Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Marty Martinez says the 200 birds roosting downtown should be displaced "by non-lethal means only."
Midway through the Town of Leesburg and United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Services' week-long vulture displacement initiative — which is using pyrotechnics and lasers in an attempt to move the birds from their roost downtown — one Leesburg Town Council member is speaking out against the practice, saying it should only be done if the birds are not killed. Marty Martinez said at a council meeting this week the town has received at least 84 emails from residents, "who would rather save the vultures than hurt them." “I do not advocate any lethal uses to remove the vultures and will do what I can to ensure that non-lethal and no lasers are used to remove the vultures,” he said. “Even though they are a nuisance to some …
Monday, January 7, 2013
Various measures will be undertaken in an attempt to move the birds; Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy say population swell is part of the birds' natural rhythm.
Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, in response to the Town of Leesburg’s plans for vulture control, is criticizing plans to help relocate the birds, who they say play a “critical role as scavengers and sanitarians”, helping to recycle dead animals and sanitize the area. The LWC’s comments come after Leesburg released a statement saying beginning today, Monday, and continuing throughout the week, "officials will use pyrotechnics, lasers, and other dispersal devices that are noise and light makers to move the birds nightly just prior to dark." In addition to the pyrotechnics, lasers and other noise devices that will be used to move the birds, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture also may kill and hang dead birds in trees as a means…
Town of Leesburg begins vulture control plan Monday with pyrotechnics, lasers between 4 and 5 p.m.
The Leesburg Police Department and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Program begins a week of vulture control Monday in Leesburg. The town announced last week that starting Monday, and continuing throughout the week, federal wildlife specialists and town police officers plan to deploy pyrotechnics and lasers to scare the creatures away from areas they're damaging downtown. The methods will be used between 4 and 5 p.m. in the areas of Mayfair Drive NE and Plaza Street NE. The birds, by nature, will remain in the same areas for "extended periods of time," officials said in a statement. Not only do the creatures cause property damage -- picking away at rooftops and rubber seals and defecating on buildings, yards…
Thursday, January 3, 2013
What's that noise you're hearing in Leesburg? Starting Monday, officials will use pyrotechnics, lasers to move vultures from downtown.
Leesburg's vulture problem will get a solution next week, officials said Wednesday, when federal wildlife specialists and town police officers plan to deploy pyrotechnics and lasers to scare the creatures away from areas they're damaging downtown. Starting Monday, and continuing every day that week, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Program, along with the Leesburg Police Department, will work to remove the vultures from the area of Mayfair Drive NE and Plaza Street NE. From 4 to 5 p.m. on those days, "officials will use pyrotechnics, lasers, and other dispersal devices that are noise and light makers to move the birds nightly just prior to dark," the town said in a release Wednesday. Large numbers of vultures…
Marcus Aurelius
12:36 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Where is the NRA when we need them? A dozen NRA members with semi-automatics would make short work of these pests! more ›