SAN
FRANCISCO - The hunt is on to find out who poisoned birdseed believed to
have killed 39 pigeons in San Francisco this week.
The green-colored
seeds were believed to be laced with strychnine, which is lethal in small
doses, said Bing Dilts, an animal shelter veterinarian.
The first dead pigeon
turned up Monday near Union Square.
"At first I thought
it was shot," street sweeper Jack McGann said. "But then I found the other
three, and that many dead pigeons points to poison."
Fifteen more bodies
turned up in the square. Small shrouds were placed over the remains.
"One of my officers
saw one pigeon literally fall from the sky," said Capt. Vicky Guldbech
of the Department of Animal Care and Control.
Ten more bodes were
found in the Castro District, several miles away, and 10 more were found
in Potrero Hill, where investigators found the poisonous birdseed scattered
along a fence.
"It's sad if someone
did this," said Linda Mjellen of the Union Square Association. ...
