A woman and her bird-brained associates have been terrorizing Lower East Side locals by dumping piles of seed and food scraps across a tiny park and nearby areas — turning the beloved communal space into a putrid, open-air buffet for pigeons and rats.
The crapfest plays out nearly every day at Ahearn Park, with thousands of birds flocking to fowl feasts dumped by at least two older women and a man several times a day, with the birds leaving their droppings on the concrete, benches and unsuspecting passersby, irate residents squawked.
“The pigeons are not running away from people — the pigeons have taken over the park,” Bryan Grasso, 51, told The Post, estimating the feeders unload one or more 18-pound bags of birdseed daily at the park between East Broadway and Grand Street.
Russell Moss, 63, claimed the unhinged feeding sessions have driven seniors from the park and kept them from sitting on benches due to the perpetual layer of bird poop.
“If you want to sit, you’re going to be sitting in pigeon poo. We don’t see that in Central Park!” he fumed.
A pair of videos recorded in November and shared with The Post shows a silver-haired woman tossing feed from a yellow bag in a cart, while surrounded by hundreds of pigeons. She ignored the person behind the camera, who repeatedly asked why she was feeding the birds.
Parks Enforcement Police eventually issued a summons to the woman in January for unawlful feeding after months of complaints, according to Grasso and a department spokeswoman.
The move, however, appears to have only ruffled the feeders’ feathers: In recent weeks, residents said, they have discovered sticky, overcooked rice smeared across the ground in the park, along with piles of bread and even noodles and cabbage.
“It’s belligerent,” Stuart Rosenberg, 57, said while walking his dog, Sherman. “Now it’s about claiming territory.”
On Wednesday morning, The Post saw at least eight patches of birdseed dotting the concrete, along with piles of peanuts as well as torn bread slices and rolls, attracting at least 150 pigeons in one fell swoop and a pair of rats.
Across the street, a roughly 20-yard-long row of birdseed had also been dumped along the fence to the Sol Lain Playground.
“This has got to stop — it’s a bad thing,” said Roberto Gonzalez, who was dropping off his kids at school and often parks his 2016 Dodge Charger near the 3,900-square-foot plaza.
The feeding frenzy has cost Gonzalez, 48, hundreds of dollars in car washes to prevent the birds’ poop from ruining his vehicle’s exterior.
“I have poop all over my hood and it’s disgusting,” he added. “It eats through paint. It leaves spots!”
Many residents also said they fear the pigeons may transmit avian flu, which was linked to a death in Louisiana earlier this year. On Friday, Gov. Hochul announced all live markets in New York City as well as Weschester County and Long Island would be shuttered for a week after inspectors discovered seven cases of avian flu at sites in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
Dr. Jennifer Bloodgood, a wildlife veterinarian at Cornell University, said the current strain of avian flu, which has been circulating among wild birds in America since 2022, hasn’t been linked to pigeons in New York.
The winged vermin, she added, are terrible at transmitting the virus even when they are infected because they don’t shed enough of the virus to get another animal sick.
“Avian influenza has this remarkable ability to adapt to new species . . . so I wouldn’t disclude it from a future possibility, but people right now should not be afraid of pigeons,” she said.
Parks Department spokeswoman Kelsey Jean-Baptiste said the agency’s PEP officers would continue to conduct patrols and educate park goers on its feeding rules.
Read the full article here