pigeon papers

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Location: Brooklyn, NY, United States

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

REHAB/RESCUE STORIES


9 week old "squeaker" leg partially ripped off; the other bird had no tail feathers and no wing feathers and was badly skinned. The lack of wing feathers is what caused the inability to fly. Posted by Hello


New York City From The Perspective of a Pigeon Lover
by "Anonymous" (volunteer rehab worker)

IN a Manhattan Borough, there was a small area that represented a little microcosm. An overhead trestle constructed for one of the elevated train runs formed that underpass. Beneath, is a set of supporting columns and horizontal formations that are created by the concrete beams. A street runs there and cars pass by throughout the day. There is an island separating the traffic merging into a single road. It was a natural roosting place for pigeons and a large flock once resided there. They made their nests on the horizontal beams and would come down to the island and the sidewalks to peck on the cement, looking for the pieces of grit they required for the mineral content their system s needed. Sometimes, a kindly person would drop some bread on the island and it was a welcome treat for a flock in a perpetual state of near starvation and malnourishment. This was a natural dumping area for those who felt it was an easy drop point for those items that were no longer needed. There were broken air conditioners, old tires, pieces of discarded cars and miscellaneous other types of garbage. The place reeked of automotive oil rotting organic material. and was rat infested.

Anyone caught dropping some food for those birds would get an argument by residents of the surrounding residential area. After all, these birds are dirty and give diseases to people. These well meaning folks would be on the receiving end of these arguments while all of the rotting garbage lining the area stood accumulating.
Nobody ever realized that this unclean place was giving diseases to the pigeons. It was, of course, the pigeons that were giving diseases to people. Perhaps the energy spent in fighting good people would have been better spent in cleaning up the area but it's always easier to open up a mouth and complain about the birds than to do something more constructive.

The birds somehow survived in this area for years. They would fly to the avenues and look for anything edible that had been dropped onto the ground. They would hunt for grass seed that was there during the warm weather. They went about their business of trying to make a living as best as they could but there were a lot of casualties.

Baby pigeons become very excited when the parents come to feed them. Sometimes, they forget where they are walking and fall down onto the pavement. Their young wings are too weak to carry them back to the nest. When they come down, they are frightened and either run in different directions looking for a way up, thereby becoming lost or sit where they fall, waiting for the parent to come help. They usually die first.
Small neighborhood kids usually found these babies and grabbed them by a wing, swinging them around and around until the flight feathers were ripped off and the elbow holding these feathers were shattered.

When the fun is over, the hapless youngsters were left to their fate and it came in the form of a car running over t hem, a street cat or rodent looking for an easy meal. They were the lucky ones. These unfortunate birds smart enough to seek cover, died of trauma, starvation and thirst. Sometimes, a kid would pick up a rock and use the baby as target practice.

A good idea was to jam the bird into the hole of a tree, step back and see how many rocks it would take to kill the it. Sometimes, if there was a book of matches available, one was lit and various parts of the body received the flame. These things have happened. They have been observed.

I took what was left of the birds and tried to bring them back. There are lots of ways to torture and then destroy life and it's easy. It's not so easy to save life.

Once, a young bird first trying out its flying abilities came down on the barbed wire that was lining the top of a metal fence. The barbs penetrated his body and the more he struggled, the more injured he became. He die d slowly, hanging upside down. I'll never forget that sight. This was one bird I didn't see.

A young pigeon picking among the garbage, became entangled in some string. It wrapped around his foot and when he flew, the long strand of string would trail behind him. One day the pigeon landed on a tree branch and the string caught on some twigs. The youngster, weakened by a lack of food did not have the strength to break free of this trap and after he was totally exhausted from his attempts, sat on the branch until he died of starvation and thirst.

He was seen hanging by the string from the tree after he died.

Had the bird been stronger, he would have flown, ripping the leg from his body in order to escape from that situation. The chances are that if that happened, he would have died from loss of blood.

Somebody would have had to have seen this bird and gotten a ladder to reach him in order to save his life. Nobody ever looked into the tree to seek anything like that and if by any chance, the hapless bird was spotted, who would have helped? I didn't see this bird until after he died. One doesn't forget sights like that too easily. They stick in the mind and come back at night to haunt.


Pigeons are very territorial. Where they live, they stay. Their instincts prevent them from moving somewhere else. The pigeon has a strong homing instinct and even though an injured or sick bird would be picked up and healed by a rehabilitator, it would fly back to that place, back to its home, back to hell.

I went to that area every evening after work to feed the pigeons and pick up any bird that was injured or sick. I found a nightmare of illnesses that ranged from severe abscesses to salmonella cases that were the worst I had ever seen. There were a lot of injured pigeons too. It took a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of effort to bring these birds back. I picked up more birds from that area than I had from any other before or since that time.

The neighbors finally did something about that place. An exterminator was brought in to kill off all of the birds.

Driving through now, it is all been cleared. If one stops to look and listen, it is very quiet. There are substantially no birds there. The pigeon flock is gone. There are no new birds being born. The silence is no longer broken by their peeping sounds. There are no longer birds coming down to the people who dropped some bread for them. All I know is that they are gone and the garbage is still there.

Occasionally, a single pigeon can be spotted on the ground looking for something to eat and who is to say that it was part of the original flock or a passerby?

One also wonders how the kids who "played with the babies" will turn out but the people who raise them now have a pigeon-free area and that will be enough to keep them satisfied. After all, kids will be kids. However, they may grow up to become those who abuse their wives and children or continue to pillage our planet until there will be nothing left for the pigeons or for us but everybody is entitled to their share of what is left, aren't they?

This isn't just about one area. It's about the lack of respect most people have for our fellow travelers. It's about what we teach our children about the sanctity of life. It's about compassion. It's about how we are educating our children and it's about what is not being taught to them. It's about abusive parents and how they shape those who will take over after we are gone.

This is the way it is for all pigeon flocks no matter where they are. This is how they try to survive in spite of all the dangers.

These birds can teach us something about life and how to fight for it until the very end. They will hide their illnesses until they can't anymore. They stand until they can no longer stand. Then they lie down until the last breath leaves them. They are fighters and survive in spite of what we do to them and to their environment.

When you hear somebody call a pigeon a "Flying rat," think about it. Perhaps it is more important to think about who is saying it.

I don't visit that place anymore. There is nothing for me to do there.



- Anonymous rehabillitator, NY; copyright 2004

"Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)


In 1986 the Association of Pigeon Veterinarians issued a statement that concludes, "To our knowledge, the raising, keeping, and the exercising of pigeons and doves represents no more of a health hazard than the keeping of other communal or domestic pets." A spokesman for the American PigeonFanciers Council says this statement applies to feral pigeon flocks, too.http://birds.cornell.edu/ppw/faq.htm


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POST TO OTHER RESCUERS FROM PIGEON RESCUER IN BROOKLYN, NY

JULY 2004

Hi.

Ultimately when you care about wildlife and animals, you encounter heartbreaking situations. From not being able to help every pigeon to encountering mean-spirited people to whatever it is... I'm just curious how most people in this group deal with that.

I encountered a fledgling pigeon on the top of some brownstone steps the other day and I sussed out the spot and decided the bird could survive between there and a spot I saw the bird 'hide in' at night the night prior.

Okay, I know some of this is hard to gauge but gauge we must, to the best of our abilities. I went back the next morning and kind of figured out its routine. I had once had a situation with some rehabbers where a bird had come down from a store ledge, we put the bird back 'up top' and it flew right back down the next day. And the rehabbers thought if given a couple more days the bird would be able to fly and it was best not to intervene.

These are the decisions people have to make every day, some may not agree with that, but I personally try as hard as I can not to separate the bird from its parents (I’m sure most do but some people it seems want to step in all situations and that is not me).

Anyway, I left a note at this house with what I had discovered... and said the bird will be able to fly in a few days ... can you let it be? Explained that it still needed the parents but could eat on its own (I threw down some
seed and it ate some). Well I went back the next morning, the bird was gone and also my notes were gone so I assume they saw them. I looked all over to see if the bird had a new spot. It's hard for me not to think the worst.
Some people are so wonderful and then others won't want a fledgling pigeon - with other pigeons - anywhere near by.

Not to be partisan in any way but these people had a "john kerry for president" sign in their window which made me think... couldn't you be a little compassionate? (if not just to the bird, to me?) not that that is the inclination of all democrats.

Now, I've assumed the worst that they moved the bird ... but since I cannot know at the moment what happened... my questions are: how do you all decide when you have to make decisions like that?

I left a note and I didn't know whether it was better to bring it to their attention, or not.

(It seemed, from the 'poop' factor that the bird may have been there a day or so.) and how do you not get so angry at people - whether this is justified or not in the situation - why wouldn't they call me?

I'm curious how others deal with upsetting situations and not (a) torturing yourself about decisions made and (b) getting too angry at others. I've had a rehabber tell me that it's also something you will question - making the right decision - no matter what so maybe that comes with the territory.

Thanks.

Cathryn.

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DIARY --------------------BY MERLE ENGLISHSTAFF WRITERJuly 18, 2004In the 12 years since she retired, Connie von Hundertmark, a former flight attendant, has awakened between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. every day to feed hundreds of wild ducks near the boathouse at Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
The ducks have come to know her over the years. They hear the motor of the blue van she drives from her home 2 1/2 miles away and run to meet her, hungry for the day-old shredded bagels, rolls, pastries and bird seed she brings them. Sometimes she is surrounded by as many as 300 feathered creatures, including Canada geese and what she refers to as a "resident swan."
"I am not allowed to feed the geese, because it interferes with migration, but the ducks don't migrate," von Hundertmark said. If geese approach her while she is feeding the ducks, though, she won't shoo them away. Some of the ducks eat from her hand. A few are so tame and approachable she gave them names. One, which she described as "part duck and part geese," she called Half-&-Half. He had yellow feet and a yellow bill, but instead of white feathers, his were dark like those of a black and white Canada goose.
On July 1, her pastime, which she said brought pleasure to bikers, joggers and picnickers, was marred by a horrible scene.

Six of the ducks were dead. Their necks had been wrung. Half-&-Half was among them.

"The murderer waded through the water, past a fence and crept into their sanctuary under the boathouse where they have taken shelter and nested for years," von Hundertmark wrote Newsday in a letter faxed the same day. "They survived New York's most brutal winter only to be killed while they were at peace. The resident swan is also missing. Perhaps she too was a victim."

