Florida’s last victims of Avitrol?
December 3rd, 2010 by admin
Last night, WWSB ABC Ch. 7 reported on local outrage about an oceanside restaurant poisoning dozens of pigeons. Sharky’s On The Pier, in Venice, Florida, hired a pest control company to get rid of birds that customers had complained about. The TV station spoke to one fisherman on the Venice Fishing Pier who described birds falling from the sky, “They were flopping around falling into the water.” Another man said it was a terrible sight, “It’s disgusting. There was a mom with a small child and she had to leave because the child was so upset to see what was going on.”
From the descriptions of the pigeon’s suffering, it appears that they ingested Avitrol, a notorious toxin that is commonly used by pest control companies (the poison is often placed on the roofs of buildings). Avitrol affects the nervous system causing birds to suffer from tremors and seizures before dying. Not only is Avitrol cruel, it is at best a temporary solution.
There is one piece of good news in this story. The only U.S. manufacturer of Avitrol went out of business at the end of October. Although pest control companies are still using up their remaining stock, sales of the poison have ended.
Please contact Sharky’s On The Pier and urge them to never again use poison or other lethal methods of deterring “nuisance” birds at the restaurant.
Sharky’s On The Pier
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Phone: (941) 488-1456
People get over yourselves, pigeons are dirty annoying creatures much like a lot of humans I know. They couldn’t leave by other means so you know what, good bye, blam!!!! good riddance
There are three diseases that the health departments have found in the pigeon droppings. These are histoplasmosis, psittacosis and cryptococcosis. Generally people will only become infected if they have direct contact such as when cleaning off droppings from buildings, roads or other surfaces. A person would have to inhale a sufficient amount of the fungus or bacteria to actually become ill.