not sure if it's right or wrong

but this devastated me ... hearing about this today

http://www.newsday.com/features/custom/pets/ny-libird26,0,293374.story

I just sent this to Resin in a D mail. It is very upsetting.

So sad, but I gather from the article it is commonly used in problem areas.

Heartbreaking story. I wonder how many other birds ate the poison? Very sad....

I read the article this morning in my local paper. Sad...:(

I saw it on the national news.
They bill it as Raining Birds in NJ. They dont give a reason for it yet. My computer for some reason will never open a link on Daves, but Im sure that must be what your refereing too.

I need my glasses changed and my cataracts done so can't read the msg. However, if this is about poisoning birds that mess up peoples' lives you should have been in Victoria TX a few years ago. The red winged blackbirds were eating the seeds the farmers were planting so it was time for the blackbirds to go, they said. They used poison and the birds ate it and died and so did some other birds. It was a long time before we saw a red winged blackbird again.

Ann

Forgive me for not being able to link the article. Was it just a backyard gardner trying to rid themselves of starlings. How could you ever just target on bird. I thought it was darned sad what I saw. Going back to see if they have an update. Between that and Acorn getting our stimulas money ( big surprise) I have just had to go away from the TV and over to Daves this morning.

Just saw a piece on Fox News. USDA used poison to get rid of starlings on a farm. Sorry I didn't get you a link.

OOO well I could see they were starlings. I never heard of being able to target a specific bird like that. It was really sick whatever it was, and to not have planned on all those dead birds just raining down on the citizens. Nuts. Sounds like they didnt even get a heads up it was going to happen.

Not your link, my computer am afriad. I cant get into any that are on Daves for some reason.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2009 10:05 AM

OK, heard the report. A farmer didnt like the birds eating his seed and deficating in the food bowls. They poisened up to 5000 of them and they say anything that eats the dead birds should be fine. Something tells me I would not want my dog eating those or playing with them.

I'm sure the county will find some 'volunteers' (environmental health or public works employees )to send out now and clean up. If they don't they're nuts.

Yea, the mayor was not happy that he was not given a heads up. He did however say that he would send any public works crew out to pick them up if you dont want to.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2009 6:57 PM

yeah I am sure the dpw would take a few weeks to come out and clean that mess... such a shame

here is the newsday article... not sure why the link isn't working

N.J. community upset by die-off of starlings poisoned by government

The Associated Press

FRANKLIN, N.J. - The black carcasses of dead starlings still pepper the snowy roads and lawns of central New Jersey's rural Griggstown community three days after federal officials used a pesticide to kill as many as 5,000 starlings.

Many residents were still getting over their shock Monday from the sudden spate of deaths. Some were unaware that the deaths resulted from an intentional culling and that the pesticide used was harmless to people and pets.

"It was raining birds," said Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine. "It got people a little anxious."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture called local police last week and the Somerset County Health Department to warn them that a culling program was under way, but there was no notice that dead birds could fall from the sky, Levine said.

"A lot of us are concerned because it's so odd," said Chris Jiamboi, 49, as his vehicle idled along a stretch of road in Griggstown marked with the flattened remains of dead starlings. "There were a lot of them dead in the roads and no one drives fast enough around here to kill a bird. Then they started showing up dead in people's backyards."

Griggstown is a community of small farms, narrow blacktop roads and rural homes about nine miles northeast of Princeton. It's common for residents here to pass deer and pheasants. Until this weekend, it was also common to pass flocks of starlings that numbered in the hundreds.

Carol Bannerman, a USDA spokeswoman, said a bird-specific pesticide called DRC-1339 was used to kill the starlings. It is harmless to people and other animals, she said.

Bannerman said the starlings had to be killed because they were plaguing an area farm, where they were eating feed meant for cattle and chickens and defecating in feeding bowls.

Federal employees dispensed the pesticide on Friday. Birds that ingest it usually die within three days, Bannerman said, so the die-off should have run its course by Monday.

The DRC-1339 pesticide is commonly used to protect farms and feedlot operations from European starlings, which are considered an invasive species by the USDA. One hundred starlings brought to the U.S. in 1890 have grown into the nation's most numerous bird species, Bannerman said.

In large numbers, starlings can pose a disease threat to livestock.

The poison used is not specific to starlings, Bannerman said, but USDA workers closely monitor its application to make sure it targets only the intended bird population. Workers first lure the birds to a designated area with bait food in wooden trays. Once they are certain the bait has attracted the birds they want to cull, they mix poison with the bait pellets.

However, 75-year-old George Gibson of Griggstown said that to him and many of neighbors they were just beautiful birds.

"People around here are really worried," said Gibson. "They should have told us what they were going to do because we have pets. One guy's dog was chewing on the dead birds and we didn't know what kind of diseases they had died from."

A garbage bag filled with more than 100 dead starlings sat next to the curb of a neighboring home. Gibson said another neighbor gathered up more than 150 carcasses in her yard.

The DRC-1339 pesticide is not harmful to pets, according to the USDA, which notified state and local agencies before dispensing the poison. A dog would have to eat nothing but poisoned starlings for three months to suffer any ill effects from it, according to Bannerman.

She said birds typically roost near the farms where they feed. In this case, the farm had become a feeding station for starlings throughout the surrounding area. That's why the die-off was so public.

"We've very sorry that it played out the way that it did," Bannerman said. She said the USDA will try to do a better job of notifying the public in the future.

Starlings are an introduced non-native/invasive species in North America. There are about 200 million of them here - and they're not protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, because their presence here is an ecological disaster, not to mention a public health issue.

This species and others are the reason for the sticky at the top of the forum:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3041402

Well there are alot less of them today.
Kinda like the cuban tree frogs everyone thinks is so cute and I cant get them to the freezer fast enough.They have eaten every green tree frog and lizzard in their path.

0.0025% isn't a lot. It's too bad the starlings can't be relocated to Europe where they are in decline - I don't know why, but it isn't done for some reason. Maybe Resin knows why.

It'll be animal health reasons - any animal imported into Britain has to be kept in quarantine for 6 months, which would be too much stress on the birds (and still not totally eliminate all disease risks).

Resin

Seems they could just give them birth control. Make them sterile.

thank you for the education..... I have so much to learn about birds

Allison, you beat me to it....I was just about to post this...
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/dead_birds_littering_franklin.html

I am not surprised to see this happen. We build lakes. Then when mansions are built around them the owners do not want geese and ducks pooping on their lawns so the local governments pour cooking oil on the eggs in the nest. All approved by the wildlife agencies. I did not find any goslings this past year.

Think I am with claypa here.. on this one.

I don't understand why this farmer could not have used a bird repellent to keep the birds away.

From what I read in the next days papers there were a number of non lethal things tried without success before doing this.