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Parrot Poachers Picking Off Brooklyn Birds
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 31, 2010
Modified Aug 31, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 31, 2010
Modified Aug 31, 2010
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Is someone snatching up the feral parrots of Brooklyn? According to YourNabe, a pair of parrot-poachers are lurking around the borough's Dust Bowl (8th Avenue and 65th Street) at night. (This happened back in 2006 as well.)
One of the locals who caught the duo in action reports back saying, “I saw two guys putting together poles that were 20-to-30-feet high, holding a net between them that was about five feet wide. When they saw me, they stopped doing what they were doing. It looked like they were snatching parrots to keep as pets or to sell.”
The Parks Department's Phil Abramson says, “It is against Parks rules and regulations to remove any animal from a park." However, the site notes that parrot poaching may not exactly be illegal; they report, "According to local parrot aficionado Steve Baldwin, state law does not protect the birds, which are therefore subject to trapping and extermination."
Meanwhile, a flock of Wild Quaker parrots recently took to new nests in Manhattan, but they were almost immediately vandalized by a group of young men (who may have also physically harmed the parrots during the destruction). SIGH.
Tagged
brooklyn
Dust Bowl
feral parrots
parrot
parrots
poachers
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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