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July 30, 2007

Animal rights group criticizes state DEM's decision

PROVIDENCE -- The animal rights group Defenders of Animals is criticizing the state Department of Environmental Management, after state investigators concluded that New England Pest Control did not violate environmental laws when it killed several sparrows at a National Grid facility in Lincoln.

Earlier this month, New England Pest Control used poisoned corn to kill birds that were nesting and roosting at a National Grid facility in Lincoln.

The DEM visited the facility and interviewed the New England Pest Control employee who distributed the poison. In a letter to the company sent last Thursday, Eugene Pepper, the Pesticide Enforcement Program supervisor, said the exterminators had not violated state or federal environmental laws.

The killing of the sparrows prompted Defenders of Animals to call for a boycott of New England Pest Control.

Now, the group says it will lobby the General Assembly to prohibit the use of Avitrol, the avicide New England Pest Control used in Lincoln.

"The pest control companies are trying to make it sound like Avitrol is a flock-dispersing agent. Avicides like Avitrol are acutely toxic and cause birds and other animals to suffer immensely," Defenders of Animals said. "It’s outright cruelty as far as we are concerned. It’s a reckless practice that must stop."

-- Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 3:03 PM | Permalink

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