Robots to control pigeon population?

Esteeben wrote:

Pigeons are just rats w/wings and should be treated like the (ariborne) vermin they are: poison, traps, etc.

Al Streit wrote:

The article today on the cover of AM New York,'One for the Birds: Could robotic hawks solve the city's problem?,' is wrong to say there is a pigeon problem.
Pigeons are birds like any other and actually safer (they can't give bird flu or west Nile virus to people, while they are as safe as sparrows otherwise). It's poultry that get bird flu. In addition, pigeons eat food in daytime that otherwise rats would get during the night.
Pigeons are loved by thousands of New Yorkers, who rescue, treat, and release them when needed. There's a movement to give respect back to pigeons started by Pigeon People 5 years ago.
The only concession you give to the truth is your reference to the NYC Health Dept.'s repeated statements that pigeons are not public health risks. That should have been your headline. But you omitted information that the reporter, Ryan Chatelain learned when he interviewed me. Pigeon People is the only organization that has opposes population control and has for years.
Instead, knowing that, since the 1950s, you can count on people's dislike of pigeons, your article claims a 'pigeon problem' that doesn't exist.
Pigeons and people have been close for more that 6000 years, and people liked them until the 50s. Has something changed? It did - a false and spurious claim of danger to health was made, and the belief stuck. With no chance to learn the truth from the press, people naturally kept the belief. However, the people who had made it up were not authorities in public health or biology. We can now relearn: It's okay to appreciate pigeons.
Pigeons happen to live in cities. When people try to keep them off buildings, they can do so in simple, effective, cheap ways. It's good to know that they don't do it in a cartoon-like way, flying robotic hawks around. They poison them or use other slow, painful methods. And they don't even need an alibi, because society's assumption lets them get away with it. But it's not a joke - let's not give excuses to those few people who are cruel to animals.
Al Streit
Director
Pigeon People

Buddy wrote:

<quoted text>
But how do you selectively poison the pigeons without poisoning other birds and animals?

wtf wrote:

$4200 for a f'n fake bird... I'll take 2. Really though give me a break, I bet the chinese could make it for $4.99/ea and it will last longer.

Dubya Money at No Risk wrote:

Don't scare away or poison a potential food source -- kill and eat it!

Judged:

1

Lori wrote:

It's unfortunate that there are so many misconceptions about pigeons (e.g., they are overpopulated and carry zoological diseases) when credible data is readibly available on the Internet. The U.S. Geological Survey's data shows that the population of pigeons in New York State peaked in 1988 and has since declined.(http://www.mbr-pwrc. usgs.gov/cgi-bin/plotpgm0.pl?/ sula/jrs/bbs02/htmind/03131.ny )(N.B.: The AM NY article estimates one million pigeons in NYC but does not cite its source. There is no data on the NYC pigeon population. According to the Wild Bird Fund, the population could range from 200,000 to 2,000,000.)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that risks associated with pigeons and their feces is negligible, particularly in a city because the fungus histoplasma capsulatum that grows in feces of birds (including species other than pigeons) requires soil to thrive. A 2000 study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology shows that the strains of salmonella carried in pigeon feces is of low virulence to humans. Simply put: The hysteria about pigeons is unfounded. The government should not waste our money on a problem that does not exist.