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PETA opposes city's use of poison against pigeons

ast night we brought you a story about poison being used at the French Market to destroy the large pigeon population in very popular food and shopping areas.
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NEW ORLEANS -- Last night we brought you a story about poison being used at the French Market to destroy the large pigeon population in very popular food and shopping areas.

Several thousand of you are following that story on our web site, while a national group is asking city leaders for more change in the future.

PETA, the national animal advocacy group, began looking into this over the weekend when people in the area began to complain.

It started with video of a pigeon in the French Market convulsing and an online petition signed by more than 3,000 people against using the toxin Avitrol in corn feed to poison pigeons. In Jackson Square on Monday, we could only find three pigeons.

The city of New Orleans responded Monday, saying that the French Market Corporation used poison bait feeders on its roof for weeks, stating that like rats, pigeons can carry disease, causing a public health hazard. The city statement also read that Avitrol is EPA approved to control pigeons. They added that the poison had recently been removed because the city's pest control board determined Avitrol wasn't the most effective control method.

PETA sent the same letter on Tuesday that it had sent a few days ago to the French Market Corporation, to the mayor, the City Council and the pest control board.

"Avitrol is highly toxic, not only to birds but also to mammals. Anyone who would accidentally consume the poison or any animal such as a dog or a cat, someone's beloved companion who might have gotten lose or just be out on a walk, if that animal consumed the poison carcass of a bird who had died of ingestion of Avitrol, that animal could also become sick. So this is a highly dangerous toxic poison that should not be used anywhere," said Kristin Simon, a PETA cruelty case work associate manager. We talked to her via Skype from Norfolk, Virginia.

PETA said San Francisco and New York banned Avitrol and explained a list of humane ways to make sure there's no food source or landing spots for pigeons.

PETA also said if a migrating, federally protected bird was unintentionally harmed by the poison bait, there is a fine of up to $15,000 per bird.

PETA provided these tips to control the food source:

  • All trash needs to be tightly contained and locked
  • Have a strict policy of no feeding wildlife. Without food they will not stay.

PETA provided these tips to make the area unattractive and inaccessible to birds:

  • Use bird spikes to keep them from landing in the area
  • Use bird slides and coils to keep from landing and roosting
  • Use scare tactics such as motion activated sprinklers, sirens, and lights
  • Use effigies of hawks to scare them from landing
  • Use Mylar streamers to scare them away

These tips can be rotated so the population doesn't get used to them.

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