Stop USDA Bird Poisonings!

Stop USDA Bird Poisonings!

By STEVE ARGUE
The U.S. Agriculture Department has recommended that 6 million red-winged blackbirds, yellow-headed blackbirds, and common grackles be poisoned with DRC-1339 laced rice. All three are native species with important roles to play in the ecosystem. Many other species, including rare prairie species with already declining populations, will be poisoned as well.
The poisonings are being planned for eastern and central North Dakota. Smaller scale poisonings have already taken place between 1994 and 1998. My casual observations have indicated a dramatic decline in red-winged blackbird populations in a western Minnesota cattail marsh since the poisonings have begun.
The three blackbird species are being targeted because of the damage they do to sunflower crops in the fall. According to Larry Kleingartner, executive director of the National Sunflower Association, the blackbirds eat only 2 percent of the $315 million annual sunflower crop. He says some farmers are hit much harder than others, however.
While the plight of the sunflower growers is not a problem to be ignored, there are many reasons why the proposed course of action should not be pursued. Besides many extreme environmental concerns there are 2 very important questions as to whether this course of action will work. Since the poisonings will be done during spring migration it is possible that most of the birds that will die will be from elsewhere so their deaths will have little impact on the crops. Farmers should also consider the impact that a large reduction in birds that also eat insects could have on insect pest populations.
32 species of grain eating birds have been observed in or around sunflower fields at the time of year the poisonings are planned. In addition, birds of prey, especially bird predators such as prairie falcons and cooper's hawks could easily fall victim by eating poisoned birds.
Phil Mastrangelo, North Dakota director of the Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS), which is an arm of the USDA, claims that the poison is most active against blackbirds and the 1 to 25 ratio of poisoned to non-poisoned rice will make the deaths of other birds unlikely. Yet Mastrangelo admits to killing other species in the trial runs saying, "relatively few "non-target" species were killed." Relative to what, large flocks of migrating blackbirds?
Mastrangelo also states that large birds will be less effected by the poison because of the 1 to 25 ratio. Environmentalists, however, are not just concerned with the survival of big game species, we are in this case more concerned with survival of the rarer smaller species.
DRC-1339 kills by shutting down the kidneys. It takes 12 to 36 hours to take effect. Mastrangelo says that this gives enough time for most of the poison to break down in the bird's body so that scavengers are not likely to be effected.
Many questions arise about the sanity of killing so many birds for the sake of 2% of the crop, especially when a much larger percentage than 2% of the crop is sold to bird enthusiasts who turn around and feed the seeds to the birds.
The crisis that farmers face is a real one, but it is caused more by capitalism than by blackbirds. What farmers need are cheap lines of credit and a break from the price fixing of their monopoly buyers.
Plans to kill the birds have not yet been approved. The USDA is scheduled to have finished a preliminary environmental report by mid-October for killing the first 2 million birds in 2003. While the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is opposing the plan it is important that the public stand up and voice our disapproval as well.