pigeon papers

Nyack New York: One Woman champions pigeons

2005-10-05T08:53:00.000-04:00

A single Mom in Nyack, New York was deeply disturbed by the illegal and inhumane poisoning of pigeons in her area. She went on a campaign which included contacting the Department of Environmental Conservation, the local press in her area and her neighbors. Here is just one of the stories which she helped to facilitate. In fact, she was able to get live local news coverage as well. You go girl...!

http://www.nyackvillager.com/FrNV.htm

REPORTER AT LARGE

What's killing Piermont's pigeons?

In mid September The Nyack Villager received eyewitness accounts of dead and dying pigeons falling out of the sky onto the North Shore Walkway in Piermont and into the waters of the Piermont Marsh. Some of the birds, not quite dead when they fell, flopped around in apparent agony for an hour and a half before they died.

Curt Lowey, a Piermont resident, asked his neighbors about the pigeons. He said a former board member of nearby Paradise Harbor Condominium remarked that the condo dwellers, "were trying to solve their pigeon problem," as some of them were complaining that pigeons had taken to roosting on their roof.

Mr. Lowey sent a dead bird to the NY State Wildlife Pathologist for his opinion on what killed it.

In a television news report that aired on the 21st, it was said that a Paradise Harbor condo dweller admitted to putting out poison bait, hoping to make the pigeons sick. He suggested they ate too much of the bait, presumably becoming accessories to their own murder. Stay tuned.

Lincoln, Nebraska:City Plans Pigeon Relocation; Sept 2005

2005-09-21T12:29:00.000-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/8l3k2
September 21, 2005
Nebraska:City plans pigeon relocation projectBy DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal StarWard Lewis figures that because he's only been "hit" once by thepigeons that hang out almost directly over his workplace, he's faringpretty well.

For eight years, he's worked at the Fringe & Tassel, which is in theshadow of the yawning Harris Overpass that's home to legions ofpigeons that roost, nest and poop on its inviting ledges.

Just east of the costume shop, Judy Roth runs an antique store called Gatherings.

She, too, counts herself lucky when it comes to dodging pigeons:"I've only gotten nailed once on the head," she said of her threeyears in that location.

As the city prepares to replace the aging overpass, it has been askingthe public what the new bridge should look like. Turns out people areas interested in talking about relocating the pigeons as construction timelines and bridge touchdowns.

Linda Beacham of Schemmer Associates, the lead design consultant onthe bridge project, said the pigeon issue has been "huge." In onesurvey, pigeons showed up in four of five comments. People complainthe birds deposit droppings all over buildings, sidewalks, cars and sometimes people.

To alleviate the pigeon problem, Beacham said the city is consideringa bridge designed to relocate the pigeons to the west, over railroadtracks, where they could do less damage.

Doug Lienemann likes that idea. He works one block south of the HarrisOverpass at Midwest Steel Works Inc. and is president of the LincolnHaymarket Development Corporation. He said the Haymarket group fieldsregular complaints about pigeons.

"We're not too wild about the pigeons," he said.

During meetings about the new overpass, he said, "That is one of the first things that always comes up."

Pigeons flourish in the area because they have a steady food supply:spilled grain from rail cars. They particularly like the downtown areabecause the overpass and older buildings provide ledges to roost and nest.

The underbelly of the overpass is a popular hangout for pigeons. The evidence is everywhere: Aside from the pigeons roosting and flying inand out, piers are whitewashed with droppings, nests are tucked intocorners, feathers and droppings litter the parking area below, and thegentle cooing of pigeons is heard overhead.

A study conducted earlier this year by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln wildlife damage management class estimated Lincoln ishome to about 3,000 pigeons, and the number is climbing.

Beacham has consulted "pigeon experts" to help with the bridge design. They cautioned against displacing the birds so quickly they flock to nearby buildings. Instead, they suggest the birds be eased west by making the bottom of the new bridge flat on the east end and replicating their habitat over the tracks by leaving the bridge open,with beams the birds can land on.

U.S. Department of Agriculture State Director John Hobbs, whose agency handles wildlife damage, wonders why the city wouldn't want to displace the pigeons altogether.

Lincoln, he said, has a serious "bird problem."

From the Canada geese that damage golf courses to the prevalence ofEuropean starlings to the airport's worry about "bird strikes,"

Lincoln needs to do something about the birds, he said, or "it'll behorrible in five years."

And not just because they're a nuisance; they carry diseases ranging from encephalitis to salmonella. Pigeon droppings in the Haymarket areparticularly problematic because of the high number of restaurants, Hobbs said.

Pigeons are also a problem at the Lancaster County Jail in Air Park,where they roost on windowsills all along the building. The UNL studysaid steel spikes installed in 1995 were effective until about a yearago. Now parts of the building are washed weekly, and the manager ofthe correctional facility told the UNL researchers that even ifworkers washed the area daily, they still wouldn't be able to "getahead of all the droppings."

The UNL study recommended a two-year program to reduce the pigeonpopulation to less than 1,000 through lethal and nonlethal methods.Part of the plan would involve contracting with the USDA to killpigeons with poison, traps and air rifles.

