Utility Co. Gassing Parakeets

1010 WINS ^ | Nov 17, 2005 6:57 am US/Eastern

[Calpernia]

With the blessing of the Connecticut Audubon Society, United Illuminating Company is killing off entire colonies of monk parakeets that have nested on more than 100 utility poles.

Federal agriculture officials say the bright-green South American natives are being captured at night and humanely killed with large doses of carbon monoxide. The birds are considered an invasive species, since they aren't Connecticut natives.

But the president of the Norwalk-based Friends of Animals calls it the sanctioned murder of intelligent avians. Priscilla Feral says taxpayers and UI customers shouldn't have to pay the $125,000 tab.

The eradications began this week in West Haven and will continue in Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport and beyond.

[Calpernia]

I'm confused. Why do they need to do this? Starlings are an invasive species. We don't captures and kill them.

[Calpernia]

http://www.connpost.com/news/ci_3225942

Pole-dwelling birds facing wrath of UI
KEN DIXON dixon.connpost-at-snet.net

The United Illuminating Co., with support from federal and state officials, including the Connecticut Audubon Society, has begun an eradication program to destroy monk parakeet nests and kill off entire bird colonies.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that at least 47 of the large, bright-green tropical birds were humanely killed this week in a procedure that exposes them to large amounts of carbon dioxide.

Priscilla Feral, president of the Norwalk-based Friends of Animals, called it the sanctioned murder of intelligent birds that is being subsidized by taxpayers and customers of the utility.

"They belong to the planet, not the corporation," Feral said. "This is a draconian measure and I'm going to raise hell."

The $125,000 program, targeting more than 100 stick nests in utility poles, began in West Haven this week and will expand to Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport and beyond, UI officials said.

The gregarious cowled birds, which have colonized much of the Connecticut coast over the last 30 years, are being captured at night with nets by specially trained UI crews and turned over to U.S. Department of Agriculture personnel.

The USDA officials euthanize most of the birds and use others for research, according to Al Carbone, spokesman for UI, who stressed that bird nests in utility poles have contributed to at least two fires, including one last summer.

Corey Slavitt, a public affairs spokeswoman with the USDA's animal and plant health inspection service in Washington, confirmed that UI workers are giving the animals to the USDA.

"The reason it's being done at night is because that's when adult populations congregate at their roosts," Slavitt said. He added that the birds are actually parrots (Myiopsitta monachus) native to the jungles of South America who have naturalized themselves. They are not native to this area.

Indeed, Dennis Schain, communications director for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said that the birds have been declared an invasive species with potential detrimental effects on the environment.

"The DEP is, of course, in the business of protecting wildlife and the state's natural resources," Schain said. "In this case, however, the monk parakeet is an invasive species; it is not protected under any federal or state laws, and nests on utility poles are creating a fire hazard and a threat to reliable electrical

[theDentist]

...South American natives are being captured at night and humanely killed with large doses of carbon monoxide.

Wait a minute. We can't stop 'em from sneaking over the border, but Connecticut can kill 'em off whenever they please?

[Calpernia]

Continued from previous post:

service. We understand the seriousness of the situation facing UI."

Feral, a longtime animal rights activist, said the program is another example of federal tax dollars being used to kill animals to protect corporate profits.

"This should get people enraged," Feral said. "They're darling animals and the DEP has long wanted to kill anything that's not a native, as if we ourselves are natives."

Feral said the birds, which range from the coast up to the Housatonic River Valley and as far north as New Britain, have adapted and thrived like many other immigrants to this country.

They usually build their nests in evergreen trees, but expanded to utility poles. The story of their settling in Bridgeport is traced to a broken crate of birds at Kennedy International Airport in New York about 30 years ago.

Several calls for comment, placed to Milan Bull, senior director of science and conservation for the Fairfield-based Connecticut Audubon Society, were not returned Wednesday.

But UI's Carbone forwarded a CAS statement that says the parrots' expanding range has the potential to affect native birds and has created "economic and public safety impacts" with nests on utility poles.

"The Connecticut Audubon Society understands these facts and supports the management program of the United Illuminating Company and the United States Department of Agriculture to coordinate the removal of monk parakeets and their nests from UI distribution equipment due to concerns regarding public health & safety," the statement read.

Carbone said some of the targeted nests weigh more than 200 pounds and house up to 40 parrots and their young.

He said that last July, a transformer fire was linked to a bird colony. In 2003, a fire at another utility pole resulted in the high-voltage transformer falling to the ground and exploding.

