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| -Obits- |
| USDA Poisons Wild Birds in South Dakota |
| 2011-01-20 |
| YANKTON, S.D. (KTIV) -- It's happened in places like Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky. Hundreds of birds mysteriously found dead. Folks in Yankton, South Dakota, thought they were being added to the list after hundreds of dead birds were found there on Monday. Turns out the unpleasant feathered discovery has a solid explanation. They were poisoned. Some had thought 200 Starlings found dead in Yankton's Riverside park had froze to death. But they were actually poisoned on purpose, by the US Department of Agriculture. Many of the European Starlings discovered by a passerby, were laying on the ground or frozen in trees. Officials first thought the birds were late to migrate and froze to death during the recent cold spell. But that theory changed after Yankton police received a phone call from a USDA official who said the birds had been poisoned. "They say that they had poisoned the birds about ten miles south of Yankton and they were surprised they came to Yankton like they did and died in our park," says Yankton Animal Control Officer Lisa Brasel. The USDA confirms the story, saying the deaths were part of a large killing at a private feed lot in Nebraska. They say a local farmer had been having troubles with about 5,000 starlings defecating in his feed meal. Department of Ag officials say because of health concerns for the farmer's animals and staff they decided to kill the birds. They used a bait laced with the poison DRC-1339. The USDA says the birds ate the bait then flew back to Yankton and died. They say poisoning isn't a common practice. "We're doing it to address, in this case very defiantly agricultural damage as well as the potential for human health and safety issues," says Carol Bannerman USDA Wildlife Services. USDA officials say they regret they had to kill the birds. But say there's no toxic concern to people or animals. In all, officials estimate nearly 2,000 birds ate the poison. However, since the bait has been removed they don't expect any more birds to die. So I am sure the EPA will be on this, right? Naw. Federale against federale is a no no in Obamination. Being a country boy for many years, I have NEVER heard of wild life being poisoned in mass. Never heard of a good reason for it. The guy needs to contain his feed meal. Not kill everything that moves. Does this explain the recent mass death of other wild life recently around the country, the USDA? |
| Posted by:Hupirong Chinens6218 |
| #3 Starlings, like European or House Sparrows, are vile, vicious, murderous beasts. Their relationship to T.rex is very clear. Both species, imported numerous times during the 19th century in a misguided, romantic attempt to set up "Shakespeare gardens" with the birds and plants the playwright mentioned, spread rapidly across the continent, displacing native bird species by out-eating and directly killing them. I have absolutely no problem with the USDA poisoning a flock that had overstayed its welcome. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-01-20 23:36 |
| #2 ....meanwhile food riots continue around the planet. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-20 22:18 |
| #1 Years ago, the federal government had a coyote eradication program, using poisoned bait. Few Americans have heard of the U.S. Department of AgricultureÂ’s Wildlife Services (WS) program. Even fewer are aware that their tax dollars subsidize the killing of millions of animals every year under this program; between 2004 and 2007, WS killed 8,378,412 animals (Keefover-Ring 2009). Their crimes? Preying on sheep and cattle, eating fish in commercial aquaculture facilities and seeds in large-scale sunflower plantations, defecating on municipal lawns and golf courses, creating a "nuisance," and flying in the pathway of airplanes and airport runways to name but a few. While the vast majority of species targeted by WS are birds (more than 4 million in 2008) the agencyÂ’s predator control program has been the focus of intense public and scientific scrutiny over the last fifty years as increasing scientific research calls into question the efficacy, ethics, and economics of killing tens of thousands of native carnivores at the behest of livestock ranchers and other agriculturalists. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-20 21:41 |