Residents in northern Nevada got a bit of a surprise last week when they began discovering thousands of dead birds littering their yards and trees.
They then took to social media, complaining about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s lack of properly informing them of their plan to poison the starling birds, an invasive species that can be harmful to livestock.
One of the main complaints was that nothing was done to clean the dead birds once the DRC-1339 was administered – a poison that takes about 12 hours to claim its victims. It’s not the first time the federal government has intervened with the starlings in Nevada – in 2013, about 50,000 birds were killed. Officials estimated that number was closer to a million flocked to the state, maybe due to extreme cold temperatures in Canada and the northern U.S.
According to the U.S.D.A., the birds transmit livestock diseases and cause crop losses, since the bird feces can contaminate food and water sources, cattle are at a higher risk for contracting diseases such as salmonella and E.coli infections.
But northern Nevada residents were left to clean up the mess – urged to dispose of the birds in the garbage using disposable gloves. And some groups, such as the Nevada Audubon Society, aren’t convinced the poison used to kill the starlings won’t harm other species.
“We’re concerned that other species will be effected and at risk to be poisoned,” said Kathleen Oaks. “I would just ask for better communication and better environmental reviews to better justify and prove what they did. They used very vague reasoning.”
Steve Puterski, Lahontan Valley News