"Shooting could be conducted at night under bridges, overpasses andother areas where public use is low to minimize observation, concernsand response by the public," the study said. "Shooting activities should be conducted at night beneath the bridge, using a silenced compressed air rifle."

The pigeon population also can be reduced, the study authors said, bydiscouraging people from feeding pigeons; cleaning up spilled grainaround elevators, feed mills and railcar loading areas; cleaning trashfrom streets and sidewalks; and cleaning grain spilled around microbreweries. It also recommended designing "pigeon-proof" buildings.

UNL Professor Scott Hygnstrom, the extension wildlife damage specialist who oversaw the study, said the city needs to take measuresnow or watch the pigeon population triple.

"We're not trying to be ogres about this matter," he said.

After the study was conducted, Hobbs recommended last spring that thecity, county and Natural Resources District split the costs of a full-time wildlife specialist to handle a variety of animal problems,from coyotes to badgers to woodchucks."

They don't really need a full-time pigeon hunter," Hobbs said of Lincoln.

The USDA would have provided matching funds, he said.

The county andNRD were interested, but Hobbs said the city wasn't interested."

It just might have been a little bit off the wall for them," Hobbs said. "I just think it kind of fell through the cracks."

City-county health department Director Bruce Dart said he heard Hobbs'pitch but hasn't seen enough information to justify the position.

Asked whether pigeons are a big problem in Lincoln, he said it dependson how much exposure you have to them. Most people don't have much.

"If I was dealing with pigeon droppings on my car every day, I'dprobably think it was a big deal," he said.

But Ward Lewis and Paul Pearson, who work in the costume shop underthe bridge, said killing pigeons would be taking things too far.

Even though Lewis says "they're huge poopers," he doesn't think they cause that much trouble."

Personally, I get kind of a kick out of them," Pearson said. "I like the pigeons."

Roth, too, is more concerned about how long it takes the city to replace the bridge because it will affect her store.

"I think there will always be pigeons in every city," she said."People complain. They do. But overall they don't hurt anything."

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.

"Pigeons Pose Problems..."

2005-08-11T09:41:00.000-04:00

Why are there no proposed solutions? Eg. healthy pigeon management? Relocating/re-homing pigeons and/or calling in Wildlife experts for solutions???

Pigeons Pose Problems in Carbon CountyHundreds of birds have people up in arms in one Carbon County community....

Residents are demanding action but borough leaders saythey don't have the money to battle a pigeon invasion. Mary Demyanovich runs a barber shop in downtown Lansford and Megan Murlo owns a flower shop. The businesses sit on either side of aformer Elks building which they call a haven for pigeons. "The last time I was in there I would say there were 300 to 400 pigeons in there and 200 dead ones laying all over the place," saidLansford Mayor George Krajnak.

The birds aren't hard to find. They can be seen flying overhead andtheir waste is easy to spot. Pigeon droppings cover Murlo's sidewalkleading to an apartment she can't rent. "That's not the only problem. It's falling down. There's glass falling onto my property. That brings my property value down. I can't imagine tenants that would want to live next to such a building," Murlo complained.

The dilapidated building between the two businesses is owned by acouple from Effort. They could not be reached for comment. The pigeons also use other abandoned buildings in the borough, including one with a collapsed roof.

Health officials said the acid in the droppings erode buildings, harbor diseases and can pose a health hazard."We don't have a board of health in town. I've contacted theNortheast Regional Board of Health and they said they don't handle things like this," the mayor said." I can't keep up with the pigeon droppings. I tried but I got sickfor awhile," Murlo added. "Who cares about my health right? I do and I tried to get something done but nothing is happening," said business owner Demyanovich.The mayor insists the borough doesn't have the money to tear down the pigeon homes. Residents believe the pigeon invasion will only get worse.

Pigeons in India.....a little respite from the craziness....

2005-06-13T10:33:00.000-04:00

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=134261orhttp://tinyurl.com/d4pag

FOOTLOOSE IN MUMBAI

The Pigeons of Rush-Hour DadarWhile the city's green spaces and heritage buildings fade away, itskabutarkhanas survive, man and bird feeding each other in a beautiful moment of poetry

Shibu JagadevanMumbai, June 12:

IT WAS picturesque when they put it up on the bigscreen, songs and all. Amrish Puri feeding pigeons in lush greenfields. And Shah Rukh Khan trying the same thing and failing miserably.

Khan would've done much better, if he had simply come over to thekabootar khana near Dadar railway station—a 70-year-old traffic island that is home to more than 10,000 pigeons.

The kabootarkhana, a heritage structure, is a circle of about 1,000-odd square feet of open space with a water fountain that once ran perennially and some wooden crates that serve as pigeon holes.

Its residents perch on windows, rooftops and trees, feed inside the circle, drink at the fountain and, when they're not doing anythingelse, paint the lamp posts and rooftops white. The Jain temple in front has an idol of Shantinath Bhagvan—a Jaindiety associated with the pigeon.

The Jains have traditionally offered grain to pigeons as part of their prayers. In the days when grain sellers lined these streets, traders made offerings to the Bird of Peace before the start of business. Whilemost of those grain stores are gone today, there is one hawker who deals exclusively in pigeon food.