To von Hundertmark, 57, a Pittsburgh native who is single and has no close family members living, the "carnage," as she described the duck slaughter, was a personal blow. "What I found today was a horrific act," she wrote. "This massacre saddened me deeply. This idyllic park has become a horror site of animal killing. The murder of these innocent animals was a sadistic, vicious act."

The parks department's enforcement patrol has had the area under surveillance since it learned of the incident, according to Ashe Reardon, a spokesman. "We're following up on it," Reardon said. "We don't like these types of things to happen."

A special bond was formed between von Hundertmark, who rescues strays, and her feathered friends when she first took her dogs to the park to let them run and swim in the lake. She found a bag of matzo cakes after Passover in the spring and started feeding the ducks.

"I was like the duck mother," von Hundertmark said. "I sustained them through the winter. The deepest snow, the most pouring rain, I am there. I drag myself there if I have to. It's something they look forward to."
Last winter when some of the ducks' webbed feet got caught in ice on the lake, von Hundertmark poured hot water on the ice, melting it to free them.

"I consider myself the spiritual mother of all animals," von Hundertmark said.

She once used mouth-to- mouth resuscitation, she said, to revive a mouse that was caught under an upturned cup. "He was breathing his last," she said. "There isn't anything I wouldn't do for an animal, no matter what peril I'm in. It's just what God has given me to do," von Hundertmark said. "All the heartaches of my life have been with animals. A lot of people don't have sympathy. They say, 'You're a nut.' A friend said, 'You should get a life. How can you love a duck?' "I'm a strict vegetarian. I could never eat an animal product, not even eggs," von Hundertmark added. "I truly believe when I die and go to heaven the first thing I'll see are all of my ducks, and they'll come quacking up to me, because they have souls, and anyone who thinks they don't is terribly misguided."

When five stray cats that she brought into her home subsequently died, she had them cremated. She keeps the ashes in jars. "I hope when I die, I'll be cremated and my ashes mixed with theirs," von Hundertmark said. She wants park goers to be "vigilant of suspicious activity around the waterfowl."
Copyright (c) 2004, Newsday, Inc. --------------------This article originally appeared at:
http://www.nynewsday.com/mynews/ny-qdiary3895036jul18,0,5869416.story

Who cares about stupid pigeons?


Greenwood Baptist Church, Brooklyn NY Posted by HelloAugust of 2003; I came home to find this sign posted on the gate of my otherwise neighborly neighborhood church. The police were waiting for me. I was "the girl who feeds the fricken pigeons."

I found out that the Church was annoyed; understandably, by the pigeon droppings which stained the outer ledges of the building. But arresting me for feeding the birds that sought refuge there seemed a bit much.

I believe it was probably Pastor Jones -- a slight, not terribly well-educated man of the cloth, who -- I suspect -- may have been responsible for the bold but incorrect spelling of "pigeons."

I later found out that the Police were in fact prepared to level very serious charges. Not the usual Dept. of Health "creating a nuisance" code 3-11; But Pastor Jones hoped and prayed most devoutly that I be convicted of "attacking the Church." An old, tried and true slam dunk of a felony that carried jail time.

Pastor Jones, I thought, you wouldn't?

Pastor Jones, I thought, you couldn't?

When I spotted the police I did what any normal patriotic citizen would do. I turned around and headed back the other direction. I ducked into the local B&N and had an overly expensive Late. Well worth the nearly $4.00 bucks I paid for it. $4.00 versus a possible sentence of one to five.

And yeah -- I got off easy. Comparatively. Compared to what is actually going on in the larger world of animal advocacy.

Recently, one of the most genuine animal rights groups, The Earth Liberation Front,
http://www.factnet.org/cults/earth_liberation_front/?FACTNet
was charged with "eco-terrorism."
http://www.furcommission.com/debate/words6.htm

As the Patriot Act is welded into a menacing unpatriotic weapon against free speech and freedom of information and well, er, just plain freedom, the day is fast approaching when pigeon-feeders like myself may sit side-by-side bioterrorists.

"Have you now?" they will ask me in a dimly lit interrogation chamber, "Have you now or have you ever fed PIGEONS? Do you admit to having the intention to continue feeding PIGEONS?? Will you name the names of those who you are sure feed PIGEONS??"


stupid pigeons Posted by Hello

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THE PIGEON UNDERGROUND
The battle for the fair and humane treatment of urban animals in NYC (and other cities across the country) is not only a battle for their well being – but it is also a battle for the rights of the humans who care about their welfare.

Right now, scores of New Yorkers face eviction because landlords will not tolerate rehabilitating wounded birds or squirrels. Authorities manipulate laws dug up from the turn of the century that classify pigeons as “farm animals.”

and in case anyone is still in the dark about this -- farm animals should not be treated like,er, farm animals. Please visit http://themeatrix.com/

Civil rights have become seriously entangled with animal rights. And the question of how far the government and/or government agencies can go is a critical issue. To what extent can the government repress and restrict it’s citizens’ God-given right to extend help?

And, sadly, quietly and menacingly, New York City has become the leader in urban wildlife cruelty.

Just last month, NYC residents were devastated by the story of the merciless slaughter of wild ducks near the Flushing Meadows Boathouse. And, on June 15th, the Daily News reported that the Midtown Manhattan Haier building boasted of (illegally) trapping and probably killing more than 1,500 pigeons in the span of just a few months.
http://www.nydailynews.com/06-15-2004/news/story/202893p-175069c.html

Groups like the ASPCA (aspca.org), the New York Center for Animal Care and Control (NYCACC.org), New York City Pigeon Rescue Central (see links page) -- are ready to work together on behalf of urban wildlife. But the city will not hear it. Private, corporate interests and city tourism-related revenue block efforts to stop the city-wide negligence, abuse and common disregard for these urban birds & animals.

Although urban wildlife fall into many subheads -- for example Geese as differentiated from squirrels, an over arching city-wide policy should and must be articulated; at least as the starting point to the long overdue guardianship of our city's animals.

Specialists in wildlife management, veterinarians, environmentalists and public policy experts should and must join together to define and address the needs of all of the city's wildlife -- albeit that many of these animals fall into subhead and jurisdictions of state or national laws.

While the urbanscape does join together a host of both indigenous and "invasive" (eg. starlings, pigeons) species; their well being is now in our hands. Whether these animals were historic to North America or brought here on Spanish trade ships; their interests should and must be considered. The urbanscape cannot declare that only native species have a right to co-exist. This is here, we are now, and they all are in the "mix" together with us; invaders and non-indigenous humans now living in North America.

To this date, the Mayor's office and Ms. Gotbaum have ignored all requests to even begin to initiate a plan.

As Nobel Prize winning scientist, Albert Schweitzer was quoted as saying, “Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Until major urban centers like New York City uphold this principle, hundreds of thousands of animals and their advocates will continue to suffer.

Sincerely,

Johanna Clearfield, Director, Urban Wildlife Coalition - NYC

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Tuesday, August 10, 2004

THE NEED FOR A HUMANE OVER-ARCHING URBAN WILDLIFE POLICY

My personal story; /jc
TRUTH BE TOLD, I'd never really thought twice about pigeons. My mother hated them, calling them "rats with wings." But one day, about three years ago, I happened to notice an abandoned white baby pigeon crouched, wounded, terrified -- in the underbrush of my local church.

I took it home. The bird was already too far gone. Once home -- it struggled maddeningly, flapped its wings with all its might and died. It wanted so desperately to fly.

It seemed to me that was everything. That was the sum total of all of our collective striving. Noble and heartbreaking and pretty much doomed.

I cried the night long. For the bird and for myself.

The words from TS Eliot’s poem came back to me,




http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~evans/hollow.html
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
not with a bang, but a whimper

I am acutely aware of these amazing little birds and their relentless struggle just to exist. To get up in the morning and to have a little nourishment; to flirt; to preen; to bask in the sun; to do a little mating dance; to fly and coo and just be free.

But NYC is pigeon destruction-central.

Pigeons are loathed and despised -- at worst & tolerated at best.

So often -- as they try to navigate the sea of feet, pursuing just one small scrap just as another foot comes trouncing on their head. And so it goes, on and on and on; their relentless and ridiculously humble struggle.

Just watch what happens in the walkways that feed into Penn Station. Hard-pounding construction boots, high heels, and shoes of every kind come in stampedes, unrelenting. But so what -- a baby sparrow here gets its wing torn off; a fledgling pigeon there -- gets plowed over by a fast moving dolly.

This is a city that yields right of way to no one.

Too bad for them. They shouldn't be here. This is NYC. It's not our problem. They don't belong here.

So what if a thoughtless pretzel vendor accidentally runs one over here and one over there. So what if an oblivious secretary rushes for her train at Penn Station and impales the wing of some small bird she didn't notice and didn't care. So what that there are no city-sanctioned safety standards for birds in parks. No netting to keep them out of harm's way; no signs even that read:

Please do not step on the baby pigeons and sparrows.

If they are unlucky enough to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, here comes the boot that will cripple them for life.

This is New York, not an Audubon Aviary.

* * *

&TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE....

The Bloomberg ticketing blitz (see the post on this blog of the same title) for feeding pigeons has drastically impacted their basic survival. Few natural sources of food exist -- nor have they ever existed -- for these birds. Their only source of food are grains -- not insects -- and in the "old days" it was primarily sweeping the streets of horse manure. Then the inter-dependence between food either left by mistake or offered intentionally -- has been the norm. But not now. Now they are unbelievably hungry.

Hunger that drives these flocks now, half-starved out of their little brains, they flock in droves -- risking even food they spot in the midst of moving traffic. In taking the risk to grab a spec of food, in seizing the moment and going for it -- their life can be taken. Just one wrong move.

But who really cares?

They're just pigeons. Flying rats. Pests.

I do.

After the incident three years ago, I began a little research to find out if anyone, anywhere cared about pigeons.

The New York City Audubon Society said -- no, they really didn't. They worried about migratory birds. "Pigeons are the most hated and loved birds in New York" they said and wished me luck. I made some more calls and found out that New York City is in the throes of a kind of pigeon fever.

Bird-feeders pitted against bird-haters and while there is no law against feeding birds, police have been ticketing bird feeders with fines from $55.00 to $150.00. There was even one woman hauled off to jail and charged with "assault with birdseed."

