Many thanks to Abbotsford council for agreeing to the starling trapping initiative. This has been talked about for many years.
It’s been carried out successfully in the Okanagan and across the border in Washington state with remarkable reductions in starling populations.
However, this is not a one-time solution but is an ongoing process to have any success.
Hopefully the blueberry industry will support this but it will require a quantum leap forward in thinking within the industry to reduce the use of cannons and other audible bird scare devices which have been proven to lose their effectiveness once the birds are used to the noise.
Drones over the berry fields have also shown promise in test trials.
There are many people who have been suffering through cannon summers for far too long and will be looking forward to this with much anticipation.
It can’t be soon enough.
Cherry Groves
Bradner