GLENDALE : City May Use Birth Control for Pigeons

Animal rights activists donated about $125 worth of birth control-spiked pigeon feed to the Glendale City Council on Tuesday and asked that the city consider buying additional feed from an out-of-state supplier.

The city would need to go outside the state to acquire enough feed to control its pigeon population because Ornitrol, the birth control drug used on the feed, is no longer manufactured.

Activist Bill Dyer and Wildlife Protection League representatives said they purchased 25 pounds of pigeon feed laced with Ornitrol for the city to use as a “starter kit” in conjunction with an ordinance banning public pigeon feeding.

The council backed away from a plan to trap and kill pigeons by putting them in cloth bags and then tying the bags to the tailpipe of a running car after more than 120 residents and activists called City Hall to complain.

Mayor Eileen Givens accepted the Ornitrol-spiked seed but asked city staff to research whether the Environmental Protection Agency allows use of the bird birth-control drug.

Use of Ornitrol-covered pigeon feed is one of several alternatives that were recommended to the council to control the central business district’s burgeoning pigeon population. Officials estimate that the downtown flock includes as many as 10,000 birds, which mess downtown awnings, ledges and sidewalks.

Council members expressed concern about the Ornitrol feed alternative after City Manager David Ramsay cautioned them about the scarce supply of the feed and the product’s price.

Less than 10,000 pounds of whole corn covered with Ornitrol exist. The supply has dwindled since Avitrol Corp. stopped making the bird birth-control drug last year, said Betty Swindle, Avitrol communications manager.

Avitrol, based in Tulsa, Okla., bought rights to manufacture Ornitrol in the early 1970s. The company--which discontinued manufacturing Ornitrol because of poor sales--was the sole manufacturer of the drug in the United States.

“It’s one of those products that everyone talks about it and wants to be around it, but no one purchases it,” Swindle said.

Ornitrol cost about $5 a pound when Lloyd Pest Control of San Diego bought its last batch before Avitrol stopped making the drug, said entomologist Herb Field. Lloyd Pest Control helped the city of San Diego reduce the pigeon population in Balboa Park from 5,000 to 1,000 birds using the spiked feed.

For the drug to be effective, about 75 pounds of Ornitrol must be fed to 100 birds over a 10-day period every six months, Swindle said.

If the city decides to use Ornitrol-spiked feed it must also implement other measures because of the drug’s short supply, said Leslie Press, with the Washington, D.C.-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The city is studying use of an ordinance that would prohibit pigeon feeding in certain parts of the city and is drafting a request for proposals to trap and relocate downtown pigeons.