Bird Crap Makes Subways Unusable

Some might think unsightly bird doo is the least of the subway's smelly problems. But nevertheless, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will show those fowl who’s boss with [Operation Bird-B-Gone, a mission to be executed at three of the most pooed on stations on the no. 7 line]. What’s the master plan? To keep birds from reproducing underground and, inevitably, defecating, birds will be zapped when they go to roost on ledges in the stations. Beware of falling pigeons.

The New York Sun reports: “Today, the MTA and state representatives will announce the completion of station refurbishments, including the electrical wiring, at the 103rd street station. The MTA will next tackle the pigeon woes at the 90th Street station.”

It seems previous attempts to thwart the bird infestation included spikes—we’re not sure how that works but it sounds even messier than the poop. One MTA spokesperson explained that birds are especially attracted to dirty stations and that these are the ones they’ll be targeting. You might ask why they didn’t invest the cash in keeping the stations clean in the first place—instead of keeping them dirty but shit-free. That’s a very good question. It seems after appealing to the MTA for over three years, Assemblymen Jose Peralta and Jeffrion Aubry successfully lobbied for $1.5 million in state money to refurbish the stations and got the MTA to chip in another $50,000 a station for Operation Bird-B-Gone to boot.

Photo courtesy of [Eliya on Flickr]