AUBURN - With just a fraction of Auburn's population, Utica received help from the federal government to get rid of a roost of crows that had invaded the Oneida County city.
And Mayor Tim Lattimore wants to find out if the U.S. Department of Agriculture can do the same thing for Auburn.
After hearing 8,000 crows were driven from Utica, Lattimore called Utica officials to find out how well the USDA "hazing" program worked.
"Eight thousand crows and they think they have a problem and we have 70,000 crows and people think we don't have a problem," Lattimore said. Lattimore would like the city's mal nuisance committee to explore whether the city should get involved in the USDA program.
USDA officials used such non-lethal harassment techniques as pyrotechnics, amplified recordings of distress calls, and non-harmful lasers to disrupt Utica's crows the past two winters.
The combination of techniques seemed to have worked, according to Utica Mayor Tim Julian.
Before the USDA came to town last year, 14,000 crows lived in Utica over the winter.
But the hazing program was able to move between a third and a half of the birds from the area around the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal.
"It got it done," Julian said. "It took just a few weeks of work, and they got them moved. You've got to try something."
The crows were moved to more rural areas of the county and to New Hartford, the city's largest suburb. It doesn't bother Julian that the city's crows are now bothering others.
With so many crows in Auburn, Richard Chipman, the USDA's New York Director for Wildlife Services Program, doesn't know whether the hazing program can disrupt the roost.
USDA wildlife biologists would need to visit Auburn and see the migration before determining if anything can be done.
"We would need to spend some time in Auburn and look at the problem," he said.
The city would have to pay less than $5,000 for the USDA to complete a hazing program.
This compares with the $50,000 a Madison County falconer told city officials it would cost to rid the city of its crows, using birds of prey, pyrotechnics, and dogs.
Staff writer Craig Fox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or craig.fox@lee.net
After hearing 8,000 crows were driven from Utica, Lattimore called Utica officials to find out how well the USDA "hazing" program worked.
"Eight thousand crows and they think they have a problem and we have 70,000 crows and people think we don't have a problem," Lattimore said. Lattimore would like the city's mal nuisance committee to explore whether the city should get involved in the USDA program.
USDA officials used such non-lethal harassment techniques as pyrotechnics, amplified recordings of distress calls, and non-harmful lasers to disrupt Utica's crows the past two winters.
The combination of techniques seemed to have worked, according to Utica Mayor Tim Julian.
Before the USDA came to town last year, 14,000 crows lived in Utica over the winter.
But the hazing program was able to move between a third and a half of the birds from the area around the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal.
"It got it done," Julian said. "It took just a few weeks of work, and they got them moved. You've got to try something."
The crows were moved to more rural areas of the county and to New Hartford, the city's largest suburb. It doesn't bother Julian that the city's crows are now bothering others.
With so many crows in Auburn, Richard Chipman, the USDA's New York Director for Wildlife Services Program, doesn't know whether the hazing program can disrupt the roost.
USDA wildlife biologists would need to visit Auburn and see the migration before determining if anything can be done.
"We would need to spend some time in Auburn and look at the problem," he said.
The city would have to pay less than $5,000 for the USDA to complete a hazing program.
This compares with the $50,000 a Madison County falconer told city officials it would cost to rid the city of its crows, using birds of prey, pyrotechnics, and dogs.
Staff writer Craig Fox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or craig.fox@lee.net
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