Apparently, she was feeding some pigeons when two women started to hassle her, she threw the birdseed on to the sidewalk and police arrested her.

I am not kidding.

While NYC’s trending toward “Police State” may not be news, it turns out that the federal government is up to much, much worse. In their summer 2004 newsletter, the Sierra Club reported, "The ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council has created a model 'ANIMAL AND ECOLOGICAL TERRORIST ACT,' which criminalizes virtually all forms of environmental or animal rights advocacy."


Washington: Plan Would Create Eco-Terror Registry
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer 2/26)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/162152_ecoterror26.html
A Senate budget proposal includes a $50,000 request to create a database of
people and organizations allegedly involved in eco-terrorist activities.
Specifically, "the Senate budget would provide $50,000 to the Washington
Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to do 'an assessment of
environmentally or politically motivated crimes against animal or natural
resources facilities,' and to create a database with 'a list of persons and
organizations involved in eco-terrorism activities.'" A similar proposal was
contained in SB 6114, a bill introduced earlier this year, that failed to move
forward due to the increased expense of enacting the stiffer penalties required by the legislation. The bill was modeled after the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) model bill entitled, "Animal and Ecological Terrorist Act."



Critics of this request contend that state law does not define eco-terrorism and anyone could appear in the database. Supporters of the measure feel it is
another tool for law enforcement to use. For more information on ALEC's Animal and Ecological Terrorist Act, visit:
http://www.serconline.org/alec/alec21.html.


I DID MORE research and found out that, according to bird-rehabillitators (they do exist; see blog post entitled Rescue/Rehab Stories) around the city; the hassling and ticketing is causing a blight on the already miserable existence of these city birds.









There have to be and there will be better solutions.
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WE LIVE in a myopic world. A world where the number of animals that go extinct each day is mind-numbing

Anyone involved with animal advocacy knows there is a war on. Development and rogue capitalism have declared war against every last living, free and wonderful creature. Unless they can be caged in the prisons they call zoos or stuffed and mounted on a wall or some fraction of a percent of them can be placed on reservations; their welfare is pitiful.

Yet urban areas which have miraculously managed to host such creatures as squirrels, sparrows, pigeons, starlings, crows – even ducks and geese – are rapidly meting out death sentences. Through destroying their habitat (as is happening at warp speed in Staten Island where baby raccoons have literally been seen bloodied and stumbling out of razed construction sites by the droves); and the New Jersey Bear Hunts; and in NYC where police have effectively ticketed and fined New Yorkers out of feeding any urban animal anywhere, any time.

Meanwhile, in a dark laboratory somewhere in England, scientists boast of rescuing precious DNA from endangered species. Their hope is to – once the “inevitable” occurs – wherein all animals (except those routinely brutalized and exploited for food) are extinct; to artificially revive an animal or two – for what, I do not know.

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CASE IN POINT

Star Ledger:
Submit letters to eletters@starledger.com

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/business-7/1092214622304720.xml?starledger?b

Firm ensures pigeons don't foul up convention

Wednesday, August 11, 2004
BY JEFFREY GOLD Associated Press

Delegates to the Republican National Convention and reporters covering it will be able to avoid one hazard of city life that bedeviled postal patrons for years. Pigeons and other birds that once landed on the historic James A. Farley Post Office building in New York and sent waste hurtling down have been persuaded to find another outhouse, with the help of a few electric shocks from a New Jersey company, the postal service said.

The post office at 34th Street in Manhattan will be the media center for the GOP gathering, which is to take place across the street at Madison Square Garden starting at the end of the month. In June 2002, a half-year before New York was chosen for the convention, the post office awarded a contract to Bell Environmental Services of Parsippany to get rid of the birds, postal service spokesman Gary Ferrari said recently.

"We did it to avert a safety and health hazard,"


pigeonpapers note:
what health hazard? where is the proof? Why couldn't the city allow for some safe areas or "cotes" (as suggested PICAS) where the birds could safely roost and the areas could be kept clean. There was no proof of any actual hazard; at most the inconvenience of occasional bird droppings. If people and animals are going to co-exist, there could be compromises and cleaner ways of managing these birds in this area. but that would require time, money and some actual interest in the welfare of these animals. My own witness of the pigeons in this area is deeply disturbing. These birds are starving, sickly and constantly tossed out of their nests; their condition is abominable. If there is one area in the city that is the cruelest to birds, it is the 34th Street area. And now this. Unbelievable.



Ferrari said. Work was completed in early 2003. "It's been very good," he said. Bell founder and president Phil Waldorf said solar-powered strips his crew installed along ledges and columns deliver a nonfatal shock to birds who land on them. After enough shocks, birds learn to avoid the building, Waldorf said." You put your hand on a stove, you don't put your hand back," he said.

The high-voltage, low-ampere current is similar to that used in wires on ranch fences to keep cattle off,

<>

he said. He uses strips about an inch and a half wide, with insulated wires on either side carrying the current. "It can be made the color of the building," Waldorf said. It took about five weeks to install several thousand feet of the strips at the block-long Farley Post Office, he said, adding the contract was worth about $100,000.

Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.











HEALTH RISKS OF PIGEONS

In 1986, the Association of Pigeon Veterinarians issued a statement that concludes, "To our knowledge, the raising, keeping, and the exercising of pigeons and doves represents no more of a health hazard than the keeping of other communal or domestic pets." A spokesman for the American Pigeon Fanciers Council says this statement applies to feral pigeon flocks, too.”
http://birds.cornell.edu/ppw/faq.htm

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Post from Dr. Pasek (Avian Vet) re: diseases & pigeons
Date: Sun Aug 8, 2004 4:21 pm
Subject: Re: [PigeonPeople] Zoonosis - Disease Transmission

Linda Pesek, an avian vet in Long Island, wrote four articles on bird
zoonosis for Winged Wisdom, an ezine that closed down last year.

Birds like chickens that are kept in massive colonies in
horrid, artificial situations are a lot more likely to be vectors. It's
just like plague that occurs in high density human cities especially when
we live without safeguards - but seldom occurred when we lived in villages
of 150.

Here's some information extracted from Dr. Pesek's articles.

Psittacosis

Dr. Pesek says: 'Symptoms [in people] are generally those of the flu -
fever, diarrhea, chills, congunctivitis, and sore throat.' When people say
psittacosis is pneumonia, it's safe to say that is extremely rare. I think
that the disease is more likely to come from poultry and psittacines -
parrots - than pigeons.

Salmonellosis
She says: 'Most human cases of salmonella are acquired by eating
contaminated food especially poultry rather than from pet birds.' And
'Antibiotics are not usually prescribed for people unless they have a
prolonged fever and are septicemic.' 'Recovery may occur in 2 - 4 days.'
However, 'Poultry and pigeons may carry salmonella yet appear healthy.
Infected birds will be lethargic, lose their appetite, have watery
droppings and may develop arthritis.' Anyway, we know salmonellosis is not
a pleasant disease. It's probably very unlikely. 'Humans carrying
salmonella can infect their pet birds.'

Allergic AlveolitisIt's from inhaling pigeon dust (the other main bird source is parakeets).
It happens mainly to people with large flocks, like breeders. It's rare.
But we should know about it in case someone is allergic or becomes
allergic.

'It occurs in people who are hypersensitive to feathers, feather dust, and
fecal material -- expecially from pigeons and budgies. Signs can occur
within two years but often take as long as 10 - 20 years with continued
exposure.' Dr. Pesek indicates that, if you cough after exposure to
feathers and dander and it stops when it's been cleaned up, you may be
allergic. When it lasts, there's difficulty breathing. If it continues for
a long time and the dust isn't kept away, it could cause permanent harm.
It looks like chronic duration of allergic alveolitis produces scarring
(pneumoconiosis). Alveoli are the tiniest air spaces in lungs. Prevention
methods - ' . . . cleaning cages daily, bathing birds frequently, avoiding
overcrowding, providing good ventilation, and using an air purification
system.'

Campylobacteriosis
Not usually in pigeons. People get it mainly from poultry. Don't eat them.
Remember - poultry isn't pigeons - it's birds in the chicken family. What
it's like in people: 'People develop cramps, fever, diarrhea and headaches
within 2 - 5 days of exposure.'

Newcastle Disease - a kind of PMV (paramyxovirus), which we've discussed.
'The people who are at greatest risk are those who work in poultry
processing plants or those who handle diseased wild birds.'
'Conjuntivitis, chills, fever and lethargy may develop. Recovery generally
occurs within 3 weeks.' It sounds like rehabbers could catch it. We have
to find out how often this occurs - but the signs are all mild. That's
very different from what happens in pijjies. Note about trying to diagnose
PMV in pigeons: torticollis (the neck held in a twisted position) happens
in pigeons from other diseases, including bird flu, salmonellosis, and
streptococcus infection. (See http://www.chevita.com/tauben/e-erreger.
htm#BM53).

Avian TuberculosisPigeons as well as other birds get it, but 'It is believed that
immunocompetent humans are resisitant to the strains of tuberculosis found
in birds, but that immunocompromised people . . . are at increased risk.'
So this is a reason to keep checking your birds and to keep them away from
people with immune system disease, people who are undergoing a treatment
that lowers immune resistence, or people who have TB. In the same way,
keep people with TB away from birds - 'People who are infected with human
tuberculosis should not own birds, since these people may serve as a
source of infection for their pet birds.'

Giardia
' . . .it is not thought that avian giardia can infect mammals.' It's also
not likely in feral or pet pigeons. 'The most frequently infected
companion birds include budgies, cockatiels, lovebirds and grey cheeked
parakeets. This may be the result of the way these birds are raised - in
very densely populated environments. Other species may also be infected.'
(If we're taking care of (keeping captive) animals, at least - maybe -
someday do it humanely and naturally - i guess it's too much to ask?)

Avian Influenza
It's not necessary to worry about this from pigeons, she says. I'll post
about this later as a follow up on what Cathryn wrote about stopping
commerce in birds. Even though we're not catching flu from pijjies, shared
flu virus varieties are a problem - so is selling birds.
But, about danger from pet pigeons, this is relevant: 'A companion bird
could serve as a source of virus exposure for humans, but it is more
likely that humans could serve as a source of virus exposure for
susceptible companion birds. If a human has clinical signs of the "flu",
he should avoid contact with his bird.'


