeah, that happens sometimes when you POISON THINGS!

Really can't be helped, I suppose...:sarcasm:

[aaronbees]

3. I'm one of the reporters who broke this story

locally. Can't say much except ... it's a strange news town and this is the strangest of the strange. :crazy:

[pitohui]

5. yeah death is an unfortunate side effect of poison sometimes

who the heck are they kidding?

[aaronbees]

7. No one....lol

Pretty amazing they put it that way .... and didn't bat an eye at either the justification or the result. It's a sensibility I just can't fathom, to be honest -- that kind of carelessness with life. I mean, how hard would it be to put up owl cutouts or take some other more humane measure to ward off them pesky pigeons? It's not like there are hordes of pigeons descending on our downtown.

[pitohui]

9. in all fairness owl cut outs don't work

pigeons are stupid but they're not that stupid

i don't know of a humane way to ward off pigeons, in trafalgar square you sometimes meet a man who is paid to fly a harris hawk (native to the usa, not england!) to chase away the pigeons but i wonder if the pigeons would say it's more humane to be hunted down by a killer than to be poisoned?

[aaronbees]

10. I know a couple businesses that use owls but

they are smaller than this building -- less pigeon traffic to divert I guess. At least a hawk would be somewhat in the natural order of things, but hardly a kind end if things come to blows. ;) I think I'll be researching this whole pigeon pickle for the next couple of days. :)

[AlienGirl]

12. AFAIK the falcons don't often take city pigeons

The falconers chase the pigeons away, but last I heard they didn't catch them; too likely to be full of toxic stuff that isn't good for hawks.

Tucker

[Broken_Hero]

6. damn....weird stories, you got a nose for these...:) Good job...nt

[everythingsxen]

8. They should be arrested

The company I mean.

That's pretty F'd up.

I know pigeons are not popular birds// but come on.

[AlienGirl]

11. I agree, poor pidgies!

[CanuckAmok]

13. "No parachutes yet........OH MY GOD, THEY"RE PIGEONS!"

To paraphrase Les Nessman.

[KT2000]

14. Exterminators

should be licensed and required to pass yearly exams.
So many of these people are idiots who do irresponsible things with dangerous chemicals - we just don't usually know about it. State requirements are nothing but a joke.

I would also like to see people in this industry tested for brain function.