Animal cruelty allegations after netting meant to stop bird droppings traps pigeons underneath overpass

A project meant to solve a bird-dropping problem beneath an overpass in Bayonne, New Jersey, instead triggered accusations of animal cruelty after dozens of pigeons were trapped behind newly installed netting, with residents saying some birds died before crews could get them out.

News 12 New Jersey reporter Chris Keating documented the situation beneath the 8th Street overpass, where the city had installed tightly fitted black netting to keep pigeons from nesting and reduce the buildup of droppings on the sidewalk below, but residents and animal advocates said the barriers were secured before all of the birds had been removed.

When Keating visited the site, he found local resident Darlene Dynega trying to push bird seed through the netting to reach pigeons still trapped inside the structure.

“I’m trying to rescue and feed these pigeons that’s been trapped for one week today,” Dynega said. “It’s so inhumane. This is animal cruelty at its worst.”

Residents Say Birds Were Left Behind

Keating reported that pigeons could be seen moving frantically behind the netting as they searched for a way out, while juvenile birds could be heard chirping from inside and adult pigeons on the outside repeatedly returned in attempts to feed them through the barrier.

Ashley Lev, another resident interviewed by News 12, said she did not oppose the city’s decision to install netting, but objected to how the work was carried out.

“I think it’s unconscionable that they secured the netting without making a greater effort to flush the birds out,” Lev said.

Within about a week, Keating reported that some of the trapped birds had died, and residents said carcasses could be seen resting on the netting beneath the bridge.

The problem, then, was not the idea of discouraging pigeons from nesting under the overpass, but whether enough was done to make sure living animals were not sealed inside first. That distinction is important because the city’s stated goal was sanitation, while residents were confronting what they saw as a preventable animal-welfare problem created by the installation itself.

City Says Traps Were Set To Free The Birds

The City of Bayonne told News 12 that it was not ignoring the trapped pigeons and had set traps containing food and water in an effort to capture and release them.

At the time of Keating’s first report, the city said its vendor would return that evening and then every 48 hours to free additional birds until all had been removed from the bridge structure.

City workers, however, were not removing the pigeons by hand, something Dynega said frustrated her as she watched birds remain trapped.

She told Keating that when workers returned to the site, she asked whether they could simply hand her one or two birds so she could transport them for care, but said she was told they had to follow protocol.

Dynega had already taken six pigeons released earlier in the week to The Raptor Trust in Millington, New Jersey, about 45 minutes away.

Keating reported that those birds were emaciated, and The Raptor Trust said one of them later died.

Dynega described one young bird as so starved that there appeared to be almost no flesh on its body, and she estimated that dozens of pigeons had been trapped beneath the bridge.

Advocates Wanted Faster Action

For residents watching the birds weaken behind the netting, the city’s plan to check traps every two days initially did not feel fast enough.

Dynega argued that crews should have physically removed the birds rather than waiting for them to enter traps, especially as some were already visibly distressed.

Keating also reported that adult pigeons were trying to reach juveniles that had been sealed inside, adding another layer to residents’ concern because some younger birds may not have been able to leave or feed themselves.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection told News 12 that pigeons are not a protected species under state fish and game management laws.

That legal status did not change how the residents viewed the situation.

For Dynega and others, the issue was simply that live animals had been unintentionally confined and were suffering while a system designed to remove them moved too slowly.

City Later Says The Remaining Pigeons Were Removed

In a follow-up report published several days later, Keating said Bayonne officials announced that the last remaining pigeons had been removed from beneath the 8th Street bridge.

The city said Department of Public Works crews and the vendor returned to the site and searched the bridge for any animals still trapped behind the deterrent netting.

Bayonne Business Administrator Andrew Casais said the city concluded that no additional birds could be detected inside the structure and that periodic inspections would continue to make sure the bridge remained clear and the netting stayed intact.

Keating reported that no pigeons were visible in the areas where they had previously nested when he returned to the site.

The city also stepped up the frequency of its checks, moving from inspections every 48 hours to daily checks by the end of that week.

According to the follow-up report, an estimated 50 to 60 pigeons had initially been trapped when the netting went up in late August, and some died before all of the birds were removed.

Some Residents Still Question The City’s Conclusion

Not everyone was convinced that every bird had been found.

Resident Donna Ostrowski told News 12 that she believed juvenile pigeons could still be hidden deeper inside parts of the bridge structure.

“They told Darlene that there’s no babies, there’s no fledglings and that’s not true,” Ostrowski said. “The babies are hidden in the back.”

Dynega remained upset by the entire episode, telling Keating that it did not have to unfold the way it did.

She described seeing young birds running frantically behind the netting and then finding them dead later, an experience she said was heartbreaking.

The dispute also escalated beyond arguments with city workers.

Keating reported that Dynega and three other people were charged with criminal mischief after allegedly using a ladder to free some of the birds themselves.

That detail shows how quickly a relatively ordinary public-works project became a larger conflict between residents who believed immediate intervention was necessary and a city trying to handle the situation through its own procedures.

Netting Remains, But The Installation Is Under Scrutiny

The city’s original reason for putting up the netting was straightforward: pigeons had been nesting under the bridge and leaving droppings on the sidewalk, creating an ongoing cleanup problem.

Residents such as Lev did not dispute that the bird population needed to be managed, but argued that preventing future nesting should not have come at the expense of animals already inside the structure.

By the time officials said the final pigeons had been removed, the immediate crisis appeared to have eased, but the controversy left behind questions about how similar projects should be handled in the future.

Keating’s reporting showed that the strongest criticism was not aimed at the netting itself, but at the sequence of events – residents believe the bridge should have been thoroughly cleared before the barriers were sealed.

The city, meanwhile, says it responded by setting traps, increasing inspections and eventually removing the remaining birds.

For the residents who spent days watching pigeons struggle behind the black netting, however, that response came after some animals had already died, which is why what began as a sanitation project ended up being described by neighbors as an animal-cruelty issue.