Rid-a-Bird, a two-man company in Wilton, Iowa, has
been killing unwanted birds for over 40 years with the
Environmental Protection Agency’s approval. But two dead raptors in
Washington have called into question the company’s method of pest
control.
Rid-a-Bird’s product lures birds to a
perch containing fenthion, a fatal nerve poison which paralyzes
them. The birds foam at the mouth, tremble and collapse. In their
helpless state, they sometimes attract predators, such as owls and
hawks, which die after eating the poisoned
birds.
That’s what happened at a Weyerhaeuser
paper mill near Longview, Wash. The timber giant admitted on Aug. 7
that it killed a great horned owl and a sharp-shinned hawk, both
protected species. An investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service showed that the two raptors were indirect victims of
Rid-a-Bird, because they ate poisoned
starlings.
Mark Bartlett, the assistant U.S.
attorney who supervised the case, said tens of thousands of
unwanted starlings have moved into Weyerhaeuser’s buildings, where
they cover the facility and its employees with droppings. But,
Bartlett said, Weyerhaeuser had problems using Rid-a-Bird in 1989
and knew it was a risk. Company spokesman Frank Mendizabal called
using Rid-a-Bird a “last resort.”
In a plea
bargain, a federal judge put Weyerhaeuser on probation, and ordered
it to research and develop safer pest-control methods.
* Emily
Miller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Rid-a-Bird works too well.
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