Nevada starling killings put feds under fire

The federal government is under fire for its mass killings of European starlings to prevent the spread of disease to dairy cows in northern Nevada.

The government has been criticized by property owners surprised to discover tens of thousands of corpses littering the high desert and by the Humane Society of the United States for not using non-lethal measures to help farmers instead.

Travis Kocurek of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says the pesticide DRC-1339 has been used in recent weeks to kill starlings at the request of farmers in the Fallon, Fernley and Yerington areas where the birds have caused significant damage.

Starlings, which were introduced to the U.S. in 1890, are considered an invasive species by the government.