Because A Dead Pigeon Falling On You Isn't As Bad As Pigeon Poop Falling On You

TEXARKANA, Texas (AP) -- Poisoned pigeons began nose-diving into pavement and dying on downtown sidewalks, marring the city's annual festival.

Authorities cleaned up more than 25 sick or dead birds that apparently had eaten poisoned corn from the roof of a nearby bank branch.

"The death of these pigeons was more than an unfortunate accident," local CapitalOne Bank President Lacy McMillen said in Tuesday's online edition of Texarkana Gazette. "It was not the intention of the bank to harm any of these birds."

McMillen said the bank hired an exterminator to handle its pigeon problem after a bird entered the bank and defecated on a customer.

The company, which hired Anti-Pest Co. Inc. of Shreveport, Louisiana, said its goal with the treated corn was to sicken pigeons, so they would leave the rooftop. Death was sometimes an unfortunate side effect, company president Jarrod Horton said.

The full story is here.

Wow, that's news to me that sometimes death is an unfortunate side effect of poisoning--WHO KNEW? The best part of the story that was omitted at CNN.com can be found at Metro.co.uk:

CapitalOne – which amusingly was one of the sponsors of the pigeon-blighted festival – has apologised for raining dead pigeons upon the city. Reports suggest that the birds continued to sicken, plummet and die throughout the course of the weekend.

That just ties it in a nice little package, doesn't it? CapitalOne was the sponsor!