Hawk Patrol May Soon Protect Baltimore County Landfill From Unwanted Birds: Report

BALTIMORE COUNTY - Baltimore County’s landfill in White Marsh is inundated with birds. These Massive flocks are causing problems in nearby communities by doing what birds do: eating trash from the dump and dropping refuse and poop on nearby neighborhoods.

WYPR reports that to solve this problem, Baltimore County officials are considering hiring bird bouncers to scare away unwanted avians.

The local radio station spoke with Dan Vitilio, who lives in nearby Kingsville, about the bird problem.

“A lot of cars go over there,” Vitilio, who has been a master falconer for more than 40 years, told WYPR. “Homeowners drop their trash off, and they have to go to the car wash after because that’s how bad the birds are just messing everywhere.”

As he pondered what would be done about the birds, Vitilio made county officials an offer.

“He came out, and I think he was dumping one day at the landfill, and he was like ‘there are birds everywhere, and I know that my hawk could help with this,” Nick Rodricks, the chief of the county’s solid waste management bureau told WYPR. “So at the time, we’re like, yeah, definitely, if you want to come show us how it works, that would be really neat.”

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