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Dead birds hanging from poles by feet seen at landfill in James City County

Posted at 5:48 PM, Jul 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-27 19:18:55-04

JAMES CITY Co., Va. - Neighbors in James City County are outraged after dead buzzards hanging by their feet were seen at a public dump.

"It's very disturbing you go to a public place and you expect to just dump off some trash and you got dead birds hanging around like it's some Voodoo place," said a man who went to the dump yesterday with his sons. He asked News 3 to no release his name.

The dump is located on Jolly Pond Road. According to James City County officials, the land is being leased by Waste Management. The county would not comment on the dead birds and directed News 3 to a contact at Waste Management. After several calls, we received a call back from a company representative who explained the birds were being hung to deter other birds from coming to the landfill. Here is their official statement.

"Waste Management works with the US Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services to minimize the bird activities related to our operations. We defer to their minimization efforts since they are the wildlife experts."

News 3 reached out to the USDA Wildlife Services to find out more about the tactic, but our calls were not immediately answered. Those who saw the birds though say no explanation justifies the action of killing birds and hanging the carcasses where anyone can see them.

"I don't understand why a decoy couldn't haven't been used."

Though not everyone who lives near the landfill is against the tactics. Chris Schmitz says he does the same thing to the crows on his farm.

"We will shoot crows and hang them in  the garden and corn fields it deters the other crowd so they don't come around anymore," said Schmitz. "I'm used to seeing it. It's something that does work."