His wares—sacks containing channa, jwari and corn and about 20 empty tin cans. Passersby can buy Rs 5 worth of grains in a can, throw themto the birds and see a heap of husk remain within a few seconds of thegrain hitting the tiled floor.

Given that the birds eat up about 800 kg of grain everyday, this manmust be doing pretty well for himself. While the city protests all the time it spends commuting, Matungaresident Ramesh Mallik (28), takes an extra 20 minutes everyday to come here and feed the birds before setting off to Santacruz, where he works.

The rest found a convenient alternative. ``People who can't personally feed the birds pay us to feed them a certain amount of grain everyday. Our store alone offers 100-150 kg of grain on behalf of ourcustomers,'' says Dilesh Hiralal Satra, owner of the Dhanji Naiyagrain store and a fourth-generation resident of the area. Satra's father is a trustee of the Dadar Kabootarkhana Trust—the association that pitches in during food shortfalls, arranges medical camps for the birds and removes the 25 or so birds that die everyday.

"Some days, very few people turn up—like when there's a transport strike—and we have to dig deep into the gow downs to ensure the birdsdon't starve,'' says Ketan Vora, grandson of Valamje Ratanshi Vora, who founded the trust in 1935.

The light is fading now, and in one of those moments we'll probably never understand, the birds suddenly fly off in a burst of grey in that softly violent way they have. And you're in the middle of traffic again.

Wyoming Plans to Poison, kill, "eradicate" pigeons...

2005-06-08T14:52:00.000-04:00

City unveils plan to eliminate pigeons

BY ANGELA BROOKS

Boomerang Staff Writer

A good share of Laramie's pigeon population could soon be headed tobird heaven.

The Laramie City Council will consider a plan Tuesday to eradicate pigeons from the city — by trapping, shooting or poisoning them. Under the proposal, the city would sign a $2,033 contract with theU.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Wildlife Services to destroyor capture the birds over a two-week period.

The program couldcontinue into the future, with each additional extermination costingthe city $1,344.City officials say the pigeon population needs to be reduced becausethe birds carry infectious diseases that could be passed to humans.

They also carry parasites, destroy property and are the targets ofcontinuing nuisance complaints."I don't think we could ever get rid of all of them, and having just afew pigeons doesn't threaten humans," Interim City Manager DickWaggener said.

"But when the numbers continue to multiply, we have todo something about it."Officials have recommended using a combination of lethal andnon-lethal techniques. Within the city, the pigeons would be capturedwith live traps. However, Waggener said he was uncertain what wouldhappen to the birds once they are trapped.

Outside city limits, exterminators would use guns or chemicals to killthe birds. Waggener said poisons would be used in a "very safemanner," ensuring that other animals don't come in contact withchemicals or dead birds.The plan initially would focus on the downtown area, Mountain CementCompany and the University of Wyoming Agriculture Research Facility.

The Old Fox Theater, the abandoned downtown building that has become apopular pigeon hangout spot, also would be targeted.It is estimated that up to a thousand pigeons have lived in thetheater at any one time, according to city officials.The pigeons have managed to enter the old theater through a large holein the roof.

There are several feet of bird feces inside the building,which officials say poses a health hazard. Dusts containing fungalspores can be left behind by the birds and spread by the wind."I think anything we can do to make this a healthier place to live isour responsibility," Waggener said.For years, Laramie residents have squawked about the pigeon problem:bird poop on their balconies and windowsills; feathers and deadpigeons plugging their roof drains; pigeons flying inside theirwindows or making homes out of satellite dishes and other manmade devices.

"We've received many complaints from people across town," Waggenersaid. "It's not just the downtown area. Everywhere you go, you findpigeons."The city currently has no ordinance or policy addressing pigeoncontrol. After reviewing the Laramie Municipal Code, the cityattorney's office has determined the elimination plan wouldn't classify as "cruelty to animals.

"Waggener said he wasn't certain how many pigeons would be captured or killed if the plan is approved by councilors. Exterminators would workup to 56 hours during each elimination period and would attempt tocapture or kill as many birds as possible during that time, he said.In the long-term, the city must eliminate nesting and roosting areas,remove food sources and continue periodic population control, Waggenersaid.

When people feed the birds, either intentionally orunintentionally, it aggravates the problem, he said.

According to the USDA, pigeons depend on humans to provide them withfood and sites for roosting and nesting. They primarily feed on manure, insects, grains, garbage and other food provided by humans. Most pigeons live on rooftops, ledges and other architectural features on buildings. Pigeon feces deface and accelerate the deterioration of buildings, and officials have responded to cases where birds have damaged property.

Waggener said some downtown business owners had threatened to poison pigeons, but were discouraged from doing so. It is common for cities to control pigeons, because it's unlikely individuals could effectively control populations on their own, he said.

So far, no one has opposed the plan."I'm sure there will be people who are opposed to doing anything withpigeons," Waggener said. "But we haven't received complaints yet."

Mike Tyson Speaks Up For Pigeons in Phoenix

2005-06-08T14:49:00.000-04:00

I am not kidding.

