If starling trapping works elsewhere, Abbotsford鈥檚 blueberry growers should at least give it a full shot before admitting defeat, Coun. Dave Loewen said Monday.
The BC Blueberry Council (BCBC) says it doesn鈥檛 want to try catching the birds over the winter because it鈥檚 been told trapping will do little to limit the amount of damage to berry crops.
The birds are a perennial foe of Abbotsford blueberry farmers, who commonly turn to propane cannons as a deterrent. But those propane cannons are hated by many neighbours.
Unable to limit the cannons鈥� use because of provincial regulations, with the BCBC on a test program to trap the birds. But the first effort at trapping starlings in the summer of 2016 showed 鈥�.鈥�
The program had been initially funded with $30,000 by the city, but the BCBC instead got money from the federal government for the trial. Last year, the BCBC said it wanted to use the city money to try trapping the birds in the winter, early in the breeding season.
But on Monday, council heard that the BCBC had since heard that a winter trapping program wouldn鈥檛 work either, and that it wanted to instead use the money for education for growers on other ways to deal with bird management and to further study 鈥渢he starling challenge.鈥�
That didn鈥檛 sit well with Loewen, who questioned why farmers in and seem to have found success through decade-long trapping programs.
鈥淚 am disappointed in what we are being told by the BC Blueberry Council,鈥� said Loewen. He said he had no appetite for spending money on those initiatives suggested by the blueberry council.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe this is money well spent,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 won鈥檛 be supporting the recommendation.鈥�
Coun. Patricia Ross agreed with Loewen.
She said trapping the birds may not succeed, but said the whole point of the pilot program is to test the idea.
鈥淚t feels like we are giving up before we even try.鈥�
But she added that the city can鈥檛 undertake such a trial without co-operation from the BCBC. Ross asked if success could be obtained through increasing the budget.
BCBC executive director Anju Gill, who was in attendance, was invited to speak to council.
She said the BCBC heard that 鈥淚t was very clear to us that 鈥� we may be able to catch more birds, but the birds were more likely to fly back to Florida and other places.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not that we鈥檙e not interest in the trapping program 鈥� that is not the case at all. But we want to use the money we have wisely.鈥�
Loewen, though, wasn鈥檛 persuaded that trapping didn鈥檛 have a shot at working, and he questioned why Okanagan growers might be seeing success, noting that starlings are known to winter in that colder climate.
Council decided to send the issue back to staff to determine a possible resolution.