The articles and their web addresses -
Zoonotic (Bird-Human) Diseases, Part 1: Psittacosis, Salmonellosis
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww23eiii.htm
Zoonotic (Bird-Human) Diseases, Part 2: Allergic Alveolitus,
Campylobacteriosis, New Castles
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww24ev.htm
Zoonotic (Bird-Human) Diseases, Part 3: Avian Tuberculosis
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww25eiii.htm
Zoonotic (Bird-Human) Diseases, Part 4: Giardia and Avian Influenza
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww26eiv.htm
Winged Wisdom, the ezine, is at this site -

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom

The zine has 'articles on the care & breeding of pet birds, pet parrots &
exotic birds.'
The table of contents is available in either time or subject order.

Dr. Pesek has a few offices. A lot of people say she's about the best. She
loves birds, including rescued pigeons. If you want to take a bird to her,
these are her hours and phone numbers.

For feral pigeons, it's best to go Friday afternoon.
Fri. Westbury 516 333 1123
Sun. - Nassau An. Emerg. Clin. 516 333 6262
2:30 - 8
Mon. - Sat. E. Islip 631 277 2266

Al
Pigeon People



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________


THE LAW

DID YOU KNOW that New York City's pigeons, squirrels, crows, sea gulls -- even raccoons -- are subject to unregulated; unpunishable animal cruelty? Why?? Because the Department of Environmental Control has declared them “pest animals.”

Call a pigeon, a squirrel, even a baby raccoon a "nuisance" and it no longer is covered by any of the basic anti-animal-cruelty statutes. The anti-animal cruelty statutes cover animals. All of the hard-fought legislation to protect them is erased by insert-replacing the word "animal" with "nuisance animal." This strips all of these animals of basic humane treatment.

Because of this "work-around" of anti-cruelty statutes, millions of animals are relegated to brutality or neglect.

FYI...Animal Welfare Act, as set forth by the USDA can be found at: http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/usdaleg1.htm

REMEMBER ANIMAL FARM?
“All animals are equal” read the sign when it was first posted to declare communal egalitarianism. But after a series of increased corruptions; the sign was amended to read, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

As a case in point – in June 2004; 465 Canada Geese were slaughtered on Riker’s Island with a permit happily handed out by the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. While thousands of New Yorkers rallied on behalf of the Geese [even a group called “GeesePeace” offered humane alternatives to the slaughter] the city refused to budge.

Simultaneously, 100 Canada Geese were euthanized in nearby Olney, Maryland
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21876-2004Jul1.html)




***************************************************************************
CURRENT LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS TO PROTECT 'NUISANCE ANIMALS"

As per a recent alert from The Fund for Animals
Background. Since current N.Y.S. statute permits the killing of "nuisance" wild animals in "any manner," it is perfectly legal to use cruel methods such as injecting acetone (nail polish remover) and other poisonous solvents into the animal, or drowning the trapped animal in a barrel of water.

Please contact Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, Chair, Assembly Codes CommitteeLentolJ@Assembly.state.ny.us(718) 383-74741. State whether you are a Brooklyn resident. 2. Ask him to represent you by using his chair position to pass bill A8423 (DiNapoli) through the Codes committee quickly and to the Assembly floor quickly. 3. Please leave your name and street mailing address and politely ask for a response.

This excellent bill mandates that nuisance wildlife control operators use the American Veterinary Medical Association approved standards of euthanasia if they do not release the animal. You can also contact us at: The Fund for Animals, 8121 Georgia Avenue, Suite 301, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone: (301) 585-2591.

[For more info also see: http://www.api4animals.org/209.htm ]

****************************************************************************
INSPIRING LEGAL VICTORIES
Colorado is pigeon safe. It is pigeon safe because a young girl led a heroic fight against Avitrol poisoning.
Because of her efforts and the community that rallied behind her; Colorado is pigeon-safe.
http://www.rmad.org/boulderbirds.html

*******************************************************************************
LAWS

NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT (EXCERPT)
Act 451 of 1994

324.40902 Homing pigeons; use of certain devices prohibited.
Sec. 40902.

A person shall not at any time make use of any pit, pitfalls, deadfall, scaffold, cage, snarl, trap, net, baited hook, or any similar device, or any drug poison, chemical, or explosive for the purpose of
injuring, capturing, or killing a homing pigeon of another person. History: Add. 1995, Act 57, Imd. Eff. May 24, 1995 .

Popular
Name: Act 451
*****************************************************************************



Consolidated Laws of New York Agricultre and Markets LawChapter 69 of the
Consolidated LawsArticle 26 -- ANIMALSs353

Overdriving, torturing and injuring animals; failure to provide proper
sustenance. A person who overdrives, overloads, tortures or cruelly beats or
unjustifiably injures, maims, mutilates or kills any animal, whether wild or
tame, and whether belonging to himself or to another, or deprives an animal of
necessary sustenance, food or drink, or neglects or refuses to furnish it such
sustenance or drink, or causes, procures or permits any animal to be overdriven,
overloaded, tortured, cruelly beaten or unjustifiably injured, maimed, mutilated
or killed, or to be deprived of necessary food or drink, or who willfully sets on
foot, instigates, engages in or in any way furthers any act of cruelty to any
animal, or any act tending to produce cruelty, is guilty of a misdemeanor,
punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more
than one thousand dollars or by both.
http://www.animal-law.org/statutes/newyork





S.663 is a ban on the poison Avitrol in any city in New York state with a
population of more than 1 million (New York City only). S.664 will allow cities
in New York state to pass ordinances to ban the poisoning of pigeons. You can
call the senators of NY at the numbers listed below: Senator Roy Goodman,
518-455-2211Senator Joseph Bruno, Senate Majority Leader 518-455-3191Senator
Marcellino, Chairman, Environmental Conservation Committee 518-455-2390

********************************************************************************
If you'd like to investigate this further on your own; some handy links are:

http://www.animal-law.org/statutes/newyork/htr



BLOOMBERG'S TICKETING FRENZY; POLICE ENFORCE "NO FEED" POLICY

Fines

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/ny-nydug3320774jun08,0,6983839.column

Since Mayor Bloomberg has been Mayor of NYC, Police and city agencies have stepped up their practice of frivolous, excessive and, in some cases -- even fraudulent ticketing.

These fines have effectively frozen New Yorkers in their tracks. Although there are no actual laws against feeding birds, ticketing has effectively spread the word that feeding birds is against the law. NYC pigeons have suddenly seen their food source drop exponentially. Although they seem to survive at starvation levels – scavenging just barely enough to make a miserable existence; they have become so debilitated and vulnerable to diseases that rehab workers all over the city report that their small facilities have been deluged.

“Don’t do that – it’s illegal!” is the most common argument that New Yorkers now levy against each other – the people who like pigeons have been pitted against those who hate them. Even to the extent that last year, one woman was arrested during a scuffle over feeding pigeons on the Upper East Side.
Although the city’s motivation for this may simply be fiscal (the more fines collected, the better Bloomberg’s numbers); the result has been staggering. . Pigeons, squirrels and other urban wildlife, however, have plummeted into a city-wide blight. Rehab workers report a deluge of starved, sickly city animals being dropped on their doorsteps.
pigeon underground
The result of all of the fines and harassment of New York City pigeon lovers has been the formation of a kind of NYC “pigeon underground.” A loose network of trained and not-so-trained rehab workers who share information over the internet and phone and identify themselves by code names such as “Battery Bird” or “Glue Bird” to avoid risking legal action.
The Director of New York City Pigeon Rescue Central has often expressed exasperation. With so many demands on his limited time and resources; he finds it impossible to respond to as many calls for help as he receives. If XXX had it his way, he would save them all. As it stands, he can only handle only a handful at a time.

(XXX's rescue yahoo-group can be found by logging on to his yahoo group --
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYCPRC)

During any given week, XXX's small apartment in the Bronx is a half-way house for just a lucky few. Many of the birds, he said, would be fine if they were not so weakened by the city's No-Feed policy, and underweight. He does his best to restore their health and then, reluctantly, releases them.

The lucky ones go to an undisclosed aviary that XXX says has very a limited capacity. The rest, with XXX's extreme regret, he releases back into the fray.

******************************************************************************>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,975038,00.html
Mayor Bloomberg thought the truth would be just the ticket... it wasn't
Gary Younge in New York
Wednesday June 11, 2003
The Guardian

In a week when they lost domestic diva Martha Stewart to the Feds, the editor of the New York Times, Howell Raines, to a scandal and Senator Hillary Clinton to the talk-show circuit, New Yorkers are no strangers to distinguishing between perception and reality. But when it comes to Mayor Michael Bloomberg they seem to prefer the former to the latter.

The reality is bad enough. First of all there was Jesse Taveras, who was fined for sitting on a milk crate outside a shop in the Bronx. "What did I do?" he asked. The official citation was "unauthorized use of a crate".

Then there was Yoav Kashida, the Israeli tourist fined $50 for taking up two seats on the subway when he fell asleep. Worst of all there was Crystal Rivera, 18 years old and six months pregnant, who was slapped with a $50 fine for sitting on the subway steps and blocking the stairway. These are the high-profile cases. We'll not dwell on the octogenarian fined $50 for feeding pigeons in the park or the shop owner who had to shell out $400 because there were too many words on his shop awning.

You get the message. There seems no end to the recent litany of tickets that New York's finest will issue for the pettiest of infractions: crimes that most New Yorkers did not even know they were able to commit. On its own it would be little more than an annoyance. Overzealous, underemployed cops being heavy-handed in a city where the really bad policemen end up killing innocent people - an everyday tale of ordinary uniformed folk.

But along with the fines comes the allegation that the tickets are less to do with the criminal than the political; that Bloomberg himself has ordered the police to get slap-happy with the fines because New York city hall needs the money to plug its $4bn budget gap.

When you think of how many milk-crate-sitters and pigeon- feeders it would take to even make a dent in the city's huge deficit, the accusation seems preposterous. Bloomberg, a multi-millionaire businessman, could probably find more cash down the back of his sofa than he will collect by harassing - and possibly alienating – potential voters.

The reality (another, different, less convenient reality unlikely to grab headlines) is that it costs more money to issue the tickets, process the infractions and pursue the non-payers than the fines are actually worth, and that the city actually issued far fewer of them this year than it did last. "If we relied on tickets to balance our budget, the city would have gone out of business a long time ago," says Bloomberg's press secretary, Edward Skyler.