INHUMANE BIRD "CONTROL" IS INEFFECTIVE

2005-06-03T17:16:00.000-04:00

BIRDS, BIRD CONTROL & HUMAN HEALTH (updated 5/14/05)

Many people are disturbed about the poisoning of pigeons and other birds in their cities. Bird poisons have been banned in places such as New York City; Fort Collins, Colo.; San Francisco, Great Britain, and most recently, in Boulder, Colo. To view Boulder’s new bird sanctuary ordinance, go to http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/clerk/agenda/2002/100102/o-3c.pdf.

Bird poisons should be banned everywhere because they are:

Inhumane.
Avitrol and other bird poisons are not, as frequently reported, “LSD for birds.” Avicides such as Avitrol are acutely toxic, and they kill. After birds ingest treated grain or kernels, they suffer from seizures and a slow shutdown of the nervous system for up to 15 hours. If found in time, rehabilitators can save some birds, but without treatment, the birds die.
Indiscriminate.
Songbirds and other birds feeding on the poisoned bait are killed, and predators such as raptors, foxes, hawks, cats and dogs are at risk of secondary poisonings from feeding on the dead or dying birds. It is illegal under federal law to harm any endangered, threatened, or migratory birds.
Ineffective.
People who hire exterminators to poison birds actually save money and frustration by switching to non-lethal methods, because lethal control is never effective in the long term. Bird populations respond to poisoning with increased birth and survival rates and decreased emigration. If food, water, and shelter remain, others will move in to the open space within a short time. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, killing birds can actually create favorable grounds for breeding and can result in an increase in bird populations.

Dangerous to Humans.
Humans can die or become ill from accidental ingestion of or skin exposure to small amounts of bird poison, as occurred in Las Vegas recently after a little boy brought home a pigeon he'd found. The bird was dying of Avitrol poisoning. Shortly after, the family began to show poisoning symptoms, and the boy became very ill. His parents are taking legal action.

According to New York City's Avitrol ban, "Avitrol is too deadly and too blunt an instrument to be used in an urban setting."

Effective bird control = humane control.

The only effective strategy is the simultaneous application of three basic techniques:

1. physical exclusion from a structure2. humane repellants to produce conditions that compel birds to avoid the site3. cultural methods that focus on the elimination of the food supply.

Simple modifications in a building's structure can discourage birds from landing or nesting. Netting, wire coils/porcupine wire, spikes, Mylar tape streamers and slanting boards are among many do-it-yourself solutions to evict birds.

Ropel, a foul-tasting deterrent, also repels birds. (Sticky chemical repellents applied to ledges to discourage roosting are touted as humane but can actually kill birds and other wildlife.)

For more information, go to http://www.birdbarrier.com/ and http://www.urbanwildlifesociety.org/UWS/BrdCtrl/BrdCtlProd.html.

Debunking Myths

Pigeons and other non-migratory birds have suffered from a program of misinformation led by "pest control" companies and biased media.

Myth: Pigeons spread disease.Fact: There have been no documented cases of disease in people caused by wild or free-ranging pigeons (Humane Society of the United States).

The public is at little or no health risk from pigeons (Cincinnati Environmental Advisory Council). There is no evidence that a person can contract the West Nile virus from handling live or dead infected birds. According to the National Institutes of Health, "One could not justify an eradication of pigeons for the sole purpose of protecting people from cryptotococcosis and histoplasmosis." Authorities concur that bird poisons pose more of a risk to human health than any bird droppings do.

Myth: Avitrol is not a poison but merely a "flight alarm": The affected birds emit distress calls that scare off the others. Fact: Pigeons do not scream. They have no sound for pain. Avitrol kills, plain and simple.

Myth: Pigeons have no natural predators. Fact: Hawks, owls, falcons, eagles, cats, rats and foxes all use pigeons as a food source in urban areas.

Myth: Killing birds will reduce their numbers.Fact: Killing birds actually creates favorable grounds for breeding. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, if one-fourth of the birds in a flock are killed, the flock can be expected to return to its original size within six months to two years.

The National Pest Control Association, Avian and Wildlife Biologists, and other animal experts agree that extermination and other removal schemes are, at best, temporary and wasteful solutions to bird control.

Exterminators won’t reveal this fact because killing birds guarantees repeat business. For more information about RMAD’s work to protect wild birds, contact Jill Bielawski at jillb@rmad.org.

Did you know the city of Boulder, Colorado is a Protected Bird Sanctuary?

2005-06-03T17:13:00.000-04:00

Boulder Declared Wild Bird SanctuaryBird Poisoning Outlawed

by Jill Bielawski
October 7, 2002

When 14-year-old Emily Davis encountered rock doves convulsing and dying on a sidewalk in Boulder last April, she started making phone calls. To her dismay, she found that pigeon poisoning was common and legal. With the help of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, Emily has learned that speaking out against cruelty to animals is worth it.

Thanks to a committed team of activists including Emily and several others, pigeons and many other birds in Boulder gained their first legal rights. On Oct. 1, the Boulder City Council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance declaring the city a bird sanctuary that protects all wild birds (ordinance available at http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/clerk/agenda/2002/100102/o-3c.pdf).

