To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > Travel March 14, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/travel/planet/2000/03/14/pigeons New York will shock pigeons The dirty birds are to receive non-lethal electric treatment. - - - - - - - - - - - - By J.A. Getzlaff New Yorkers are fed up with pigeon poop and they're not going to take it anymore. Commuter railroad stations around New York say they have tried everything to deter pigeons from loitering -- including foul-smelling repellents, sharp spikes and those spooky plastic owls -- but the winged rats still keep showing up to hang around and defecate on unsuspecting commuters. Now regional railroad authorities are getting tough. Twenty-five stations around the city plan to arm themselves with electric wiring, which will be strategically placed on eaves and ledges to give layabout pigeons an unpleasant jolt. Railroad spokespeople claim the shocks will neither kill the birds nor injure them permanently, just deter them from making camp in inauspicious places. According to the New York Daily News, $100,000 will be spent on the project. Will the birds give a crap? Only time will tell. salon.com | March 14, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer J.A. Getzlaff's Daily Planet appears every weekday. Do you have a tip or tale for J.A.? Send it to DailyPlanet@salon.com.