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Boulder Declared Wild Bird Sanctuary
Bird Poisoning Outlawed
by Jill Bielawski
October 7, 2002
When 14-year-old Emily
Davis encountered rock doves convulsing and dying on a sidewalk in Boulder
last April, she started making phone calls. To her dismay, she found
that pigeon poisoning was common and legal. With the help of Rocky Mountain
Animal Defense, Emily has learned that speaking out against cruelty
to animals is worth it.
Thanks to a committed
team of activists including Emily and several
others, pigeons and many other birds in Boulder gained their first
legal rights. On Oct. 1, the Boulder City Council voted unanimously
to pass an ordinance declaring the city a bird sanctuary that protects
all wild birds (ordinance available at http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/clerk/agenda/2002/100102/o-3c.pdf).
Migratory
songbirds are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The Boulder ordinance protects birds left off the federal list,
such as pigeons, English house sparrows, and certain kinds of starlings,
cowbirds, blackbirds, grackles, and geese. Violators could face 30 days
in jail and fines up to $1000 per bird.
Anyone seeking a permit
to be exempt from the law would be required to first state in writing
that he or she has taken steps to control the situation by using exclusion
devices and non-injurious bird repellents. A permit to poison would
only be considered when a genuine threat to public health arises, but
the chances of such a threat are slim.
Property owners who have traditionally hired
exterminators to poison birds will save money by switching to non-lethal
methods, because lethal control is never effective in the long term.
For more information on bird poison, humane alternatives, and facts
about birds and human health, see the RMAD
Fact Sheet on Birds.
A humane, common-sense
approach is most effective for bird control. Humane techniques require
more patience but are less expensive and far more effective in the long
run. It’s a win-win situation for birds and people.
The starlings at Mapleton Mobile
Home Park
The bird ordinance will not affect Boulder’s Mapleton Mobile Home Park,
which the media pitted against the bird sanctuary ordinance in a media-created
controversy this summer. A dozen homes sit beneath trees where a large
flock of starlings or grackles comes to roost each summer.
The city and many of
the affected residents opposed lethal control, which would have proved
to be an impractical, logistic nightmare anyway. Most important, killing
the birds would not have solved the problem.
The birds have left for the year, and the city will be ready with humane
solutions for their return in 2003. Attaching a rotating sprinkler to
the trees and spraying the birds for short intervals over a few days
has not been tried and might very well do the trick.
More Info:
Solving
Problems With Pigeons - A brochure providing
information on nonlethal methods of bird control. Geared toward Boulder,
Colorado residents to assist in following Boulder's bird sanctuary ordinance.
Links:
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