Migratory songbirds are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Boulder ordinance protects birds left off the federal list, such as pigeons, English house sparrows, and certain kinds of starlings, cowbirds, blackbirds, grackles, and geese. Violators could face 30 days in jail and fines up to $1000 per bird.

Anyone seeking a permit to be exempt from the law would be required to first state in writing that he or she has taken steps to control the situation by using exclusion devices and non-injurious bird repellents. A permit to poison would only be considered when a genuine threat to public health arises, but the chances of such a threat are slim.

Property owners who have traditionally hired exterminators to poison birds will save money by switching to non-lethal methods, because lethal control is never effective in the long term. For more information on bird poison, humane alternatives, and facts about birds and human health, see the RMAD Fact Sheet on Birds.

A humane, common-sense approach is most effective for bird control. Humane techniques require more patience but are less expensive and far more effective in the long run. It’s a win-win situation for birds and people.

The starlings at Mapleton Mobile Home ParkThe bird ordinance will not affect Boulder’s Mapleton Mobile Home Park, which the media pitted against the bird sanctuary ordinance in a media-created controversy this summer. A dozen homes sit beneath trees where a large flock of starlings or grackles comes to roost each summer.

The city and many of the affected residents opposed lethal control, which would have proved to be an impractical, logistic nightmare anyway. Most important, killing the birds would not have solved the problem. The birds have left for the year, and the city will be ready with humane solutions for their return in 2003. Attaching a rotating sprinkler to the trees and spraying the birds for short intervals over a few days has not been tried and might very well do the trick.

Also see text of ordinance:
http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/clerk/agenda/2002/100102/o-3c.pdf

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

2005-06-03T15:51:00.000-04:00

Hairy Animal Control Tactics
Not Crazy About Cat Huntin? What About Toad Whacking?
By Buck Wolf/ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/print?id=706045

Long Island Wildlife Rehabilitator ARRESTED

2005-06-02T12:52:00.000-04:00

June 02, 2005
Rehabilitator faces fines for helping injured birds
By MADELAINE VITALE Staff Writer, (609) 272-7218 Marybeth Bennett used to be the person to go to with an injured bird.Local police departments, animal societies and residents in the area knew she would care for the bird whether it was a hawk, a crow or even a pigeon.But a state crackdown has changed that, eliminating people like Bennett who made up for the lack of full-scale rehabilitating centers in the region.

The closest one now is in Medford, Burlington County.Bennett's permit to rehabilitate birds expired in 2001 and was not renewed in 2002.Nevertheless, Bennett's husband, Bill, spent $4,000 on materials and built an aviary, or "giant birdcage" as they affectionately call it, on their friend Jack Snyder's property at 1560 Somers Point-Mays Landing Road in Egg Harbor Township.

On Oct. 30, 2004, the Bennetts' worst nightmare came true when officials from the state Division of Fish & Wildlife got a search warrant and seized 14 birds, including four red-tailed hawks, five crows, mourning doves and a vulture.They arrested Marybeth Bennett and issued several summonses for failure to possess a permit for regulated nongame species.She cried and told the investigators they were handling the birds too roughly, according to court papers.Within a short time, the Bennetts had only pigeons left to care for - one type of bird they can because it is not indigenous to the area.

They feared the worst for the birds seized because many could not be released into the wild due to blindness or nerve damage."Fish & Wildlife is pulling the plug on rehabbers left and right," Bill Bennett said as he stood a few feet from his wife, who was showing a photographer the aviary on Monday. "I understand there are rules, but some laws are just ridiculous. It's not like she is hurting anyone."Not only did Marybeth Bennett get in trouble for a good deed, but so did the man who allowed it to happen. Authorities issued summonses against Snyder for the same offenses as Bennett because he allowed her to use his vacant property.

Karen Hershey, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the department appreciates people who rehabilitate wildlife, but they need permits to do so."Miss Bennett didn't have a permit. She took in birds, including hawks, which are protected by state and federal law," Hershey said. "We require rehabilitators to be licensed for the protection of the animal as well as the public."Bennett and other rehabilitators said in the past few years that Fish & Wildlife has made it difficult for rehabbers in the state.A few years back, at least 100 facilities contained wildlife rehabilitated by people such as the Bennetts.

Now there are only 27, Marybeth Bennett said.Robert Filauro, Bennett's attorney, said he has learned a lot about what people go through who try to care for birds and other animals since he took the Bennett case. "I have discovered that there are a substantial number of people out there who want to help animals but are told they cannot by Fish & Wildlife or they do it in spite of the rules," he said. "They feel that since she is not a licensed rehabilitator, she can't take care of the birds."

"The bottom line here is I don't think they should be targeting individuals. The world is a better place because of the Marybeth Bennetts of the world, but I guess the state does not feel that way," he said.On Memorial Day, the Bennetts headed up the dirt driveway to feed the 20 or so pigeons in their care, which include beautiful racing pigeons - called rock doves.Some can no longer fly; others have wing injuries or are blind.

Others were domesticated birds, including one show bird that clearly stuck out from the rest with its lithe body and glossy white-feathered feet.Under Marybeth Bennett's care, the pigeons appear to be doing just fine.One pigeon plopped into a tub for a quick bath. A green and purple pigeon circled around a white and black racing pigeon.

