Clock ticking for Putney Park buzzards as Dougherty County plans removal campaign
May 9—PUTNEY — It's eviction day for the turkey buzzards who congregate around Putney Park in southeast Dougherty County, with loud noises scheduled to scare nature's garbage disposals away beginning on the morning of May 18.
On that day, the Dougherty County Public Works Department will start a campaign of using loud early morning noise that will sound like large firecrackers in an attempt to shoo the birds away.
"They've always had a buzzard infestation down there," Dougherty County Commissioner Anthony Jones, in whose District 6 the Putney community is located, said. "They want to move them away."
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources recommended the noisy approach as a solution, the commissioner said.
The county has made improvements at the park, adding new playground equipment and renovating the basketball courts, and recently approved a new community center for Putney. With those features expected to bring more people to the park, it was time to move the birds along, Jones said.
"There's going to be more activity going on down there," he said. "It was OK when nobody was down there. We're not going to co-exist with buzzards."
The noise campaign may take some time because of the length of time the birds have been congregating in the area, the commissioner said.
"If people wake up to a lot of noise, don't be alarmed," he said. "That's what we're doing is running those turkey buzzards off."
As he was talking a walk on the track in the park on Tuesday, Nathan West said the buzzards have not been a problem. No turkey buzzards were around the park at noon, and West said they are early morning visitors who spend the rest of the day elsewhere, and if approached by a person will fly away.
"They don't bother nobody," he said. "By 8 or 9 o'clock, they're gone. This is a nice park. It's quiet. Nobody bothers nobody."
The ungainly birds have one defender who responded to the county's Facebook announcement of the plans to drive them away.
In her post, Karen Casey also said she was skeptical that the long-time visitors would be deterred permanently from their regular haunt.
"Leave the Buzzards ALONE!" she wrote in the post. "They are part of our community and habitat, ecosystem! I've lived in Putney for 41 yrs., and each season the buzzards come and go. We actually look forward to seeing them every year. There are people with PTSD as well as horses, sheep (adjoining the park on Radium Springs Rd.) and these animals and people will be traumatized and animals often injure themselves during fireworks and loud noises.
"(The buzzards) are very good scavengers who do a very important role in keeping the community clean actually. Please reconsider this and leave them alone. They are actually nice to have around, and I know lots of people who enjoy seeing them, plus they are helping keep our community clean. They will return anyway after this noise fiasco."
