Make this the last time that Houston’s airport is allowed to mass-poison birds
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

In Defense of Animals (IDA)
July 2014

ACTION

The birds were baited with Avitrol-poisoned corn kernels by a United Airlines-hired “pest” control operator. Avitrol is a controversial toxicant that has been banned in New York state since 2000 for cruelty concerns, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rightly limited its use (though it should be completely prohibited).

Make this the last time that Houston’s airport is allowed to mass-poison birds.

Please encourage Houston's Mayor, Annise Parker, to follow through with an investigation of these cruel, unnecessary, and indiscriminate wildlife killings at Bush International Airport, as she has promised.

Sign an online petition here.

And/or better yet, make direct contact:

Mayor Annise D. Parker
City of Houston
P.O. Box 1562 Houston, TX 77251
phone (713) 837-0311
[email protected]  

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

pigeon Avitrol poisonHundreds of birds were poisoned and killed at Bush Intercontinental Airport this past weekend as part of a cruel and inhumane effort to reduce the health and safety risks posed by birds that can best be described as misguided.

People watched in shock as birds were falling out of sky, crashing onto cement and flapping around in pain and agony, while showing seizure-like convulsions. One observer noted that one of the affected birds, a great-tailed grackle, took a full hour to die—"sometimes struggling to move his legs, sometimes appearing paralyzed with his beak open for several minutes at a time."

SAMPLE LETTER:

I would like to express my support for your investigation of the recent mass-poisoning of hundreds of birds at Bush International Airport.

While bird strikes do occur, it is unacceptable to resort to killing birds on and around airport properties. The use of poison to allegedly reduce bird populations is particularly disturbing as these birds suffer an unnecessary, prolonged, and painful deaths. This should have never been allowed and needs to stop immediately.

Preventative and non-lethal methods exist, including netting areas to exclude birds, habitat modification (allowing grass to grow taller) to make certain areas less attractive, and OvoControl, a bird birth control method developed by Innolytics (http://ovocontrol.com). Last but not least, avian radar has been successfully reducing the occurrence of bird strikes at airports outside of the United States.

It is my sincere hope that your investigation will result in changing policies at Bush International Airport. While human health and safety is important, mass-poisoning of birds is immoral and unacceptable.


Thank you for everything you do for animals!


Return to Action Alerts

Other information you may find useful for your activism

Find area codes
Find zip codes