Others just cooed and huddled together atop the large cage on planks just below the eaves, basking in the sun.Marybeth Bennett tells people who depended on her for the last nine years to call Fish & Wildlife if they find injured birds.But she worries."The state does not have the manpower to come down here and take injured birds," Bennett said. "And people aren't going to travel an hour to Medford to drop off birds they find that were hit by a car or something. The birds will just die."Now Marybeth and Snyder are in court.

The Attorney General's Office is handling the state's case.At first the cases were heard in Egg Harbor Township Municipal Court, but the judge sent the criminal cases to Superior Court in Mays Landing.Jeanne Swift, an animal caregiver and one of the founders of the Beacon Animal Rescue in Marmora, used to go to Marybeth Bennett when she got a call about a hurt bird.It sickens Swift to hear what Bennett and Snyder are going through.

"They are being treated like criminals for helping the birds, and the fact that Jack (Snyder) is in trouble for allowing her to use the property is ridiculous," Swift said."I always could trust her because she took good care of the birds and gave them a chance," Swift said.A couple weeks ago, Marybeth Bennett and Snyder went to the first hearing on the indictable offense - failure to have the state permit to possess the birds.If indicted and convicted, they each could face jail time and $60,000 in fines."My dream is to have an even bigger facility, my license back and lots of help," Bennett said. "But I don't think that will happen."To e-mail Madelaine Vitale at The Press:MVitale@pressofac.com

National Institute of Mental Health Press Release...

2005-06-01T13:13:00.000-04:00

"Birds Brainier Than Previously Thought..."

Press Release
February 3, 2005
Contact: Jennifer LoukissasNIMH Press Office301-443-4536
NIMHpress@nih.gov

Birds Brainier Than Previously Thought

The brains of birds appear to be more similar to those of mammals than previously thought. An international consortium, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this week announced new language to identify brain structures in birds. This landmark change, the first such shift in a century, reflects new evidence about the function and evolution of the vertebrate brain, mapping out similarities between structures and cognitive abilities in avian brains and the brains of mammals. The Consortium report is published in the February 2005 issue of Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

The new research revises the work of 19th century comparative neurobiologist Ludwig Edinger, who first named avian brain structures using the classical view of evolution and the ideas of Charles Darwin. Edinger believed that evolution was progressive and linear; that the mammalian brain was a more evolved form of the rudimentary structures of the reptilian and avian brain. New findings over the years have shown that birds possess neural capacities beyond those of some small mammal species.

The old terminology for areas of the bird brain equated them to human basal ganglia — structures thought to be involved in only the most instinctive behavior. Previous opinion held that the malleable behavior of mammals required the higher-order neocortex found in mammals. But collected genetic, behavioral, and molecular evidence shows that, although the structures are organized differently, areas of the avian brain perform functions similar to those of the mammalian neocortex, which is responsible for performing sensory information processing.

In addition to subdividing regions of the brain, the new taxonomy erases misnomers stemming from the incorrect use of prefixes to imply the relative age of different regions. The clarity of the new labels allows neuroscientists studying non-avian brains to understand the relevance of findings in bird research.

“This new approach to the anatomy of the avian brain allows scientists working with birds and mammals to compare their findings more effectively,” said Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health, lead institute on this project. “This re-naming effort should also increase the power of comparative studies, yielding new insights from the avian brain that can help us to understand other vertebrates, including humans.”

The Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium comprised a team of 28 neuroscientists — international specialists in avian, mammalian, reptilian, and fish neurobiology — led by Duke University neurobiologist Erich Jarvis. The project was funded through the National Science Foundation and several NIH institutes: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

International co-authors included:
Onur Güntürkün, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany; András Csillag, Semmelweis University, Hungary; Loreta Medina, University of Murcia, Spain; George Paxinos, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, Australia; Martin Wild, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Tom Smulders, University of Newcastle, United Kingdom

Co-authors from Duke University Medical Center included:
Lubica Kubikova, Connie Siang, Kazuhiro Wada, and Jing Yu

Co-authors from other U.S. universities included:
Wayne Kuenzel, University Arkansas; Diane Lee, California State University Long Beach; Stephanie White, University of California, Los Angeles; Harvey Karten, University of California, San Diego; Georg Striedter, University of California at Irvine; Jennifer Dugas-Ford, University of Chicago; Laura Bruce, Creighton University School of Medicine; Ann Butler, George Mason University; Gregory F. Ball, Johns Hopkins University; Sarah Durand, LaGuardia–CUNY; Claudio Mello, Oregon Health & Science University; Gerald Hough, Rowan University; Toru Shimizu, University of South Florida; Scott Husband, University of South Florida; Alice Powers, St. John's University; Keiko Yamamoto, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Anton Reiner, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; David J. Perkel, University of Washington

NIMH is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Federal Government's primary agency for biomedical and behavioral research. NIH is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For more information on NIMH research using songbirds, go to
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/bird.cfm

Delaware, PA: First Person Pigeon Rescue Story

2005-06-01T12:03:00.000-04:00

Here's one woman's experience and insight when confronted with an exhausted, dying, pigeon in Delware, PA...

http://www.urbanwildlifesociety.org/pigeons/Pij&ThotsOf9-11.html

Urban Wildlife Coalition - Yahoo Group

2005-05-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

Please explore and feel free to join...

