U.S. Department of Agriculture Murders Birds in NJ

It's Raining Dead Birds in New Jersey
January 26, 2009
WPIX 11 New York-

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (WPIX) -- It was raining dead birds this weekend in Franklin Township, New Jersey. They fell onto homes and cars shocking many residents of Somerset County.

The mass bird killing was part of a program implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that targeted the poisoning of blackbirds and starlings in an effort to reduce their populations.A USDA advisory cited that the dead birds posed no hazard to people or pets because the controlled substance had been metabolized inside the birds. One woman told the Courier News of Bridgewater she found more than 150 dead birds on her property and that she was told by local officials that she had to clean them up herself.

The culling program was set up primarily to stop the European starlings from congregating at feed lots and dairies, consuming and contaminating seed helping to spread diseases, according to the USDA advisory.