RSSLandfill to discontinue starling eradication program
WALLA WALLA UNION-BULLETIN
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WALLA WALLA — Nevermore is the vow from a city official about a recent starling eradication program that left a couple of Sudbury Landfill neighbors’ yards littered with hundreds of dead birds.
“I am not going to use it on my property (Sudbury Landfill) again because of the people,” Sudbury Landfill Supervisor Dennis Rakestraw said.
Rakestraw was referring to the use of DRC-1339, a USDA-approved species-specific toxin that was recently used to kill an estimated 3,000 of what had been about 5,000 unwanted starlings at the landfill.
The reasons for the mass poisonings are numerous.
According to a USDA fact sheet, the non-native species — starlings were brought to the United States in the 1890s — can spread histoplasmosis and salmonella in humans and spread animal diseases from farm to farm.
“It is a disease issue. You got 5,000 birds flying above your head, you better have a hat on. They carry diseases just like any other bird,” Rakestraw said.
There were other reasons for the poisonings.
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