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The charges come after many months of investigating, following a Nov. 26 complaint of 10 dead pigeons laying in the street outside the Frick Building made to the Bureau of Animal Care and Control.
According to a report by the public safety department, the managers had contacted the bird control company to "chemically control the bird population on and around the property."
"This was an unfortunate way to control the wild bird population in an urban center...other wild animals or domesticated pets being walked Downtown could have easily ingested this poison with tragic results," the Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said in a statement.
It is illegal to harm wild birds in the city of Pittsburgh.
The people charged include:
- Allen Zimmerman,72, owner of Bird Control Services
- Randall Hoffmaster, 38, employee of Bird Control Services
- Colleen Derbish (aka Kelly Derbish), 58, on-site manager of the Frick Building
- Francisco Escalante, 49, manager of the Frick Building
They are all facing felony and misdemeanor charges of:
- Cruelty to animals
- Prohibited capture or harm of wild birds
- Aggravated cruelty to animals
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