Posted on 01/27/2009 7:51:20 AM PST by Marc Tumin
Hundreds of birds that dropped dead on Somerset County cars, porches and snow-covered lawns, alarming residents over the weekend, were all of a rather foul breed of fowl -- the notorious European starling, which the United States Department of Agriculture killed on purpose….
Yesterday, the USDA acknowledged a few mistakes of its own in spreading the word in the area around a Princeton Township farm, where it applied a pesticide Friday to kill 3,000 to 5,000 starlings plaguing a livestock farmer.
"It was raining dead birds," said Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine….
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
<Yesterday, the USDA acknowledged a few mistakes of its own in spreading the word
As in, it didn’t? I just saw 2 reports about this on FOX. I can’t imagine walking out of your house and seeing hundreds of dead birds all over and having no idea what’s going on. And then the govt tells you it’s alright to pick them up? Yuck. You killed them, feds, you come pick them up.
Pesticide?? I think it's called "poison".
Prospective clients ping! ;-)
“Obama” in Kenyan for Bird Killer.
Livestock could care less about starlings. Starlings are seed eaters. Most of us have seen thousands of them eating when farmers are seeding in the spring.
They should make them come and pick up the dead birds. Morons.
Today it's birds. Tomorrow it's us.
Well, considering that this group operated in the 1890s, I guess my prior suggestion won’t work.
There. That should keep the ambulance chasers busy.
English starlings are a real problem where we live.
Hey, Feds.........can you do something about the grackles, too, please? K, thnx.
Introduction: 4-Aminopyridine, a pyridine compound, is an extremely effective bird poison. It is one of the most prominent avicides. It is registered with the EPA for use against red-winged blackbirds, blackbirds in agricultural fields, grackles, pigeons, and sparrows around public buildings, and various birds around livestock feeding pens.
Avitrol repels birds by poisoning a few members of a flock, causing them to become hyperactive. Their distress calls signal other birds to leave the site. Only a small number of birds need to be affected to cause alarm in the rest of the flock. After one alarming exposure, birds will usually not return to treated areas. Avitrol is available as grain baits or as a powder concentrate.
Toxicological Effects:
* Acute toxicity: 4-Aminopyridine is highly toxic to mammals. The central nervous system is strongly excited by 4-aminopyridine. Based on observations with 2-aminopyridine, a similar compound, individuals with a history of convulsive disorders may be at an increased risk from exposure to 4-aminopyridine [30,31]. The principal action of 4-aminopyridine in the body is to encourage message-carrying (transmitter) substances to be released throughout the nervous system, overstimulating it [68]. While intended strictly for use as a bird repellent, accidental ingestion of as little as 60 mg has caused severe poisoning in adult humans [68]. It is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract [8]. Poisonings are characterized by thirst, nausea, dizziness, weakness, and intense sweating, followed by impairment of normal mental functioning (toxic psychosis), lack of muscular coordination, tremors, labored breathing, and generalized seizures [167].
Symptoms of Avitrol poisoning in rats, dogs, and horses include over-production of saliva, tendency to become over-stimulated, and trembling, which can progress to convulsions. Death can result from respiratory arrest or heart failure [23,30]. Skin exposure to Avitrol may lead to systemic intoxication or general overall poisoning [30]. Avitrol may contribute to the excessive formation of a substance called methemoglobin. Methemoglobin is similar to hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying part of the blood, except that it cannot carry oxygen. When there is excess methemoglobin in the blood, oxygen cannot be transported and blood eventually becomes oxygen depleted, resulting in the condition methemoglobinemia.
The LD50 for 4-aminopyridine is 20 to 29 mg/kg in rats, and is 3.7 mg/kg in dogs [8,167]. It is readily absorbed through the skin [23]. The dermal LD50 is 326 mg/kg in rabbits [23,30]. 4-Aminopyridine is an eye irritant. Inflammation of the iris and conjunctivitis were noted in the eyes of albino rabbits 1 hour after 10 mg of 4-aminopyridine hydrochloride were applied. These symptoms disappeared after 7 days [167].
* Chronic toxicity: High dietary doses (2 to 3.25 mg/kg/day) caused increased brain weight. Brain appearance remained normal [167]. However, since dietary intake is assumed to be negligible, and because significant repeated exposure is not expected to occur, EPA has not required long-term toxicity studies of 4-aminopyridine [167].
I wish my Dad was alive to read this story. He really hated starlings.
Can anyone explain why 10-12 yr old boys don’t still get B-B guns for their birthday?
I don't know what causes them to flock but one day a few years ago while driving home from work, there was a flock so large it looked like a miniature cloud swerving and diving in the sky. There were literally thousands of them. When I got home my car was covered with bird poop.
lol nervously
It was part of an ill-conceived plan by the American Acclimatization Society to make European immigrants feel at home by filling America with all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works.
—
The Starlings were a test in our ancestors time for what was to come in our time?
“It is hard to imagine now, but European starlings
(Sturnus vulgaris, Fig. 1) were purposefully introduced
from Europe into this country. After two failed
attempts, about 60 European starlings were released
into New York’s Central Park in 1890 by a small group
of people with a passion to introduce all of the animals
mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. The
offspring of the original 60 starlings have spread across
the continental United States, northward to southern
Canada and Alaska, and southward into Central
America. There are now an estimated 150 million
starlings in the United States.
In 1889 and 1892, the Portland Song Bird Club
released 35 pairs of starlings in Portland, Oregon.
These birds established themselves, but then
disappeared in 1901 or 1902. The next sighting of a
starling in the Pacific Northwest was not until the mid
1940s. Presumably these birds could be genetically
linked to the 1890 Central Park introduction.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/starlings.pdf
In Texas, starlings, grackles, crows and ravens have been considered “pests”, no harm, no foul on getting rid of them if they “...are depredating, have depredated or are ABOUT to depredate”. Grackles really create health hazzards around eateries when they decide to invade the surrounding trees. However, vultures are protected (!).
And NO, it’s NOT “loss” of habitat pressure causing them to gather in certain areas, that’s what they do, even in small towns surrounded by rural farm/ranch land where there’s plenty of land in which to disperse.
The way they pre-bait is how these select for starlings. When APHIS (formerly ADC) comes in to use this stuff, they pre-bait for a week or two to sucker the starlings into feeding at the bait stations. Then they add the starlicide and kill them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.