The Myth that pigeons "spread diseases"

2005-05-26T12:24:00.000-04:00

why do we hear so much about pigeons spreading diseases?

....because extermination and pesticide companies have a vested interest in spreading their own diseased propaganda.

http://www.savethepigeons.org/diseaseframe.htm

Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons

2005-05-26T10:19:00.000-04:00

London : While Paris Hilton was recently threatened with a fine for feeding pigeons in the famous Trafalgar Square (see link http://www.savethepigeons.org/) London "Councillors" continue their war on pigeons...recent internet posting...

May 26, 2005
new law proposed

A BY-LAW could be introduced stopping people from feeding wild birdsas Bridlington looks to tackle its pigeon problem.Councillors are also being asked to consider a cull of pigeons by poisoning them in a bid to clean up the town centre.

A pest control company has approached Bridlington Town Counciloffering to catch the pigeons using a bait which contains a sedativeand a fatal dose of poison.If the plan gets the go-ahead, the scheme will cost £500 for a year,which will be split between the council and the BridlingtonRegeneration Partnership.

Denise Cowling, town centre manager, said: "We got many complaintsin the One Stop Shop from people saying something needs to be done,and most of these complaints have been from residents rather thanvisitors."Pigeons are a public nuisance and they are a health problem. They are not particularly clean creatures and carry diseases."

You are never going to eradicate the problem completely and you arenever going to please everybody, but you can lessen the problem andit is better that we do something, rather than let the problem spiral out of control.

"I'm sure this is the most humane way."

A report was due to be presented to council's finance and generalpurposes committee at its meeting last night. It recommended that the council approaches property owners in the town centre to see if they would be willing to have a purpose-builtcage put on their roofs.

One of the traders who has been plagued by the pigeons is PeterSutton, owner of Just 4 Rooms in Chapel Street. He has bagged up around a quarter-of-a-ton of droppings from his roof and spent more than £1,000 clearing the mess. He believed a cull was the only way to get rid of the birds, but said too many people would ignore the proposed by-law banning people from feeding the birds.

He said: "People are still feeding them now."Someone is throwing them a large amount of grain on a regular basis. "I am an animal lover, but there is only one way around this problem."

A ban would be impossible, it's futile because there's no way you can stop people and day-trippers maybe wouldn't know about it. "It is affecting people's lives and busineses. "We pay rates and expect it to be taken seriously.

"If they had rats running about they would soon do something about it.

"The council has got to face up to its obligation to people like me."

Several other authorities have looked at different ways of reducing their pigeon population. The problem in Trafalgar Square in London has been tackled by hiringa hawk to scare off the birds, but this is believed to have costaround £130,000. The new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh has also been plagued by pigeons roosting on the rooftops.

Last month Leicester City Council introduced £50 fines to people who persistently feed pigeons in parks.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND A NOTE OF SUPPORT TO THE PEOPLE IN LONDON WHO ARE TRYING TO FIND HUMANE SOLUTIONS TO LIVING WITH THESE WONDERFUL BIRDS, JUST GO TO http://www.savethepigeons.org/ WHERE YOU CAN FIND THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION AND OTHER WONDERFUL LINKS, INCLUDING A PIGEON SLIDESHOW....

"Die! Pigeon! Die" A New "Humor" book May 2005

2005-05-12T12:58:00.000-04:00

From: Clearfield, Johanna (IT)
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 11:53 AM
To: 'corrie_pikul@newyorkmag.com'
Cc: 'nyletters@nymagazine.com'
Subject: "Die pigeon Die!"

The article's link http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/11968/index.html

Corrie,

I wondered if you noticed the eery resemblance between the photo of the tortured pigeon and those of other torture victims; most recently the victims of Abu Gharib -- not to mention the grisly photos that show up in post rape and kidnap cases. Corpses with duct tape over their eyes or other strange objects defiling their bodies. I am presuming you are aware of the multiple studies which have detailed the link between those who commit violent crimes against humans also having a history of committing these crimes against animals.

That really should be a no-brainer.

In addition, I personally am furious over the group-think division of animals divided into two categories: those who deserve to be respected and protected (cute, fuzzy, preferably on a leash) and those who do not (flying, free, crawilng free or sold for consumption).

None of us are free or safe as long as any living thing -- human or not -- can be so viciously (and hilariously?) destroyed.

Sincerely,

Johanna Clearfield (out of the closet pigeon - lover)
Director, Urban Wildlife Coalition - NYC
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/urban_wildlife_coalition_NYC

*********************************************************************************
"pidgekin"
Date: Mon May 9, 2005 8:41 pm
Subject: Torture book about pigeons is subject of NY Mag article pigeoncentral
Offline
Send Email
Remove Author Ban Author

The A. V. Jones book that details and promotes torturing pigeons has
gotten the publicity many of us were afraid to bring to it if we had
written letters. Others of us - especially Zelda Penzel - did write.
Zelda did a great job.