The trouble for Bloomberg is not that the accusations of him nickel-and-diming the people who elected him are false; it is that even after he has said they are false, and explained why they must be false, just about everybody wants to believe the accusations anyway.

The press certainly want to believe them. "Ticket Madness", "Another Fine Mess" and "Sitting Bull" (over the milk crate) are just three of the Daily News headlines in the past couple of weeks and may soon be followed by a city-wide campaign.

But Bloomberg's protestations that this is just media hype are confounded by the fact that many policemen say it's true. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the policemen's union, has taken out ads on the radio and in the press blaming the mayor and asking the public not to take out their frustrations over the ticketing blitz on the policemen because they are only following orders.

"We have to make our daily quota," Taveras claims the cop told him at the time. "Don't blame me, blame Bloomberg."

Which is the point. The budget crisis has left the city in a mess. Everybody is affected, from policemen and firefighters (there were 20arrests and a near riot a couple of weeks ago when the city went to close down one fire station) to schoolchildren and homeowners, hit with a huge hike in property taxes.

And everybody blames Bloomberg, also referred to as "Mike the Knife" and "Gloomberg" whose best case scenario for rectifying the budget would inflict the biggest number of redundancies on the city in 10 years.

The very thing that made him attractive to many - that as a wealthy individual he was in hock to no special interest groups - now makes him weak. There are no special interest groups to support him. The perception worked to his benefit; the reality, however, is far more bleak.
************************************************************************************
*******************************************************************
April 29, 2004
Guys Would Ticket a Funeral By: SHELLEY EMLING,
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.hlrecord.org/main.cfm/include/smdetail/synid/88180.html

New York --- A crime wave is sweeping the Big Apple.
excerpt
In recent weeks, police have nabbed an 86-year-old man for unlawfully feeding pigeons, a teenager relaxing on a street corner for’ unauthorized use of a milk crate'' and a handful of small stores for having too many words printed on their awnings.

Critics say the cash-strapped city has launched a ticket blitz to help close a $3.8 billion budget gap. The police union is so embarrassed it has begun a ''Don't Blame the Cop'' ad campaign.

''This is a crisis for New York City,'' said Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. ''This is eroding the trust between the police and the public.'' Lynch said police are under pressure to write more tickets or face disciplinary action.

''The types of tickets officers have been told to write are for things like double parking that bring in money,'' he said. ''They've been told to focus less on things like bad brake lights or other safety violations because they can be fixed without a fine being paid.''

Revenue from tickets ''is helping us keep more police on the streets, more firefighters out there to fight fires, more teachers in the classroom,'' the mayor said. He said the city doesn't have quotas, but performance measurements are in place.

New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind isn't buying it. He introduced legislation Wednesday to keep the Police Department from forcing officers to meet a ticket quota.

"People are getting killed with all these tickets; pretty soon you're going to get a ticket for breathing," the assemblyman said. "Obviously, you have to ticket someone for doing something that's illegal, but it's ridiculous to ticket people for things put on the books 30 to 40 years ago that have never been enforced before."

With a city code that's thousands of pages long, Hikind said, there's no end to what people might be ticketed for. It is, for example, illegal for New Yorkers to participate in an auction at night.

The ticket spree became the talk of the town earlier this month when the Daily News splashed a photo on its front page of Jesse Taveras, who received a citation for sitting on a milk crate on the sidewalk outside the hair-braiding salon where he works.

The 19-year-old has a June 25 court date on the offense of unauthorized use of a milk crate, which carries a fine of up to $161. Similar reports surfaced quickly.

Someone was fined $50 for taking up two seats on a train; another scofflaw was fined $50 for feeding pigeons in the park.

Many New Yorkers already are grumpy over a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. Plus they've had to face cuts in city services, property tax increases of 18.5 percent, and a hike in transit fares from $1.50 to $2.If that weren't enough, many of the fines attached to various citations are increasing as well. Starting Sunday, for example, the fine for scavenging garbage will double from $50 to $100.

*********************************************************************************
PIGEON LADY GETS PINCHED
Woman feeding birds charged in park assault
KERRY BURKE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
New York Daily News. New York
Aug 2, 2003. pg. 5Abstract (Article Summary)
"I always carry a little birdseed in my purse," said [Kugelmas], a laid-off office worker who admitted seeing park signs forbidding the feeding of pigeons. "I feed birds every day, and no one has ever bothered me. "Police charged Kugelmas with third-degree assault on [Carol McCabe] and issued a summons. She could get up to a year in jail for the alleged birdseed attack. JESSICA SCHUMER ...
**************************************************************************
New York's Ticketing Spree Is Just Fine
Fun City? “How about Whine City?”
Dennis Duggan, June 8, 2003
Copyright (c) 2003, Newsday, Inc.
You can hear the whiners on every corner of every street in the five boroughs. They whine because they get ticketed for feeding those germ-ridden pigeons, those "flying rats" that consider the city a giant outhouse. They whine some more when a cop has the nerve to ticket them just because they have turned one section of a subway into their private boudoir. They whine again when an alert cop tickets a young, healthy Brooklyn teenager named Crystal Rivera, who happens to be pregnant, sitting on the subway stairs.
They whine when a health inspector notices rat droppings in their restaurant. Boo hoo, they cry. They're trying to drive us out of business. Oh yeah, and the worst of all offenders, the automobile owners who foul up the city with exhaust fumes, who double-park because they don't give a damn, whose alarms go off in the middle of the night in quiet neighborhoods and who seem to be immune to causing someone else's death, they're the loudest.
The automobile is choking this and other cities to death. I salute that London mayor who got fed up with traffic gridlock and raised the ante against car drivers who face huge fines if they violate the new rules for driving their machines into the inner city. Cars, big ones, small ones, they and their insolent drivers attack the city each and every day. Does the word gridlock mean anything to you? Traffic jam? How about vehicular homicide?
Years ago a sanitation commissioner blasted New Yorkers in a rare show of courage. He said a lot of New Yorkers were disgusting litterbugs. A few days ago an exasperated Mayor Mike, whose popularity has dropped to an all-time low for a sitting mayor, vented a little at a Coney Island press conference. "Don't throw litter on the streets," he said, "and you won't have a problem." "Don't park illegally and you won't have a problem. "But the whiners keep on whining and now the press across the nation is zeroing in on what they call a ticket blitz aimed at raising money to help close the multibillion-dollar budget gap.
The Los Angeles Times ran a story headlined, "Start Spreading the News, New York's Ticketing Today. "It came to the defense of that poor pregnant teenager who decided to take a rest on the subway steps:
"The police officer who cited her for briefly blocking a stairwell didn't seem to care that she was exhausted and reluctant to sit on a filthy subway bench. "Hello! There is no dirtier venue in this city than subway stairs, but the whining reporter ignored that this willful teenager was making it hard for subway riders to get to their destinations.
That's a no-no in the city that never sleeps, and the reason it never sleeps is because cars keep streaming in and out, with their horns blaring, brakes squealing and alarms going off. Those are all noises made by the worst of the city's offenders, the car owners. They are an invading army that roars into town each day from the 'burbs to grab their loot and run back to East Cupcake and to whine about how tough it is to drive in the city.
So the best news I have heard from Mayor Mike is that he is going to hire 300 more traffic enforcement cops to make the car owners whine even louder. Three cheers for the mayor who was left with a sink full of dirty dishes by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who spent the city's money - yours and mine - like a drunken sailor, leaving Bloomberg to clean up the mess and to dodge the brickbats of the whiners.
So here is my advice to the Greenwich Village shopkeeper who got ticketed for having too many words on his awning, and to all the pigeon-fanciers who feed those birds: shaddup. That goes for all motorcycle riders. They blast through our streets at full throttle, making their heretofore unnoticed presence felt. My rage runneth over when I hear their revved-up engines. And I wish police union president Patrick Lynch would get a life.
He has an ad now that says "Don't Blame the Cops" for all those tickets. Lynch hasn't said a word about the no-knock raids that killed an innocent Harlem woman a few weeks ago or about all the other unnoticed cases of careless police work carrying out warrants based on tips, mainly from criminals.
One of the tabloids wrote "Welcome to Nitpick City," whining that New Yorkers are getting nibbled for nothing. "Simply living," the paper said, "can get you a summons. "Stop whining. New Yorkers ought to thank their lucky stars they live in a city like this.
There ought to be a fine against whining.

PLEAS MADE TO NYC OFFICIALS; UNANSWERED

TO:
Betsy Gotbaum; Ombudsman; City of New York
**********************************************************************************
Subj: STOP CITY WIDE (ILLEGAL) "NO FEED" POLICY
Date: 7/18/04 2:40:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Fieldjo@aol.com
To: bgotbaum@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
CC: enforcement@aspca.org, mediainfo@peta.org, info@peta.org

ANIMAL ADVOCATES PROTEST NEW YORK CITY'S "NO-FEED" POLICY!

Police Departments CITYWIDE are now enforcing a "no feed policy." They have been instructed to intimidated and harass any person or persons found offering birdseed or food to urban animals.

In fact, there are no laws against feeding urban wildlife in New York City however, when precincts are called individually, they confirm they have been instructed to enforce a "no feed policy."

It is hard enough for pigeon/squirrel/sparrow/starling rescuers to help the injured wildlife they find on the streets of NYC, but to battle the city for feeding them in public parks (yes - public parks) is an outrage.

The NYC Parks Dept. says on its own website that feeding "unrestrained animals" is permitted unless there is a public posting "Do not Feed" -- which there are relatively few. Feeding birds in NYC parks is not illegal.

Please voice your protest by calling Betsy Gotbaum's office- she is the Ombudsman of NYC -- Her hotline number is: 212 669 7250

If anyone gets information that would benefit the cause, please email me directly

Johanna Clearfield, Director Urban Wildlife Coalition-NYC
fieldjo@aol.com
or log on to our website -- where you can post your information. Thank you!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/urban_wildlife_coalition_NYC

*****************************************************************************
LETTER TO THE MAYOR'S OFFICE A YEAR AGO AS OF SEPT. 3RD.

Subject: STOP TICKETING BIRD FEEDERS
Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 13:22:35 -0400
From: Johanna Clearfield
To: bgotbaum@pubadvocate.nyc.

