Derry Township residents met Tuesday night with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find out what can be done to control the growing population of black vultures plaguing Hersheypark’s ZooAmerica and nearby neighborhoods.
Prior to Tuesday’s meeting of the Derry Township Board of Supervisors, township Manager Christopher Christman and USDA Supervisor Tony Roland walked through the neighborhoods and examined property damage done by the overpopulation of vultures.
Tuesday Roland recommended some steps that residents could take and future agreement plans.
“What are the options?” Chris Abruzzo, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors asked. “What can we do, because we’re willing to be a partner in this. This has gotten to a point where collectively we must take action.”
Roland said in order to make the vultures leave Derry Township, they have to be made “uncomfortable” through a variety of tactics.
“There are many options out there to manage the vultures and it’s going to take a variety of methods over a period of time,” he said. “The vultures didn’t just come overnight, they’ve been here for over several years so we need to make them feel uncomfortable.”
Tactics available to wildlife managers include:
- Pyrotechnics (fireworks): This involves using pyrotechnics, such as screamer sirens and bird bombs, or electronically generated sounds or propane cannons.
- Habitat Modification: This involves removing or pruning trees where birds roost, reducing the attractiveness of the site to the birds.
- Suspending Effigies: Birds hung in effigy — either a carcass prepared by a taxidermist or an artificial device that looks like a dead vulture — can discourage the birds from roosting in an area.
- Lasers for WildLife: According to the USDA, vultures can sometimes be moved from roosts by using a red laser 30 minutes before sunset.
Other strategies available to wildlife managers include exclusion, shooting, trapping, translocation, and disposal. However, these procedures must be done under the auspices of the USDA, as black vultures are protected under federal law.
Roland said homeowners can take part in management of the vultures by doing things such as using pots and pans to create noise that disturbs the vultures, pyrotechnics (be sure to ask state and local government for permission), habitat modifications, or purchasing a motion-activated sprinkler system to keep black vultures off property.
Tracy Brown snapped this photo of the vultures on homes in her neighborhood.
Roland also mentioned the option of the USDA entering into a cooperative services agreement with a local agency or business to work to disperse the birds. It has such an agreement with ZooAmerica, he said.
“In order for us to do Wildlife management work, which we’re permitted to do through Congress, we have to be funded by a private entity,” he said. “It can be a private home owner, business incorporation, an entire township.”
Jason White, managing director of corporate safety and security at Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, said ZooAmerica noticed the growing vulture population in 2018. It reached out to partner with the USDA once it realized the flocks were continuing to increase.
“We’re quite frankly … not sure why they chosen the zoo as their location to roost within the last three years,” he said. “Our efforts continue, our staff is continuing their disruptive actions to try and uproot the birds and we are willing to partner up with USDA as we are just as annoyed as everyone else.”
As part of its agreement with ZooAmerica, the USDA last year started capturing and tagging birds and releasing them to try to find out more about how many birds are visiting the area, and where they are coming from and going.
“Our agencies found out conducting that research in other states that sometimes the population is larger than what we’re actually seeing at that site,” Roland said. “So if you’re seeing 200 birds we could be dealing with three times that many birds actually using that roost is they sometimes rotate.”
Derry Township officials indicated they will consider their options for dealing with the vulture population.
READ MORE: Black vultures are back to bedevil Derry Township residents: ‘It’s really unmanageable’