Birds baited on bridge
ALEXA WELCH EDLUND/TIMES-DISPATCH
Starlings settled on the Benjamin Harrison Bridge yesterday.
Virginia has abandoned pyrotechnics for poison in its battle to banish thousands of starlings that have been blighting Benjamin Harrison Bridge.
The state, aided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, set poisoned bait yesterday for starlings that have swarmed the bridge over the James River for several years, leaving droppings in piles as deep as 18 inches on the span.
The bait represents the last resort for state and federal officials, who have tried for six months to use pyrotechnical noise devices to drive the birds away. The noise didn't work for long, so now they're turning to a pesticide feed to reduce the flock.
"We've really run out of options," Tom Hawthorne, administrator of the Virginia Department of Transportation's Richmond District, said in an announcement yesterday.
But biologists and river advocates aren't sure of the potential harm from the pesticide, known as DRC-1339, especially to peregrine falcons and other predatory birds that nest and feed around the bridge between Prince George and Charles City counties near Hopewell.
"What the risks are to the falcons, I don't know, but the falcons are there," said Bryan Watts, director of the College of William and Mary's Center for Conservation Biology.
The announcement also came as a surprise to Chuck Frederickson, a riverkeeper for the James River Association.
"You would have thought they would have let people know what they're doing," said Frederickson, who said he learned of the baiting plan after it was begun yesterday.
The USDA's Wildlife Services program is carrying out the poisoning program for the state. USDA officials say the pesticide poses little risk to water quality, predatory or scavenging birds, or other animals, including household pets, that might eat the stricken starlings.
They say the starlings quickly metabolize and excrete the pesticide, leaving little residue to poison other animals that may devour them.
"If they fed exclusively on treated starlings for three months, there would still not be a negative impact on the scavenging animal," said Carol Bannerman, a USDA spokeswoman.
The starlings' droppings have so befouled the bridge that highway officials say human health and the structure's integrity could be harmed.
The state is undertaking a $9.1 million renovation of the bridge, including repainting the 41-year-old span. The bird droppings have posed a problem for crews trying to do the work, they said.
"The contractor has had to remove large amounts of bird droppings from the bridge, 18 inches thick in some areas, before they could begin removing the paint," Ray Varney, administrator of the Petersburg residency office, said in the state's announcement yesterday.
"This increases the potential health hazards for the contractor and VDOT staff responsible for the project."
Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or
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Reader Reactions
Salty ocean air causes significant damage to buildings, bridges and other structures. I say we find a way to destroy that hazard!
To the person who mentioned the bird flu, do your research. This illness began with the overcrowding of domestic and other birds in chinese markets. WE humans created/contributed to that new hazard, shouldn’t we get rid of the excess humans and all those that are destructive to our habitat? 36 diseases in bird droppings? Where did that number come from? Show the science on that one. I have read that there are more illnesses carried in our feces that can be more detrimental to us humans. Diseases carried by other animals are not all a danger to human life.
Wear protective gear, clean the darn bridge and apply whatever long lasting, stronger coating you have available to the darn structure.
I guess the poison applied is safe for those workers? Now that they added the toxin to the bird feces, we have 36 diseases plus one poison they will be exposed to. The “scientist” that claims that eating the poisoned bird for three months still will posed no hazard, I say to her bon appetit and tell me about it after you finished your three months experiment and have the results of your autopsy.
Everything in this world is not about humans and what humans want! We keep acting under this mentality, and we will be the only ones left! But I guess that is what the arrogant readers in here are hoping for!
Beam me up!
Editorialist… first, you must have missed the part of the story where they described the non-lethal methods they tried, which failed.
Second, you wanted a public hearing on how to get rid of the birds? Had that happened, which would have been a ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars, you’d have found that the public would have told VDOT to get the bird poop off the bridge before the acid in the poop erodes the bridge and causes it to collapse.
Third, please call your PETA crackhead friends and get them to picket at the bridge and pour bird poop on the sidewalk in front of VDOT HQ in Richmond. We need some good comedy in this paper.
“Editorialist”,
You said “Killing is never the answer to such problems because the animals can keep coming back and doing more damage. Non lethal ffective ways that work 100%, 100% of the time are the only reliable means of totally controlling the problem.“
“bekindto animal”
You said “Why didn’t you try a humane method before resorting to killing?“
Clearly neither of you read the first four words of this article: “Virginia has abandoned pyrotechnics”. That’s right, for years VDOT has tried to scare away these birds. It doesn’t work. Editorialist, it seems you are privy to some secret method of effectively ridding the bird problem. Perhaps you should take this method to VDOT instead of whining here.
Here we go again. We see the wildlife as a threat? A threat to whom? For the reader who feels that these birds are a human health issue?? what about all of the human health issues that we are producing? Is this earth only made for we humans?
It is like saying that God who created these creatures and all others made a mistake and we being so intelligent have to do something to change that? Where this comes from is totally beyond me.
We kill everything that moves on this earth and it is about time for us to pay for these!
I say stop the killings and DO THE RIGHT THING! They have the same rights as we humans, and they were here first before man!
Man has turned out to be the most feared on this earth! What a great title!
DO THE RIGHT THING!
You bird lover eco friendly types missed a key phrase here. “Human health could be harmed” from your precious starlings. Poison them, shoot them, burn them or bomb them! Who cares how, just kill them!
This is absolutely disgraceful!
As long as man is so ARROGANT as to consider himself superior to all other species, abuse will continue.
When wildlife vacates an area for whatever reason, a new population moves in. You haven’t solved the problem using lethal means. Why didn’t you try a humane method before resorting to killing? Could it be that you enjoy extermination? People kill because they like to!!!!!!!
How narrow we selfish, conceited
creatures are in our sympathies! How
blind to the rights of all the rest of
creation!
John Muir
avian flu,,comes from birds,,in 1900,s the birds kill many a millions,,and the flu keeps tring to jump into the human population,,china,hong cong,etc,,so its not a risk worth taking,,sorry birds,,
I am sick and tired of always having to kill, kill, kill any poor animal that causes a problem. I simply can’t understand why there is no non-lethal means to correct the problem. I know during inaugarations of presidents they apply a repellent along the line of march that keeps the birds from roosting in the trees, and I also know that those in the pest control trade use a repellent to put in lettering in front of stores to keep the birds from roosting there.
Further, I think it was a dirty trick to plan this method before the public had a chance to comment on it. They probably knew there would be opposition to such a method and wanted to get it underway before a public outcry could arise.
I just hope the chemical used will not poison other animals who come in contact with the murdered birds or in otherways poison the environment. They say the chemical won’t bother other animals, but I have heard that one before and non-target animals were harmed by the chemical used.
Killing is never the answer to such problems because the animals can keep coming back and doing more damage. Non lethal ffective ways that work 100%, 100% of the time are the only reliable means of totally controlling the problem.
This is a great idea. I wish the state would do the same with geese. My neighborhood along the Swift Creek Res. has around 100 geese daily. The goose poop is everywhere. In the yards , on driveways and on the roads. This cannot be healthy - as the bird droppings on bridges is not. Why are these birds still protected?
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