Ms. Gotbaum:

You will be receiving thousands of signatures on petitions which beg Mayor Bloomberg to stop sending NYC cops after bird feeders in NYC. The following petition will be coming to your office: Petition to stop the harassment, ticketing and arrest of pigeon, bird or wildlife feeders in New York City. The petition reads as follows:

We the undersigned oppose the ongoing
harassment, ticketing and arrest of any person who exercises their rights and
privileges to respond to the needs of wildlife in the New York City environment;
We oppose the placement of signs which read, "Do Not Feed the Pigeons," or "Do
Not Feed the Wildlife," on public property when no illegality has been
established or presented;

WE oppose the official and non-official harassment, ticketing or arrest or support of the same by the Office of the Mayor, the New York Police Department, the New York City Parks Department or any other government agency, which results in public intimidation and fear and ultimately suppresses a constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and deprives the birds and wildlife of their food supply within the city where natural habitat and food supplies do not exist; and

WE oppose any public policy that seeks to exterminate or obliterate populations of birds or wildlife within the city, creating unnecessary hardship on wildlife rehabilitates and rescuers, and deprives thousands of often isolated people -- especially the elderly -- from the "one pleasure they have in life," which is feeding the birds in the park or public place each day.

These petitions will be distributed to your office and to all other appropriate officials, first and foremost Mayor Bloomberg. Please get the message out that this policy of ticketing bird feeders is extremely unpopular, goes against the so called "spirit of New York" visa vies pitting New Yorkers against eachother -- including several cases where bird feeders have been attacked by non-bird feeders under the (mistaken) impression that bird feeding is not legal.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further,

Thanks very much,
Johanna Clearfield
(Home email: fieldjo@aol.com)


********************************************************************************
CC:
eboks@nycacc.org, enforcement@aspca.org, development@aspca.org, government@aspca.org, legal@aspca.org, outreach@aspca.org, information@aspca.org, esayres@aspca.org, bprc@urbanmgt.com, meena@theworld.com, bgotbaum@pubadvocate.nyc.gov, quinn@council.nyc.ny.us, gottfrr@assembly.state.ny.us, lkrueger@senate.state.ny.us, office@farmsanctuary.org, rep.carolyn.maloney@mail.house.gov, http://schumer.senate.gov/webform.html, http://clinton.senate.gov/email_form.html, bp@manhattanbp.org, info@portableairconditioners.us, vmatranga@housewares

TO:
THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR AND ALL APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS (PUBLIC AND PRIVATE) ENTRUSTED WITH THE WELL BEING AND WELFARE OF ITS CITIZENS

FROM:
ANIMAL ADVOCATES; UNITED FOR JUSTICE& CITIZENS OF NEW YORK

REGARDING:
UNFAIR AND CRUEL POLICIES AGAINST NYC & SURROUNDING AREA'S URBAN WILDLIFE; PIGEONS, SPARROWS, SQUIRRELS, STARLINGS ET AL

On May 27th, 2004, Daily News Staffer Ralph Ortega reported on "Public Enemy Number Two" e.g. Pigeons; the News ran a photograph of a pigeon on the front cover and Ortega reported that the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation will install ("humane") coiled wires in their trees to banish the pigeons from that PUBLIC space.

IF PIGEONS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE IN OUR PARKS, WHERE ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO GO?

On June 10th, 2004, New York Times staffer, Ian Urbina, reported that large numbers of pigeons were being illegally netted and allegedly transported out of state for "sport."

The title of his two-page article was, "Who's Kidnapping the Pigeons and Who Cares?" On Friday, June 11th, several members of the animal advocacy group Pigeon People PijnPeople@yahoogroups.com noticed the top of one of Manhattan's mid-town buildings -- THE HAIER BUILDING, located at 36th & Broadway, cluttered with pigeon traps (and trapped pigeons) on its roof. According to the building officials, these pigeons are going to be "safely" transported somewhere, to unknown destination, with unregulated handling.


WE URGE THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE MAYOR'S OFFICE, THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,
THE BUILDING COMMISSIONERS AND ALL OTHER APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES -- TO INITIATE AND IMPLEMENT A HUMANE, COHERENT URBAN WILDLIFE POLICY.

IF YOU DO NOT WANT PIGEONS IN PUBLIC SPACES -- THEN WE URGE YOU TO CREATE AREAS WHERE THEY CAN FIND SAFE HAVEN.

WE, AS CITIZENS DO NOT SUPPORT THE QUIET, INSIDIOUS AND UBIQUITOUS EXTERMINATION OF URBAN WILDLIFE.WE, CITIZENS OF NEW YORK CITY AND SURROUNDING BURROUGHS, DO NOT ACCEPT THE NOMENCLATURE OF "NUISANCE ANIMAL" ARBITRARILY ASSIGNED TO PIGEONS, SQUIRRELS AND OTHER WILDLIFE - AS AN EXCUSE TO EXEMPT THEM FROM HUMANE TREATMENT.

SQUIRRELS HAVE TO BE RESCUED BY PRIVATE CITIZENS, FOUND BLOODY FROM RAT POISON; RAHAB WORKERS STRUGGLE TO DE-STRING THE THOUSANDS OF PIGEONS FOUND WITH THREAD WRAPPED AROUND THEIR FEET AND SUBSEQUENT INFECTIONS; ANIMAL ADVOCATES STRUGGLE TO ADMINISTER FIRST AID TO WOUNDED WILDLIFE BECAUSE THERE IS NO PUBLIC REHAB CENTER AND NO PUBLIC POLICY TO ADDRESS CONCERNS.

NEW YORK CITY POLICIES CREATE UNNECESSARY HARDSHIP ON SCORES OF CARING NEW YORKERS.WE URGE ED BOKS OF THE CENTER FOR ANIMAL CARE AND CONTROL AND ED SAYRES OF THE ASPCA TO WORK WITH THE MAYOR'S OFFICE, THE BUILDING COMMISSIONER, THE PARKS DEPARTMENT -- TO INITIATE AND MAP OUT A HUMANE URBAN WILDLIFE POLICY.CITIES LIKE SEATTLE, COLORADO AND PORTLAND HAVE SUCH POLICIES.

NEW YORK CITIZENS ARE OUTRAGED BY THE SECRET OBLITERATION OF ITS URBAN WILDLIFE. BECAUSE OF DEPT. OF HEALTH AND THE NEW YORK PARK'S DEPARTMENT HARASSMENT -- CITIZENS CANNOT EVEN GO TO THE PARK AND "FEED THE BIRDS" -- A TIME HONORED URBAN PASS-TIME -- ONE THAT PROVIDES A RESPITE FROM THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF DAILY CITY LIVING.

WE PAY TAXES, THE PARKS ARE OUR ONLY NATURAL CONNECTION AND THE CITY HAS SYSTEMATICALLY RESTRICTED OR PROHIBITED INTERACTION WITH OUR NATURE.

PIGEONS, ALTHOUGH NOT NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA, HAVE BEEN IN THIS CITY SINCE THE 1700S. BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT NATIVE, THEY ARE NOT INSECTIVORES (INSECT EATING), HENCE THEY ARE MORE DEPENDENT ON HUMAN OFFERING. SUDDENLY, THROUGH INCREASED FINES, POLICE CRACKDOWNS AND SUBSEQUENT "CHILLING EFFECT," THOUSANDS OF PIGEONS ARE SUFFERING, STARVING, DISORIENTED (THEY ARE NOT MIGRATORY BIRDS AND SO CANNOT JUST "FLY AWAY AND LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE")

AND WE AS CITIZENS ARE WITNESS TO THIS MISERY.

WE URGE YOU TO COORDINATE YOUR EFFORTS, TO CEASE AND DESIST CARELESS, CRUEL POLICIES (THE SPIKING OF ALL STATEN ISLAND TRAIN STATIONS OFFERING NO ALTERNATIVES OR SAFE PLACES); RECKLESS POISONING THAT KILLS NOT ONLY RATS BUT SQUIRRELS AND BIRDS AND THIS RELENTLESS DRIVING OUT OF BIRDS FROM THE ONLY GREEN AREAS THAT EXIST.

PLEASE CONTACT ANY OR ALL OF THE CURRENT URBAN WILDLIFE/PIGEON ORGANIZATIONS TO COORDINATE A COHERENT, THOUGHTFUL POLICY:


New York City Feral Pigeon Rescue Central
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYCPRC/

contact: XXX128@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pijnpeople/Contact: Al_Streit@yahoo.com

The Urban Wildlife Coalition; Johanna can be reached through:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/urban_wildlife_coalition_NYC

FPRC -- Feral Pigeon Rescue Central
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fprc

WE URGE YOU TO CHOOSE COMPASSION OVER KILLING.

SINCERELY,

THE ANIMAL ADVOCATES OF NEW YORK CITY AND SURROUNDING BURROUGHS

ARE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES REPRESENTING?

Hard copies of The Humane Scorecard can be obtained free of charge by calling 301-585-2591 or by sending an email to fundinfo@fund.org. Please be sure to provide your complete mailing address and indicate that you are requesting a copy of The Humane Scorecard.

Open Letter

August 10. 2004

DID YOU KNOW that pigeons, squirrels, crows, sea gulls and even raccoons in New York City are completely unprotected from brutality of every inconceivable and horrifying sort; including torturing, maiming, poisoning, drowning, asphyxiating, decapitating. The list goes on.

Remember Animal Farm? “All animals are equal” read the sign when it was first posted to declare communal egalitarianism. But after a series of increased corruptions; the sign was amended to read, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

And so it goes with the Animal Welfare Act. If you’re a cat or dog – hey, you’re in luck. Raccoon, crow, pigeon or squirrel? Forget it. You can’t be walked with a leash around your neck and you don’t make good companions. Animal Welfare Act? No way. Not for you. If you insist on being free and living in the cities -- well, that’ll learn ya.

As a case in point – In June of this year; 465 Canada Geese were slaughtered on Riker’s Island with a permit happily handed out by the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. While thousands of New Yorkers rallied on behalf of the Geese.

Even a group called “GeesePeace” http://geesepeace.org/ offered humane alternatives to the slaughter. The city refused to budge.

See: New York Daily News; June 16, 2004;
GEESE FACE DOOM TO CLEAR LAGUARDIA PATH
by LISA COLANGELO
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/203464p-175492c.html

With the DFW’s blessing, the slaughter took place.

