Avitrol Kills Blackbirds in New Jersey

Health Officer Exterminates Wrong Birds in NJ

It was NY parks commissioner Thomas P. F. Hoving who dubbed pigeons "rats with wings," a term that fourteen years later was popularized by Woody Allen in his 1980 flick “Stardust Memories.” So surely there's some blood on their hands in the war on the pigeon community in New York (only recently was a National Pigeon Day established to combat the haters).

There are a lot of pigeons around though, and everything from Robo-Hawk to Pigeon Czars have been considered in controlling the population, but it's sort of rare that we hear the words "pigeon extermination." Turns out some folks across the Hudson (specifically, Fort Lee Health Officer Steven Wielkotz) turned to the chemical Avitrol "to get rid of more than 100 pigeons that descended on the area around town hall two months ago," according to WCBS. Avitrol, by the way, "kills the pigeons by first causing them to suffer seizures and then cardiac arrest."

Wielkotz's master plan to wipe out the pigeons didn't quite go as planned, however, because the grackles ate the seed instead. 30 of those birds have since died—and Mayor Mark Sokolich says children were seen trying to save the dying birds.