Vulture Droppings Are Causing Big Problems on a Texas Radio Tower

A radio tower in Texas that belongs to Customs and Border Protection has become a perch for dozens of vultures, and their waste is getting all over everything.  The agency wants your ideas about the best way to get rid of them.  

About 300 vultures are roosting on a 320-foot tall Customs and Border Patrol radio tower in Kingsville, and the agency is looking for solutions, including a "viable netting deterrent," to prevent them from roosting there.

They can't just shoo the vultures away because the birds have a mind of their own and won't listen, and they can't do like Drum Eatenton did in Steel Magnolias and shoot blanks to scare the birds away.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act that's been around since 1918 protects vultures from being killed.  Vultures are federally protected creatures and they have to be gently persuaded to make up their own minds to leave a place that they're not wanted.

The vultures have roosted on nearly every railing, catwalk, and rail on the tower, and it's creating a huge mess. The official Request for Information from the Department of Homeland Security says, "Droppings mixed with urine are on all of these surfaces and throughout the interior of the tower where workers are in contact with it, as well as on areas below. Since the presence of birds attract more birds this rural tower will be a frequent and constant target for vultures."  Feces and vomit from the birds can not only create a plain ole mess but power outages too.

If you have any ideas about how to gently encourage the vultures to find another place to roost, Customs and Border Patrol would love to hear them.  The birds have been squatting there for six years.

If your humane ideas work, city officials might want to apply those to some pigeons around Tyler too.