Free Republic

Hundreds of monk parakeets, escapees from the pet trade, have settled beneath the city’s elevated highway. The non-native birds have become an unlikely fixture in the urban landscape of the Windy City, where large numbers of the striking green-and-gray parakeets live year-round. Chicago is on a main flyway for migratory birds, but monk parakeets have put down deep roots here. The South American members of the parrot family were brought north in the 1950s and 1960s and sold as pets, But they have long had fans in high places here. Former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, who lived across the street...

With the blessing of the Connecticut Audubon Society, United Illuminating Company is killing off entire colonies of monk parakeets that have nested on more than 100 utility poles. Federal agriculture officials say the bright-green South American natives are being captured at night and humanely killed with large doses of carbon monoxide. The birds are considered an invasive species, since they aren't Connecticut natives. But the president of the Norwalk-based Friends of Animals calls it the sanctioned murder of intelligent avians. Priscilla Feral says taxpayers and UI customers shouldn't have to pay the $125,000 tab. The eradications began this week in...