Posted on 02/25/2004 7:35:50 AM PST by O.C. - Old Cracker
NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- One visitor to Home Depot has been hunting for more than home improvement items.
A Cooper's hawk has been flying above the stocked shelves at a suburban Cleveland store for more than a week while feeding on pigeons that live in the rafters.
The brown bird's three-foot wing span casts a moving shadow across the concrete floor, causing customers and workers to duck and cock their heads toward the 25-foot ceiling.
The hawk entered the store through an open door while chasing a pigeon last Saturday. It caught its prey above the electrical aisle, worker Craig Warth said. Witnesses saw the hawk rip the pigeon apart and feed until nothing was left but feathers and claws.
"It wasn't a pretty sight," said Terry McGuire, assistant manager. "Some of the customers were upset. Some said it was the neatest thing they had ever seen."
Workers said about 15 pigeons were living in the store, but since the hawk arrived, few are left. Cooper's hawks are a protected species, so the bird can't be harmed or killed.
Local wildlife experts say the hawk will likely leave when the pigeons are gone.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
My daughter is moving to Cincinnati in August. She's California born and raised, and has never seen snow!)
BB gun used to kill pigeon at city store
By GARY DENNIS
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER — A local woman involved in animal rescue said workers at a Manchester grocery store shot and killed a trespassing pigeon yesterday with a BB gun rather than let her trap and release it.
But Jim Prive, vice president and general manager of the Vista Foods store at Wilson and Valley streets, said his employees were just taking care of a health issue.
“We can’t have a bird flying around in a grocery store,” Prive said. “This was usual and customary . . . You go in with a BB gun, usually after hours, and take care of the problem.”
But Lori McMillan-Dunn, an Elm Street resident who said the presence of a pigeon inside the store was brought to her attention by a daughter who works at the Dunkin’ Donuts concession inside the Vista store, said the Audubon Society was on its way with traps that wouldn’t harm the bird.
“You throw some corn in there, catch it and release it somewhere else,” she said.
No deal, Prive said. “You can’t trap birds,” he said.
Dunn takes the extermination of the lone bird to heart. She rehabilitates animals in her home. Cats, dogs, birds and other creatures have been nurtured there, she says. Her family, including 18-year-old daughter Cassandra, has helped her.
And she says she makes regular donations to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other animal rights organizations.
That explains why Dunn’s daughter, who was working in the Dunkin’ Donuts yesterday morning, was so disturbed as she watched Vista employees work to take care of the bird problem. Hours later, she was still crying as she waited on a long line of customers at the Dunkin’ Donuts counter.
And while a city health official says he doesn’t encourage the shooting of pests in stores, he said Vista employees did what they had to do.
“This was an imminent health hazard,” said Tim Soucy, chief of environmental health for the city of Manchester. “A bird flying around a grocery store really poses a problem. And they took action to eliminate it.”
Soucy went as far to say shooting the pigeon with a BB gun in this instance was “necessary.”
“You can’t have a bird that could be pecking at bags of food or leaving droppings on exposed produce,” he said.
Prive said it isn’t as if he has no feelings for animals that may get stuck in grocery stores. In a Laconia Vista store he oversees, a squirrel has been causing problems. An effort is under way to trap that animal, he said.
“I have a soft spot in my heart for squirrels,” he said.
Dunn said she still plans to file a complaint with Vista even though it’s too late for the pigeon. She even had Manchester police report to the store after she told them “a man was walking around with a rifle.”
That wound up being the Vista employee who dispatched the pigeon with a BB gun.
“There are more humane ways to deal with it,” she said. “And I was offering them one of those ways . . . I spend my life doing rescue work for any animal. They have a right to be and a right to a humane exit.”
Neither Prive, Soucy nor Dunn knew exactly where in the store the bird was shot. By all accounts, no customers witnessed the incident. Prive said his employees generally try to get a nuisance bird into the back area of the store.
“People will say it’s just a bird but I don’t agree with that,” Dunn said. “I mean, I don’t like snakes, but they’re here. I have to deal with them. I can’t just go around shooting them.”
Buy 'em small again. They're MUCH cheaper when they're small ;-). And put some netting over the pond to discourage the birds.
All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you'll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.
When they see us coming, the birdies all try an' hide,
But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide.
The sun's shining bright,
Everything seems all right,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
We've gained notoriety,
And caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society
With our games.
They call it impiety
And lack of propriety,
And quite a variety
Of unpleasant names.
But it's not against any religion
To want to dispose of a pigeon.
So if Sunday you're free,
Why don't you come with me,
And we'll poison the pigeons in the park.
And maybe we'll do
In a squirrel or two,
While we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment,
Except for the few we take home to experiment.
My pulse will be quickenin'
With each drop of strych'nine
We feed to a pigeon.
(It just takes a smidgin!)
To poison a pigeon in the park.
Some said it was the neatest thing they had ever seen." REPUBLICANS
"Where can I buy one?" CONSERVATIVES
"Who can I sue?" LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
If this could possibly happen to humans, I'd gladly volunteer, well, you know who I'd volunteer to be first. LOL
Wish we had some hawks around my parents house, as we have an awful aparrow problem. The best traps I've seen to control sparrows are at:
www.birdtraps.com
I'm not a saleman, but the traps work!
There is such a thing as being "over civilized".
In another direction, I'm sure it was quite gross. My spouse was driving some kids from an outing and on the way home, a bloody something splattered on the windshield from two birds that were fighting over their prey.
They just fly up to it grab it and off they go. I have never seen one pick up a stick from the ground.
Regards,
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