City still grapples with the grackles

Since I figure this story requires registration, here you go...

There's an easy solution, by the way. Just start shooting the stupid birds, clean em and then feed em in soup to the homless. Two problems solved at once.

By Anna M. Tinsley

Star-Telegram Staff Writer


FORT WORTH - Ready, aim, fire.

Private business and property owners could soon join city workers with crackershot in hand in an attempt to rid the city of pesky grackles and the mess they leave behind.

The City Council is considering a proposal to expand the city's downtown "grackle relocation" program in which workers fire into the air with 12-gauge shotguns filled with cracker shells that sound like fireworks.

Under the proposal, the shells could also be used by police, neighborhood leaders and business owners, who would fire into the air across the city at the same time on designated days.

"There is great interest in a coordinated effort ... to push them into farm fields and other habitats," said Randle Harwood, acting director of the city's parks department. "But we want to do it carefully."

Mayor Mike Moncrief has said he'd prefer to use real shotgun shells, but said he knows that's not possible -- or even an especially good idea.

"We need to work on realistic approaches," he said.

The large black birds -- which typically are unafraid of people -- have increasingly become a public nuisance, settling into trees throughout the city to roost, squawk and relieve themselves on sidewalks and passers-by.

Some sidewalks have to be washed as often as five times a week, said Todd Holzaepfel, vice president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

Efforts to scare the birds away have been costly and unsuccessful for the long term, however.

In addition to the city's program, the downtown group has hired crews to fire paintballs and shine laser guns into the trees to annoy the birds, at a cost of about $100,000 a year.

"I don't think we're ahead of this," Holzaepfel said. "I think we are barely maintaining."

Councilwoman Wendy Davis said the grackles leave the popular downtown area dirty and unattractive.

"There are nasty, filthy piles of bird poop downtown," she said. "It's a public health issue, as well as a cleanliness issue."

The cleaning puts residents at risk for histoplasmosis, a respiratory disease contracted by those who breathe in dried particles of bird excrement. Symptoms can resemble the flu or tuberculosis.

Research shows that grackles aren't all bad, however. They eat mice and crawling insects such as crickets and roaches, which can also pose problems, officials said.

Councilman Donavan Wheatfall questioned whether the "relocation" program will simply move the problem.

"My concern is, where are we pushing them to?" Wheatfall said. "I don't want to alleviate the problem downtown and just move it to the neighborhoods."

City officials agreed to study the feasibility of allowing private participation in the program, and to develop a system for training and permits to allow individuals or groups to participate.

A formal proposal could be developed by fall, officials said.

"This is more than an inconvenience," Moncrief said. "This is a quality of life issue.

"I can't believe we can't figure out some way to get a handle on this problem. I'm serious about this. I won't let up."