"They pose a serious risk to public health and safety and our ability to provide reliable service," Carbone said, adding that before nest removal, some customers are being told to anticipate brief power outages.

[Mamzelle]

These parakeets are highly intelligent--they can make more of a nuisance than other species. A shame--they are beautiful and make nice pets, which is how we got them in the first place, being released into the wild.

[Calpernia]

But parakeets aren't the only ones that nest in utility poles.

I'm just confused by the reason for this.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Starlings don't build nests on utility lines that cause coslty service interruptions. The fires alone are difficult but aren't the only problem. One sercive interruption occurred at a plating company. When they lose power, the metals, etc. cool and it cost several million to get back up and running.

[Calpernia]

Ok, bad example. I meant starlings aren't native. But parakeets aren't the only ones that nest in utility poles.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Priscilla Feral, president of the Norwalk-based Friends of Animals

Nice last name given her role in the story.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Carbone said some of the targeted nests weigh more than 200 pounds and house up to 40 parrots and their young.

They appear to be colony animals. 200 lbs of nesting materials can cause a multitude of problems beyond the fire. Simpy removing thenest doesn't solve the problem. Other critters nests aren't this big. The wind/ice/snow loading theses things get could knock out the poles too.

Given the choice between pretty birds and heat in the winter, the birds lose.

[Calpernia]

What about osprey nests? They are big and ospreys like telephone poles. So do eagles.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Yes, they do make huge nests. The nests are removed as soon as possilbe after the young fly away. But they are not colony animals, either.

Some places do set up boxes/platform atop utility poles for nests. These poles and the platforms are designed to handle the load, and the cables are far enough away from thenests where it's not a porblem.

[Calpernia]

So it is the colony characteristic that is the difference?

Still not happy about it. But I understand a little more at least.

Thanks.

[Fierce Allegiance]

With a single breeding pair, they can be relocated more easily and the problem removed. To eradicate a colony obviously there are multi breeing pair that consider the place home, making it far more difficult to cure the power interruptions.

There is very little the power co can do to work with this problem based on their instinctive breeding/colonization habits, unlike the eagle/osprey. the gassing is the best and most humane solution.

[Calpernia]

I understand.

::still pouting::

[elli1]

Monk parakeets are probably better known as 'Quaker parrots'. Here's another story touching on the population of Quakers in Chicago:

Link

[elli1]

::still pouting::

Yes. Poopy story to start the day with. :(

[Calpernia]

Thanks for that link. They are really pretty birds. I did look up what Fierce Alliance was explaining. I didn't think about the colonization factor.

I then found this and understand what he was explaining.

Very sad; but I do undertand.

Excerpt:

One characteristic of monk parakeets has already caused frustration among people, and considerable destruction: their attraction to utility poles as a nesting substrate. Electrical utilities in Florida, Texas, and Chicago refer to them as "feathered rats", and have taken to removing nests from their poles. In some cases the heavy bulk of sticks have caused the transformers to overheat and catch on fire. The removal is usually met by an outraged public...in Chicago the electrical company knocked down a nest containing several eggs and nestlings a few years ago. This "strategy" of nest removal is a PR nightmare, and ultimately ineffective. After three different nest removals in Chicago, I witnessed the birds immediately rebuilding the nests after the workers left. Are monk parakeets an agricultural threat? Data from their native range are hard to come by, and what has been published is often in Portuguese. No estimates of actual crop damage by monk parakeets are available. Typically, they are blaimed for much more damage than they cause because they are much more visible than an insect or a fungus. One Brazilian study found moderate percentages of corn and wheat in the crops of monk parakeets, but the sample size was small. This method can also be biased by the timing and location of sample collection. In the United States, a master's student studying monk parakeets in Florida told me a few years ago that she had observed monk parakeets and other naturalized parrot species feeding in groves of exotic fruit species (e.g. mango, lychee, longan). However, I don't think she was ever able to quantify the damage. No reports exist of monk parakeets feeding in other agricultural crops (e.g. the extensive grain fields surrounding the Chicago area).

(snip)

[Calpernia]

Fierce Alliance = Fierce Allegiance

Sorry!

[elli1]

What a mess...gotta' factor the danger to the workers who have to remove those 'constructions' also. What I find odd is that the birds supposedly prefer to nest in evergreen trees. I wonder why some of them are opting for the tops of utility lines.