And now, thousands of Mallard ducks are slated for slaughter in Florida; albeit the Fund For Animals is doing everything that it can to try to stop it --
http://fundforanimals.ctsg.com/library/documentViewer.asp?ID=1527&table=documents

To say nothing of the constant and ubiquitous annihilation of wildlife in areas of rapid development, see:

http://www.hsus.org/ace/21385

WE live in a myopic world. A world where the number of animals that go extinct each day is mind-numbing. If you don't believe me, have a quick look at what the scientists will tell you -- see Natural History Magazine, "MASS EXTINCTION UNDERWAY"
http://www.well.com/user/davidu/extinction.html

What more do we need to know to understand that the creatures on this earth are under seige?

What more do we need to know to begin to act mindfully and responsibly toward what wildlife remains? Be it found in remote areas of Montana or on Riker's Island?

What do we need to "connect the dots?"

How many times have we heard over and over and over that the President and the CIA and the FBI failed to "connect the dots" that could have prevented the tragedy of 911? They failed to integrate and respond to various bits and pieces of dangerous information?

Shouldn't we all be extremely alarmed at the latest trend -- the new notion of DNA reconstruction of endangered species? Sure -- let's wait for them to go extinct, then we'll bring them back to life in laboratories; how absolutely marvelous.

If you don't believe me, then take a look at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3928411.stm

It is clear that we are living in the 911 of animal annihilation.

See, for example, Audubon's sanctioned "killing spree" of wild deer on "Sanctuary"
http://action.fund.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=5094

If the United States and its urban centers and even ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS continue to destroy the few wild creatures that have made their homes in their districts -- then how, exactly do we see the future of our cities and the suburbs of our world?

When suburb and city may be all that is left because of unregulated development; we may wish we had spared a few of our wild friends.

If urban areas are lucky enough to host such creatures as squirrels, sparrows, pigeons, starlings, crows – even ducks and geese; they need to be responsible and shepherd these animals well into the 21st century.

It is hard enough for pigeon, squirrel, sparrow and starling rescue people to help the injured birds and other urban wildlife they find on the streets of NYC, but to battle the city for feeding them in public parks (yes - public parks) is an outrage.

The NYC Parks Dept. says on its own website that feeding "unrestrained animals" is permitted unless there is a public posting "Do not Feed" -- which there are relatively few. Feeding birds in NYC parks is not illegal.

Please voice your concern by calling Betsy Gotbaum's office- she is the Public Advocate for NYC
Her hotline number is: 212 669 7250

Johanna Clearfield, Director Urban Wildlife Coalition-NYC
fieldjo@aol.com
or log on to our website -- where you can post your information. Thank you!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/urban_wildlife_coalition_NYC



LAWS

How are your representatives voting on issues involving animals and the environment?

Hard copies of The Humane Scorecard can be obtained free of charge by calling 301-585-2591 or by sending an email to fundinfo@fund.org. Please be sure to provide your complete mailing address and indicate that you are requesting a copy of The Humane Scorecard.


MEDIA

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/nyregion/10pigeon.html?ex=1087867835&ei=1&en=0b6e4a4fea2abd63

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Who's Kidnapping the Pigeons, and Who Cares?
June 10, 2004
By IAN URBINA

The reports are usually the same: around dawn, near a city park or plaza, two men jump out of a van, the license plate often concealed with tape. They toss a handful of seeds, and when pigeons descend, they swipe the birds up in a net.

"We've been getting calls about this for years," said Mark MacDonald, a 32-year veteran with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York. He is also the organization's main pigeon expert. Once captured, the pigeons are then driven to Pennsylvania, investigators believe, and sold to private gun clubs for use in live bird shooting.

"We never got enough evidence to go after the people moving the pigeons within the state and across state lines," said Clayton Hulsizer, a retired Pennsylvania A.S.P.C.A. officer who spent three years working under cover investigating the traffic in pigeons. "But it was common knowledge that NewYork City played a role when it came to the supply side for the pigeons. "Though accounts of the nettings seem to teeter on the edge of urban lore, the rare witnesses to the thefts swear by them.

One woman from the Upper East Side said that in the last six months she has seen netters on several occasions next to the East River on the jogging path near 76th Street. "One of the guys looked at me staring at him and said, 'Keep walking lady, just keep walking,' " she said. Edwin, a Bronx pet store owner who breeds homing pigeons and asked that his last name not be used out of fear for his business, said the netters had been around as long as he could remember.

"Actually," he said, "they're called hopers because they use hoop-shaped hand-held nets. "To most New Yorkers, street pigeons - winged rats, they are sometimes called - do not evoke either great affection or urgent concern. But no one disputes that pigeons have it hard enough without the threat of being captured and killed.

Crammed into a concrete jungle, the birds navigate a perilous world of electrified ledges, predatory hawks, rooftop glue traps and millions of disdaining pedestrians. But they do have rights - unlike privately owned homing and racing pigeons that usually live in rooftop coops, street pigeons - which pigeon breeders call clinkers - are considered property of the state, and it is illegal to harm them.

And they do have their defenders, some of whom have been consumed with ending the illicit trade conducted by the netters.

"The negative attitudes toward these beautiful creatures are ridiculous," said Al Streit, founder of Pigeon People, a group of 20 organizing members with a 300-person e-maillist. The group, which meets once a month, works to remind the public that pigeons are just like any other bird, he said. Their waste "is no dirtier than the sparrows'," he said. "So why the discrimination?

"The world and workings of the netters remain murky. Nobody seems to know of any arrests. The vans and trucks that many insist transport the birds and deliver them to the gun clubs have not been stopped." The problem has been that the nettings occur in 15 seconds or less," said Mr. MacDonald, of the New York A.S.P.C.A.

But Don Bailey, a part-time truck driver who often transports birds, says the trade exists. Until 1999, Pennsylvania was home to the Hegins Pigeon Shoot, one of the oldest and most heavily attended annual shooting events in the country. The shoot attracted more than 5,000spectators for Labor Day weekend and often left an estimated 6,000 pigeons dead. Mr. Bailey said he was one of the truckers who provided birds for the Hegins shoot.

"Some guys moved them from Philly and New York City, but I never did," he said. Mr. Bailey said that all of the pigeons he shipped to Hegins came from teenage farm boys in Pennsylvania who gather up the birds from barns and granaries and sell them for a dollar or two each.

The Hegins shoot was ended after years of pressure from animal rights advocates, but live shoots still exist in private gun clubs around Pennsylvania. And Mr. Bailey said he did not think, in truth, that grabbing pigeons in New York for use in the shoots was such a bad idea. "Thinning out the population in New York City is a good thing, right?" he asked. Some people, obviously, think not.

Anna Kugelmas is the director of the New York Companion Bird Club, a group with 60 members. Ms. Kugelmas started her group because she was tired of people yelling at her every time she threw seeds on the street, she said. In New York City, feeding pigeons in public areas is legally considered littering.

"Loving pigeons can be a pretty lonely affection in this city," she said. She has a point: of the approximately 300 pigeon-related calls to 311 per month, city data shows, roughly half are complaints about people feeding them.

The other half are complaints about the birds' feces." The city has plenty of places to call if you want them removed or killed, but nowhere to call if you want them helped because one has a broken wing," said Margaret, a member of the club who spoke on the condition that her last name not be used.

Several people devoted to rescuing and healing injured or stranded pigeons say that more ought to be done and that there needs to be more oversight by the government when it comes to pigeons.

"There is a real lack of policy when it comes to urban wildlife," said Johanna Clearfield, director of the Urban Wildlife Coalition, a group that does what it can for squirrels, sparrows and pigeons in New York City.

Ms. Kugelmas agreed. "If Bernard Goetz can be the city's main squirrel rehabber, which he is, then you know there is a real void here," she said, referring to the man who shot four teenagers on a subway train in 1984. But for pigeon advocates, the netters remain a top concern, and some lament that no one is bold enough to take them on.

There is, though: Bird Operations Busted.

"We're the hard-core part of the pigeon movement," said Bob, who asked that his last name not be used but who is the founder of Bird Operations Busted, an organization that has about 15 members. "Our aim is to unveil the mafia of netters," he said in hushed tones, seated in an Upper West Side cafe. The first challenge, he said, involves surveillance. Members of the group have disposable cameras in case they happen upon a netter in action, he said. The group has also installed hidden video cameras at several spots in Manhattan.

Gordon King, 71, a retired lawyer who is working pro bono for the group, said that the goal was to collect evidence and eventually compel state officials to investigate illegal nettings. But Bob acknowledges it will not be easy. The wireless video cameras that the group uses are expensive, he said. Their installation in public spaces requires discretion. The group is also collecting a paper archive of witness accounts of netting sightings from across the city, complete with license plate numbers and descriptions of suspects, he said. "Sometimes," Bob said, "you have to do a lot to get the smallest injustices corrected."

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http://www.nydailynews.com/06-15-2004/news/story/202893p-175069c.html

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS,
JUNE 15, 2004

Bird-control plan is rattling cages

By RALPH R. ORTEGA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A midtown love nest frequented by thousands of pigeons has turned into a love trap.

In a quest to keep the landmark 80-year-old Haier Building clear of pigeon droppings, owners hired a New Jersey firm to place cages on a ledge, lure the birds with food and relocate them upstate.

But the technique has outraged animal advocates and sparked a cruelty investigation by the ASPCA, whose inspectors were at Broadway and 36th St. yesterday checking conditions inside the four cages.

Pigeon lovers who fear the birds will meet a fate more foul than upstate freedom have staged jail breaks, scaling a 30-foot wall of the six-story building to pry open the cages.

"Pigeons love people and there's nothing wrong with loving them back," said Al Streit, director of Pigeon People, a rescue group. The relocation program began six months ago with the best intentions, said David Odermatt, Haier's director of security. "What we're doing is the most humane thing in the city," Odermatt said.

The columns on the former Greenwich Savings Bank are stained by pigeon droppings, which were eating away at the architectural masterpiece purchased by Haier, the Chinese appliance maker, three years ago.

Odermatt said he did not want to euthanize the birds before applying a sealant that would protect the building from excrement. So he turned to the Bird Doctor.

Sal Santamaria, an expert with the Paramus, N.J.-based Bird Doctor, denied the pigeons are being killed or sold. "We don't believe in doing that," he said. They're kept for 30 days, starved for 24 hours and then released to an undisclosed location upstate, Santamaria said.

