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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 02 2007 : 1:34:19 PM
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Leave it to L.A.....
Hollywood Pigeons to Be Put on the Pill
July 31, 2007 — By Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood residents believe they've found a humane way to reduce their pigeon population and the messes the birds make: the pill.
Over the next few months a birth control product called OvoControl P, which interferes with egg development, will be placed in bird food in new rooftop feeders.
"We think we've got a good solution to a bad situation," said Laura Dodson, president of the Argyle Civic Association, the group leading the effort to try the new contraceptive. "The poop problem has become unmanageable and this could be the answer."
Community leaders planned to announce the OvoControl P pilot program, which Dodson believes is the first of its kind in the nation, at a news conference Monday.
Dodson said representatives from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals contacted her group with the idea to use OvoControl P. Other animal rights groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, support the contraceptive over electric shock gates, spiked rooftops, poisons or other methods.
It's estimated about 5,000 pigeons call the area home. Their population boom is blamed in part on people feeding the birds, including a woman known as the Bird Lady, who was responsible for dumping 25-pound bags of seed in 29 spots around Hollywood.
OvoControl P has been registered with the state Department of Pesticide Regulation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Developed by Rancho Santa Fe-based Innolytics, the substance contains nicarbazin, which interferes with an egg's ability to develop or hatch, said Erick Wolf, Innolytics chief executive.
The pilot program was expected to show results within a year, and the Hollywood area's pigeon population is expected to shrink by at least half by 2012, Dodson said.
Source: Associated Press
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Aug 10 2007 : 8:40:36 PM
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I sure hope they have researched what this chemical will do to surrounding areas. I hope it has a short half-life so it won't cause problems with other egg layers. What happens to all the song birds that eat this bird seed?! I am thinking that this is a horrible idea! The more I think about it the more I think it is a horrible idea! Sure, it is going to work on the pidgeons, and the bluebirds, and sparrows, robins and other desirable birds. Why can't they just do a capture and humane slaughter? At least that way they would only be killing the pigeons.
Elizaray |
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Pigeons on the Pill - I KID YOU NOT!