The book is sold in humor sections. It's called Canceled Flight: 101
Tried and True Pigeon Killin' Methods by A.V. Jones.

What does it advocate? Ask yourself first if anyone ever kills a
pigeon without torturing it. Common, everyday methods: cage traps with
no water or food left on a roof. Poison of any type. Odd, but a small
scale slaughterhouse sounds a little kinder.

But the Jones book, which tries to pass as harmless to keep us off
their backs, says to roast pigeons on a spit, put kerosene on them on
a grill, cut them in half - that's more than enough. The NY Mag
article hides the hideous killing methods, as to speak of power abuse
is a taboo usually enforced in human society.

People who advocate torture are guilty of many tortures.

It's our turn. Please write letters.

Al
Pigeon People

The book's description at the distributor's site
http://www.powerhousebooks.com/throckmorton/canceledflight.html

See the link to the article below. If you write to New York Magazine,
this is the address: nyletters@newyorkmag.com

The distributor: Powerhouse Books.
ph@powerhousebooks.com

The publisher: http://throckmortonpress.com
This site seems to be a dummy, but NY Mag says the publisher is Joel
Barnard. If anyone finds contact info, please send it to me.

Al Streit
Forward from Pigeon People

--- In PijnPeople@yahoogroups.com, "pidgekin" wrote:
The article's link is
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/
11968/index.html or
http://tinyurl.com/92hz2

Text

Intelligencer
Die, Pigeon, Die!
A new how-to book for bringing down those rats in the sky.

By Corrie Pikul

Pigeons are certainly a nuisance, but do they really deserve to die—
even facetiously? Joel Barnard, a 34-year-old advertising copywriter,
seems to think so. In fact, he decided to publish a book about how
best to kill them, called Canceled Flight.

The result: a collection of illustrations, paintings, and photographs
that depict 101 ways to kill pigeons, along with recipes for doing so
(like "The Aboriginal Assassination: 20–30 blowgun darts, 1 blowgun,
some poison").

Although Barnard recruited various artists and designers to contribute
to it, including Dalek and Ryan McGinness, it was, he says, actually
edited by one A. V. Jones, whom he describes as president of People
for the Unethical Treatment of Pigeons—but who probably doesn't exist.

Bird lovers are not amused. Zelda Penzel, president of People for
Ending Animal Cruelty and Exploitation (PEACE), says she's exchanged
e-mails with the book's distributor, powerHouse, and Barnes & Noble
executives, noting that such joke books "only serve to reinforce
disrespect and ultimately `justifiable' violence towards the hated
object."

But she doesn't care to give Barnard the satisfaction of a fight. In
fact, after powerHouse asked if it could quote her in a press release,
Penzel decided she didn't want to talk about the book anymore at all.
"This pigeon is dead in the water," she says. "Activists have better
things to do with their time."

Zelda wrote some good letters. She's right in there with us. What she
said was hardly repeated in the article. Later, she wondered if she
was giving the book too much publicity - just as most of us have.

It's now time for all of us to counteract what lots of people are
reading, to say in our own way how we feel and what we believe about
pigeons - all of which is based on facts. Publicity is the only way to
reach people. It's worth time standing in a bookstore looking through
the book. It's not what New York Mag wants us to believe but a lot
worse.

I'm writing a letter tonight. Please send yours in your own words. It
would be best if we write to other media besides New York Magazine and
post to other groups.

Pigeon People has a purpose: to show people pigeons are harmless,
sweet, part of our lives. To prevent harm to them. To protect as many
pigeons as we can affect at once. We're rescuers and rehabbers
supplementing the help we give to one bird at a time in order to help
as many as we can.

People who find a hurt mourning dove pick it up, take it in, and call
a rehabber. People who find a hurt pigeon will call and say 'Of course
i couldn't touch it' and leave it out on the sidewalk. Doves are doves
- same diseases. Actually, all birds transmit about the same diseases
to people: almost none.

Al
--- End forwarded message ---

For people who don't know a lot about pigeons:

This article claims 'pigeons are certainly a nuisance,' and you might
agree. Search out the facts (we'll help you). What's really a problem
about pigeons? They temporarily discolor buildings. There's only one
good way to keep pigeons off of buildings - the most harmless,
nonlethal ways.

REHAB/RESCUE STORIES

2004-08-11T13:00:00.000-04:00

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.

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

*********************************************************************************
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.

*******************************************************************************
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?

2004-08-11T02:07:00.000-04:00

Greenwood Baptist Church, Brooklyn NY August 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

*********************************************************************************
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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hit list

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THE NEED FOR A HUMANE OVER-ARCHING URBAN WILDLIFE POLICY

2004-08-10T19:07:00.000-04:00

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

2004-08-10T18:37:00.000-04:00

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

2004-08-10T18:07:00.000-04:00

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)

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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 ]

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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

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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

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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

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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

2004-08-10T13:10:00.000-04:00

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

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

2004-08-10T13:07:00.000-04:00

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?

2004-08-10T13:03:00.000-04:00

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

2004-08-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

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?

MEDIA

2004-08-10T00:19:00.000-04:00

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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