JOHNSON CITY, TN -- Dead birds inside a vacant downtown Johnson City building are raising health concerns.
Rick’s Haircuts owner Rick Stewart found out about the birds in a neighboring Buffalo Street business this weekend.
“The first thing I saw was the little bird on the window sill and then looking closer, that’s when I saw the dead carcasses all around,” Stewart said. “Apparently, another pigeon had recently died in there because there’s a fresh pigeon carcass in there and I knew that was going to be bad news; that birds were just going to keep piling up and piling up and piling up in there.”
Stewart and others helped rescue the surviving pigeon. Animal control officers took the animal away earlier today. However, the carcasses of roughly six other birds still sit inside the other building.
“There could be a health issue if it continues on,” Johnson City Interim Chief Building Official Herman Marcum said. “There is the possibility of disease being built up by the pigeons.”
The birds are finding their way into the building through a broken window and other openings, but struggling to make it out alive.
"They're suffocating and dying," Marcum said.
With that in mind, the city is now giving the owner of the vacant building 30 days to rodent-proof the property and clean up the mess. According to Marcum, that owner lives in California and has left the building vacant for nearly 20 years.
“That would be your standard procedure is 30 days to get it taken care of,” Marcum said. “We do not see that there is an emergency health hazard. If there was an emergency health hazard we would do something about it immediately.”
If the owner does not correct the problem within the city’s timeline, Marcum says codes enforcers will take the person to court.
Rick’s Haircuts owner Rick Stewart found out about the birds in a neighboring Buffalo Street business this weekend.
“The first thing I saw was the little bird on the window sill and then looking closer, that’s when I saw the dead carcasses all around,” Stewart said. “Apparently, another pigeon had recently died in there because there’s a fresh pigeon carcass in there and I knew that was going to be bad news; that birds were just going to keep piling up and piling up and piling up in there.”
Stewart and others helped rescue the surviving pigeon. Animal control officers took the animal away earlier today. However, the carcasses of roughly six other birds still sit inside the other building.
“There could be a health issue if it continues on,” Johnson City Interim Chief Building Official Herman Marcum said. “There is the possibility of disease being built up by the pigeons.”
The birds are finding their way into the building through a broken window and other openings, but struggling to make it out alive.
"They're suffocating and dying," Marcum said.
With that in mind, the city is now giving the owner of the vacant building 30 days to rodent-proof the property and clean up the mess. According to Marcum, that owner lives in California and has left the building vacant for nearly 20 years.
“That would be your standard procedure is 30 days to get it taken care of,” Marcum said. “We do not see that there is an emergency health hazard. If there was an emergency health hazard we would do something about it immediately.”
If the owner does not correct the problem within the city’s timeline, Marcum says codes enforcers will take the person to court.
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