Judge Orders Man to Get Rid of Birds
Here is something to give you a chuckle in the middle of all these horrific antidepressant-induced tragedies…
While in Salt Lake City lecturing I read this article in the news today …. it is about a poor elderly immigrant who loves pigeons and spends his time caring for them. Well one of the SLC suburbs of South Jordan wants him to get rid of his birds he has had in his backyard for years. Most all of the comments are supportive of the man and his rights and upset with the city for doing something like this to him. But one comment was something I HAD to respond to so here it is – his first and then mine …. hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! 🙂 (See the original story link below)
“So if he was harboring 300 rats we should leave him alone? I think everyone who is whining about how mean the world is to this guy should do a little research. Just for fun, Google the words “Pigeon, health, and hazards” all on the same line. Did you know that the EPA, yup our liberal EPA, says that you can kill as many pigeons as you want? They are considered a “bird pest” and for good reasons all having to do with DISEASE.they are basically rats with wings. I hate to sound harsh but these are the facts. Honestly if I was in charge of a city, I would ban any private ownership of pigeons because their populations can get out of control in a hurry. I have been on jobs where we had to remove years of pigeon droppings from rooftops. It’s basically a hazmat situation where protective clothing and respirators are required. When pigeon droppings dry out they become airborne and can cause serious respiratory disease. I highly recommend the city not level their roosting place. They need to exterminate the population prior. Leave the buildings and get rid of the birds.”
MY RESPONSE: “Hazmat situation?! When anything dries out and becomes airborne it turns to dust that can cause respiratory disease. Dust does that.
“They call out hazmat teams to clean up hydrochloric acid spills(yes the same muriatic acid that is used to clean toilets and cement spills), yet people in the Salt Lake Valley voluntarily consume more of that daily than anywhere else in the world in the form of an antidepressant. (Example: fluoxetine hydrocloride [Prozac], sertraline hydrocloride [Zoloft], etc.) I would be far more concerned about these highly toxic chemicals than I would pigeon droppings!
“Now there is a solution! The City of South Jordan could check with a large pharmaceutical firm to see if they could come up with a new drug promoted to be the next new “cure all” that has pigeon droppings as an ingredient since people seem so willing to put anything in their mouths as long as the marketing tells them it is good for them. Then everyone could see value in the pigeons since sadly money seems to be our society’s mode of determining value now. They could all make money on the situation and walk away happy campers. Not so sure the patients will be such happy campers, but pigeon droppings sound safer than what they already take!”
Original Article: https://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=29798204
