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
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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.
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.