Vulture Droppings Are Ruining CBP Communication Along The U.S.-Mexico Border

A radio tower used by Customs and Border Protection in Kingsville, TX has become home to a group of hundreds of vultures who have coated the structure in urine and feces. Quartz reported that the agency issued a request for information to vendors in pursuit of a netting system that would deter the birds from using the tower as their home. The massive swarm of black and turkey vultures has been using the tower on Henrietta Avenue as a perch for several years. According to the agency, the birds have covered the entire structure in feces and other fluids. CBP officials are concerned about their excreta, which smells overwhelmingly bad and can carry a number of diseases, as well as about vulture vomit. The birds throw up when threatened, and the highly acidic contents of their stomach can burn human flesh on contact and corrode metal over time. The agency cannot shoot the birds. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the killing of vultures, so property owners have to opt for non-lethal deterrents such as replica carcasses that scare them away. Vultures have been observed avoiding areas where they know another bird has been killed. Vultures have posed problems for Texans in the past. The town of Greenville, just outside of Dallas, has been struggling with a cell phone tower full of vultures for over a decade. According to the Herald-Banner, the tower in the Ardis Heights neighborhood has attracted so many birds that they are spilling over to the roofs of nearby houses...MORE
 

 The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it illegal to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts*, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid Federal permit. Migratory bird species protected by the Act are listed in  50 CFR 10.13.