Tools

Utica set to use laser to harass roosting crows

By Associated Press

Story Created: Nov 16, 2012 at 11:07 AM EDT

Story Updated: Nov 16, 2012 at 11:08 AM EDT

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) - A central New York city is going high tech trying to harass thousands of roosting crows.

The city is spending $3,000 to buy a portable device called a Bird Blazer that uses a constantly changing pattern of multi-colored lasers to scare off the birds without hurting them.

It's said to be effective over a 10,000-square-foot area.

Roosting crows have been a noisy, messy nuisance in upstate cities, where officials have resorted to small explosives and other measures to roust them.

A spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation says crows like cities in winter because a "heat bubble" makes them 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside and it's easier to avoid predators.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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