Birds Falling All Over New York & New Jersey...Perhaps We Aren't Getting The Whole Truth?

Thousands of Dead Birds all over New Jersey and New York

6 opinions in 5 threads, created by ck_enizete on 1/3/2011

Now,this year of 2011, brings the killing of birds and nobody telling folks you will see tons of birds fall everywhere. Controlled killing or genocide??? No advance notice is plain STUPID Thousands of Dead Birds Rain Over New Jersey January 28, 2009 NOTE: This article below was one year ago. FRANKLIN, N.J. -- And, then, there were none. New Jersey residents awoke to a morbid note on Saturday morning, after federal officials killed as many as 5,000 European starling birds with pesticides the previous evening. Hundreds of the birds were reported to have fallen onto private residents' lawns, driveways, and even cars. The black carcasses were strewn across Franklin, N.J., among other towns in southern Somerset County. "It was raining birds," Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine told The Associated Press. "It got people a little anxious." The U.S. Department of Agriculture utilized a bird-specific pesticide, DRX-1339, which it says is harmless to humans and other animals. New Jersey pet owners still looked to the local government for reassurance, however, that their animals would not be affected by the pesticide. At the very least, one resident said, they could have received a warning about the culling in advance. "People around (here) are really worried," 75-year-old George Gibson, of Griggstown, told The Associated Press. "They should have told us what they were going to do because we have pets. One guy's dog was chewing on the dead birds and we didn't know what kind of diseases they had died from." The birds were harmful to an area farm, according to USDA spokeswoman Carol Bannerman. They were eating feed designated for cattle and chickens, as well as defecating in food bowls. A USDA advisory said the culling was done because European starlings "congregate at feed lots and dairies in the winter, causing damage by consuming and contaminating seed and contributing to the spread of diseases." Though the U.S. Department of Agriculture says it notified local police of its planned culling, government officials were left in the dark of the plan's specifics. "They did not tell us when they were gonna do it, where they were gonna do it or what the aftermath would be," Kenneth Daly, Franklin Township Manager, told WPVI. Residents were also not ready to face the mass deaths, right on their doorsteps. One resident of Griggstown, told WPVI that he has picked up 200 bird carcasses from his backyard over the past few days. "Started freaking out and we went out and started searching and they were all over the place," Ray Kiveris said. "It's surreal, I've never seen anything like it." Another Franklin Township resident, Andrea Kipec, told the Courier News of Bridgewater that she counted more than 150 dead birds on her property. Local officials instructed her to clean them up herself, she said. Bannerman said that the USDA will try to amp up its notification efforts in future instances. "We're very sorry that it played out the way it did," she told The Associated Press. Authorities have not said how the birds were poisoned, or what was used to kill them. Tell us what you think about "Thousands of Dead Birds Rain Over New Jersey" below. Share your favorite videos by clicking on the ZootooTV tab. Send us your story ideas by e-mailing us at news@zootoo.com or by calling us at 877-777-4204. WNYC, The Associated Press, WPVI and The Newark Star Ledger contributed to this article