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28. 05. 12. - 12:00

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28. 05. 12. - 12:00

Stool Pigeon

Michael Leidig

Austrian police have arrested a pigeon fancier suspected of wiping out dozens of falcons by covering his less valuable pets with an illegal poison - and then releasing the birds in front of nesting sites used by the birds of prey.

Police launched an intensive search for the killer after the entire population of falcons as well as other birds of prey were wiped out in the Bregenz area in western Austria.

Acting on a tipoff of they raided Milan Nikovic's house and discovered quantities of the illegal poison hidden on his property. The 57-year-old said he had purchased the poison in Serbia.

A police spokesman said: "The poison was mixed with honey and put on the birds necks, and was so powerful that the birds of prey were literally dropping from the sky after attacking the poison pigeons."

Police spokesman Bernhard Martin said that the man faced breaches of the hunting laws as well as a possible ban on keeping any animals including pigeons in the future.

Falcons were wiped out in Bregenz in the 1950s but were reintroduced by environmentalists in the 1970s.

Local government Vet Norbert Greber said that the poison was so powerful that even if a cat or dog had picked up one of the poison pigeons they would have died.

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