AGAWAM, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts mayor says the U.S. Department of Agriculture waited too long to tell Agawam officials about a pesticide application that reportedly caused dead birds to fall from the sky.
Mayor Richard Cohen asked for better communication from the USDA in a Jan. 12 letter to U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Richard Neal.
The letter says a USDA wildlife biologist administered a pesticide on a group of European starlings earlier this month. The dead birds alarmed residents.
Cohen says the city’s health agent was apparently notified on the day the pesticide was administered.
A USDA spokesman says the poisoning was part of a program to control their numbers. Cohen says officials should be told of any such program at least 30 days in advance.
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