Pigeons invade landmark military recruiting station in Times Square

sanctus

The Padre
Oct 27, 2006
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Ontario
www.poetrypoem.com
NEW YORK (AP) - For decades, the military recruiting station in Times Square has been known as "The Booth," but recently its been looking more like "The Roost."

Pigeons sometimes outnumber potential inductees at the U.S. Armed Forces Recruiting Station and the military has gone on the offensive. So far, the mission hasn't been accomplished.

The initial plan of using speakers to pump in disturbing noises - the sounds of predators, or of pigeons under attack - has failed, perhaps because the birds are accustomed to the high-decibel Times Square soundscape.

The pigeons, who are often fed by passers-by, leave behind droppings, while creating a wing-flapping nuisance.

"Why would you go anyplace else?" asked Leonardo Reis of LAR Industries, a Long Island, N.Y.,-based contractor hired to chase away the pigeons. "There's free rent, free food and free heat from the subway grates."

Reis said he'll try using chemicals that repel pigeons. If that fails, the next step could be placing spikes on the recruiting station roof to prevent the pigeons from landing.

"We want to go non-hazardous," Reis explained. "Everything we're trying is to not harm the birds. We just want to try and get them to not go to the recruiting station."