Odermatt insisted the cages - which so far have trapped about 1,500 birds - are in compliance with all local and state regulations.

But Streit fears a trend. He said pigeons increasingly are considered nuisances and being unfairly forced out of the city. Other New Yorkers offered little sympathy yesterday for what critics call winged rats. "I just don't see any use for them," said Peter Dunn, 22, as he sat under a tree in Herald Square.
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JULY 29, 2004
THE WEST SIDE SPIRIT
MANHATTAN MEDIA GROUP

COMMUNITY NEWS
BY LIZ TODD

AN UPPER WEST SIDE CHURCH ALLEGEDLY HAS BEEN TRAPPING PIGEONS ILLEGALLY. YET, DESPITE EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENTS FROM ANIMAL ACTIVISTS, AN ASPCA OFFICER AND THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH'S OWN OFFICIALS, THE CITY WILL NOT BE TAKING ACTION AGAINST HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, ON 82ND STREET BETWEEN BROADWAY AND AMSTERDAM AVENUE.AN ANONYMOUS WORKER AT 221 W. 82ND STREET, THE APARTMENT BUILDING NEXT TO THE CHURCH, SAID RESIDENTS HAD BEEN CONCERNED ABOUT THE PROBLEM FOR MORE THAN A YEAR.

THE APARTMENT FACING EAST FROM THE FIFTH FLOOR UP OVERLOOK THE RECTORY ROOF - A BUILDING ADJACENT TO THE CHURCH - WHERE THE ALLEGED TRAP HAS BEEN. PHOTOS TAKEN BY MEMBERS OF THE URBAN WILDLIFE COALITION JUNE 29 AND GIVEN TO THE WEST SIDE SPIRIT SHOWED SEVERAL BIRDS IN AND AROUND THE WOODEN-FRAMED, WIRE MESH TRAP.ON JULY 7, THE CITY'S HEALTH DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS VISITED THE SITE, A SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE CITY, WHO ASKED TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, SAID DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS INITIALLY THOUGHT THEY SAW A PIGEON COOP."

STAFF INSPECTED AT THE HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN RESPONSE TO A COMPLAINT ABOUT UNSANITARY CONDITIONS RELATED TO THE PIGEON COOP," THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN SAID. "THEY FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF A PIGEON NUISANCE, AND NO UNSANITARY CONDITIONS."LATER REALIZING THE "COOP" WAS ACTUALLY A TRAP, HEALTH DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS CONTACTED THE CHURCH TO INFORM THEM A PERMIT WAS REQUIRED.THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN ACKNOWLEDGED, "OUR INSPECTORS DID NOT SEE THE TRAP IN OPERATION, AND THEREFORE WE CANNOT ASSESS A VIOLATION.

"HAD THEY SEEN A WORKING TRAP, THE CITY WOULD HAVE REQUESTED PROMPT ABATEMENT. INSPECTORS MAY ALSO ISSUE A VIOLATION, WHICH CAN RESULT IN A FINE OF $200 TO $2,000.STATE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION LAW REQUIRES ANYONE WISHING TO TRAP PIGEONS IN NEW YORK, IN CASES WHERE PIGEONS CREATE NUISANCE CONDITIONS, TO APPLY FOR A PERMIT FROM THE CITY.THIS PERMIT APPLICATION MUST DOCUMENT THE NUISANCE CONDITIONS AND DESCRIBE THE PROPOSED MANNER BY WHICH THE ANIMALS WILL BE HUMANELY EUTHANIZED OR WHERE THEY WILL BE RELEASED.IN AN UNRELATED UNANNOUNCED INSPECTION THE SAME DAY, THE ASPCA EXAMINED THE CHURCH SITE.

THE ANIMAL RESCUE ORGANIZATION HAD RECEIVED SEVERAL CALLS FROM CONCERNED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC THAT THE BIRDS WERE BEING HOUSED CRUELLY. SO ASPCA SPECIAL AGENT JOSEPH PENTANGELLO CHECKED IT OUT.HE SAID THAT ALTHOUGH THE CHURCH STAFF MEMBERS WERE INITIALLY UNWILLING TO ALLOW THE OFFICER ROOF ACCESS, THEY EVENTUALLY COOPERATED."I TOOK SEVERAL PHOTOS OF THE ENTIRE ROOF," PENTANGELLO SAID.HE SAID A ROOFTOP TRAP CONTAINED ONE PIGEON, WHICH APPEARED SOUND AND HAD SUFFICIENT FOOD AND WATER. "I LOOKED AT THE GENERAL CONDITION OF THAT BIRD," HE SAID. "THERE WERE NO CARCASSES AND THERE WERE NO FEATHERS OR TELL-TALE EVIDENCE TO ME THAT THERE HAD BEEN PROBLEMS BEFOREHAND."

ON JULY 9, HOLY TRINITY CHURCH APPLIED FOR A PERMIT TO TRAP PIGEONS. REV. MONSIGNOR THOMAS LEONARD, FROM THE CHURCH, DID NOT RESPOND TO REPEATED REQUESTS FOR COMMENT. THE WEST SIDE SPIRIT COULD NOT CONFIRM HOW LONG THE INITIAL TRAP HAD BEEN IN PLACE, OR WHY THE CHURCH HAD APPLIED FOR A PERMIT TWO DAYS AFTER OFFICIALS VISITED THE SITE. IT IS NOT KNOWN WHETHER TRAPPED PIGEONS WERE HUMANELY KILLED OR RELEASED ELSEWHERE.THE CHURCH'S EVENTUAL APPLICATION WAS "INCOMPLETE" AND THEREFORE DENIED ON JULY 20, ALTHOUGH THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN COULD NOT SAY WHETHER THIS WAS BECAUSE THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF A PROBLEM AT THE SITE, OR BECAUSE THE PAPERWORK HAD NOT BEEN FILLED OUT FULLY.

AS OF JULY 22 THE TRAP WAS DISABLED, THE SPOKESWOMAN SAID. CHURCH OFFICIALS, SHE ADDED, HAD INFORMED THE CITY THAT IT HAD BEEN COVERED OVER AND WOULD BE REMOVED BY THE CONTRACTOR, T & W PIGEON ELIMINATING CO., OF LINDEN, N.J.DESPITE ACKNOWLEDGING TO A REPORTER THAT THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT DID IN FACT SEE A TRAP, NO ACTION WILL BE TAKEN AGAINST THE CHURCH.

"OUR INSPECTORS DID NOT SEE THE TRAP IN OPERATION, AND THEREFORE WE CANNOT ASSESS A VIOLATION," THE SPOKESWOMAN SAID.JOHANNA CLEARFIELD, THE DIRECTOR OF THE URBAN WILDLIFE COALITION, SAID SHE WAS APPALLED BY THAT RESPONSE.
"IT SHOWS THERE'S NO REAL HEART IN ENFORCEMENT," SHE SAID, "THERE'S NO REAL MUSCLE. THE FIELD IS WIDE OPEN FOR PEOPLE TO DO THESE VIOLATIONS."

AS FOR WHY PENTANGELLO FROM THE ASPCA DID NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE TRAP, HE SAID HE COULD NOT BECAUSE THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF ANIMAL CRUELTY."

AS FAR AS THEM (THE CHURCH) NOT HAVING THE PROPER PERMITS OR THE REQUIRED PERMITS, THAT'S A REAL ISSUE, BUT UNFORTUNATELY NOT THE ASPCA'S ISSUE," PENTANGELLO SAID. OUR ISSUE IS CRUELTY TO BIRDS, NOT GETTING INTO THE LABYRINTH OF CODES AND REGULATORY ISSUES OF THE RIGHT SORTS OF PERMITS."

CLEARFIELD, FROM THE WILDLIFE COALITION, WAS ANGRY AT THE IDEA OF ANY LOSS OF LIFE, WHETHER THROUGH HUMANE EUTHANASIA OR BECAUSE THE PIGEONS DIED INADVERTENTLY IN THE TRAP OR ON THEIR JOURNEY TO A RELEASE SITE.

"YOU CANNOT JUST WILLY-NILLY KILL PIGEONS JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE IT," SHE SAID. "THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF NEW YORKERS WHO ARE ANIMAL-SYMPATHETIC. IF THIS WAS A DOG OR A CAT, THE CITY WOULD BE UP IN ARMS."


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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, MAY 27, 2004
SLINKY VS. STINKY
By RALPH R. ORTEGA, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The long battle to keep pigeons from pooping on visitors to Manhattan's Bryant Park is getting down to the wire. Today, workers will wrap Slinky-like coiled wires around tree branches hanging over sitting areas in the midtown oasis in an effort to ward off birds and put an end to the foul potty breaks.

"The wire's not steady. It moves, it wobbles, it makes the birds dizzy, and they go away," said Charles Fremaint, projects director for the 34th St. Partnership. The Bryant Park Restoration Corp., which runs the park, is banking on those results to finally win the battle of the bird.

Once overrun by drugs, the French Classical-style park was cleaned up and reopened in 1992, when it quickly became a lunchtime mecca. But the pigeons also came, looking for scraps and dropping excrement.

"The pigeons do dunk on you a lot," said parkg oer Scott White, 64, who was hit three times last year. Getting rid of the birds has been a long - and sometimes embarrassing - fight. Drugging the pigeons didn't work, and fake owls didn't scare them away.

A plan last year to use a hawk to chase away pigeons backfired when the predator swooped down and attacked a Chihuahua. Daniel Biederman, director of the park corporation, hopes the wires will spare up to 2,500 people who sit under the trees every day. He vowed to keep looking for a solution if the wires don't work. "This is going to help us some of the way, hopefully all of the way," Biederman said. "And if not, we'll try something else. ... We will not stop."

Originally published on May 27, 2004
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And in MIAMI.....
Areti Weisberg's compassionate battle to save the pigeons in her building from being exterminated --
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9292141.htm


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2 video clips about pigeons available
http://www.paccomfilms.com/previews.html

The first has a lot of historical info, the 2nd is about racing pigeons. (The RealPlayer versions of these clips work, but not all of the QuickTime versions do.)

These are excerpts from longer documentaries about pigeons, of which there are several available as DVD or VHS here:

http://www.paccomfilms.com/films/pigeons.html
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