Town hit by 14-tons of bird poo.

[Blackleaf]

By JOHN COLES

HALF a million starlings are making life a misery for townsfolk — by dropping 14 TONS of poop on them every day.

The migrating flock is 100 times larger than normal and has caused mayhem after settling on rooftops.

Just like in Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Birds, the sky turns black at dawn and dusk.

Experts fear the huge mess they make in Chard, Somerset, could spread disease and damage buildings and machinery.

Residents are using hats, coats and umbrellas to avoid the “snowstorm” of muck as each bird poops up to 50 times a day.

Ken Brown, 55, an ex-gamekeeper, has been firing blank shotgun cartridges to scare the birds.

He moaned: “My house is bombarded every day from a shower of droppings. It is awful — and I can’t get rid of the pests.”

The birds arrived weeks ago after fleeing the Scandinavian winter.

They usually head for reed beds but this year have roosted on the roof of the Oscar Mayer food factory.

Flocks in Britain normally total only 5,000. Wingaway, a bird scaring company run by Bob Painter, 62, is trying to move the birds using distress call recordings.

The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) says the record for the largest starling group, a murmuration, was one million birds.

thesun.co.uk

 

[#juan]

If these birds are pooping forteen tons a day, they must be eating at least that amount. I wonder what they are eating.

 

[iamcanadian]

Look's like they need to use some #9 bird shot and arm townsfolk with good old 410 gage for kids between 8 and 12 years old.

Poop on us will ya, this means war!

Starlings make good eating too.

 

[missile]

First, get rid of the RSPB...then kill the stinking birds. No problem then Humans come first always.

 

[Cosmo]

RE: Town hit by 14-tons o

ack ack ack! How disgusting!! Someone brought starlings to Victoria (they are not native here) and the damn things have taken over. They are so destructive! People have to put chicken wire on vents etc. to keep them out of attics.

I like birds, but those ones are pests in the extreme! I agree with Missile ... but I don't think I'd wanna eat the little flying rats!

 

[GreenGreta]

Humans come first... always?

You've gotta be f*cking kidding me. Missile that must have been the most SELFISH thing I have heard out of a person. It's people like you that have destroyed this planet.

Let me guess, you drive an SUV, costs you a hundred bucks in gas a week. Plus, I'm sure you run all your lights constantly, as well as your air conditioner on cool days. Seriously, missile, you had better been kidding.

People come first.. My ass. I love situations where nature kicks our asses, I think its terrific. Humans come along and destroy earth, earth comes along and destroys humans. Yes, this includes but not limited to...
Hurricane Katrina, Rita and all their friends
Tsunami on the Indonesian coastline
Any volcano
Bermuda triangle type anomolies
Morons who fall through ice
Yup, pretty much any time that natures comes along and kills hundreds of thousands of people like Missile, I'm happy.
I would also like Steve Irwin to be eaten by the alligators.

 

[iamcanadian]

Cornish game hens are a modern breed of birds that are sent to market when they reach about 2 to 2 and a half pounds resulting in a finished weight of 18 to 22 ounces. I find them an exceptable substitute for 'small birds' in period recipes when robins, starlings, pigeons are not to be found in field or market.

 

[quinton]

GreenGreta I agree with your viewpoint.

It annoys me when humans get angry at the pest species that they created a favourable environment for.

It so happens that pigeons, raccoons, starlings, robins, possums, rats, house flies, brown-headed cowbirds, etc thrive in the artificial man-made environments that we have created.

Canada Geese also happen to do well on lawns and mowed grass which seems to be a favourite of human beings, and are thus increasing in urban parkland.

Yellow jacket wasps (often called "bees" by the ignorant) also do well in our trash cans filled with half full pepsi cans.

Gray squirrells in SW Ontario are thriving in neighborhoods and often dig up the bulbs and seeds planted by gardeners in the spring.

We cannot blame these creatures. Many of them are non-native species that we introduced.

It is our fault that they are in our way. We cannot expect to create an asphalt jungle only to be greeted by beautiful woodland warblers and butterflies of many varieties.

The world is collapsing under human pressure and biodiversity is suffering.

As long as there is money to be made, consumption per capita will continue to grow.

Our only hope here in Canada is stopping population growth by reducing immigration.

We still have 25% of world's wilderness forests.

Currently all stretches of pristine boreal forest have been scheduled to be cut. We must act fast to attack the root causes of environmental degradation:

economic growth (population growth * consumption growth)

In Canada we must also end resource exportation.

There's my 2 cents... hope someone will read this and gain a new perspective.

 

[Tom Green Fan]

- I was hoping to see some pics...

Anyone got any?

 

[missile]

Most birds are beautiful amd wonderful creatures and deserve some sort of protection. Nevertheless, any law that protects the crows,seagulls, and pigeons is not wanted or needed by the general populace & any method of killing these flying rats should be allowed. I wonder if GG would want to be in the middle of that 14 ton pile? Most of these dogooders have no clue.

 

[GreenGreta]

Flying rats is an opinion.

For the record tho, missile, I live in a town where we are overrun by Canada Geese. They crap every twelve minutes and this ain't nothing dainty. So they came along and started destroying eggs, etc.

You'll find if you don't feed them, don't have garbage laying around, you won't be overrun. They are eating something that is being provided by us. Feel free to clean up the disgusting garbage littering this planet.

Besides, it's the animals planet first, if we don't like it, we can leave.

 

[missile]

Simple solution,isn't it? Just feed them enough poison..and no problem. Just a thought here,but our leftovers are hardly the proper diet for any bird & not what birds in the wild consume. So,our foods are destroying the natural lives of birds, Just another reason to wipe them out,although the cleanup costs of their crap is reason enough for industry.