A Broward pest control employee hired by a restaurant to get rid of ‘nuisance birds’ is now charged in the series of poisonings that have rattled nearby customers, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Saturday.
The FWC release did not name the employee, but said that he improperly administered the neurotoxic pesticide Avitrol to the birds at the restaurant, which is located in the Weston Town Center.
He now faces two misdemeanor charges: violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the taking of wildlife with a poison other than pesticides registered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
FWC officers began investigating after hearing reports of dead birds at the center. Though they did not find dead birds at the restaurant, footage shared on social media and by local TV station WPLG-Ch.10 showed the birds convulsing on the ground and in a cardboard box, not moving.
A spokesperson for the Argentinian restaurant Graziano’s told the TV station that it hired a third party to address the “bird infestation” and was told it would be safe and humane. The restaurant did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.
“Although the officers did not find any dead birds at the restaurant, the restaurant owner advised them that he contracted a pest company to get rid of ‘nuisance’ birds,’ ” the FWC release said.
Many of the birds poisoned, including the boat-tailed grackle shown in the footage, are federally protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It is illegal to “take or possess any part of them, including their eggs or nests without a specific federal permit,” the release said.
When ingested, the drug Avitrol causes a reaction in birds similar to “an epileptic seizure,” according to its website. The behavior caused by the “chemical frightening agent” is supposed to deter other birds.
The employee charged did not administer the drug according to the product label, according to the release. It wasn’t immediately clear Saturday how the drug was misused; the FWC referred questions to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The company describes the drug as “humane bird control” on its website, but Avitrol has caused widespread bird deaths in the past; in Portland, for example, residents reported crows “raining down from the sky,” having seizures and dying, the local director of the Audubon Society told National Geographic. The use of the pesticide has since been banned in Portland as well as other cities, including New York.
Experts say Avitrol is often not used as intended. A 2013 label for the drug published by the Environmental Protection Agency says “all dead/dying birds must be disposed of by burial or incineration” and requires that users only apply it where targeted birds are feeding.
The drug should not be used “in any manner that may endanger desirable and protected bird species,” the EPA states.
Staff writer Lisa Huriash contributed to this report.
