The latest trouble at the border: Vultures are pooping all over a CBP radio tower

[douglas9]

January 11, 2020 at 8:00 AM EST

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has a problem with vultures — specifically, roughly 300 of them that are defecating and urinating all over a radio tower that the agency needs to communicate.

The excretion is coating the entire 320-foot tower in southern Texas, including the interior part that workers need to touch, according to a request for information that the agency sent to vendors. The government is seeking a “Vulture Deterrence Netting System” to be installed in August before the birds’ roosting season.

The migratory birds have been making themselves comfortable on the tower in Kingsville — about 45 miles southwest of Corpus Christi — for more than six years, a CBP spokesperson told Quartz, which first reported on the vultures. CBP did not answer questions from The Washington Post on Friday.

“They will often defecate and vomit from their roost onto buildings below that house employees and equipment,” said the spokesperson, whom Quartz did not name. “There are anecdotes about birds dropping prey from a height of 300 feet, creating a terrifying and dangerous situation for those concerned.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/01/11/latest-crisis-border-vultures-are-pooping-all-over-cbp-radio-tower/?tid=pm_national_pop

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/overview

[Sherman A1]

1. Darn the luck

[CurtEastPoint]

2. You watch. They'll exterminate them. It's what they do.

[underpants]

3. Trump will build a windmill

[peacefreak2.0]

4. Is there anything we can feed them

to facilitate more smooth moves?

[D23MIURG23]

5. Something about this seems like a poetic description of the Trump admin in general.

Vultures pooping on the federal government and reducing it's ability to function correctly.

[cutroot]

6. This is a border check station that is seventy miles north of the border

It should not even be there. The birds are just taking advantage of the lights at night and the height of the vantage point that the tower provides. If you want to make them go away you need to stop feeding them. The tower gives them an immense advantage. This check station is a violation of our civil rights.