City should support a ban on Avitrol

Lena Yee Hayashi

I strongly encourage the city of Huntington Beach to ban the use of

Avitrol for pest control. New York City and Boulder, Colo. have

already done so.

Louann Murray and Vic Leipzig, in their column “Natural

Perspectives,” March 11, wrote an excellent article, “Silent Spring

at Blackbird Pond,” describing how a legal and seemingly effective

method of pest control can and does have unrealized affects. Their

column addressed the problem of red-winged blackbirds leaving the

Shipley Nature Center pond shortly after arriving and dead and dying

birds that were brought from Central Park to the Wetlands and

Wildlife Care Center at Pacific Coast Highway and Newland Street.

There, Vicki Andersen determined that the blackbirds, and other birds

brought in from the equestrian center, had died of poisoning from a

pesticide called Avitrol.

Education is the key to all of this. The majority of people are

concerned about the health of their environment and the well-being of

wildlife and domestic animals. Unless we are educated to see the

whole picture, however, incidents as the one described in the column

often become a battle of right versus left and tree huggers versus

cement layers when in actuality, each have valid reasons for their

beliefs and actions and all share a common love for nature.

Thank goodness for the Independent’s weekly column “Natural

Perspectives,” and thank goodness for our City Council, both of which

are concerned about the welfare of our wonderful city. I received

Vicki Anderson’s facts and timeline from her work with the injured

and dead birds at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center on March 1.

At 6 p.m., I mailed board members of the Friends of Shipley Nature

Center and two City Council members. I received many e-mails saying

the information was passed on to other council members and Louann

Murray and Vic Leipzig were very interested in researching the issue.

Councilwoman Connie Boardman assured me that the city would look

into the matter the very next day. In less than two days, Avitrol was

removed from the stable grounds, and the above article was printed

the following week. Efficient and effective work by all. As a result,

all of us are more informed, and there are no “bad guys” in this

story except the poison Avitrol.

I hope others in the Huntington Beach community will join me in

supporting a city ban on the use of Avitrol.

* LENA YEE HAYASHI is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute

to “Sounding Off” e-mail us at hbindy@latimes.com or fax us at (714)

965-7174.