Vancouver authorities stumbled upon a sobering indicator of the city’s opioid problem this week.

Vancouver Police Department Superintendent Michelle Davey tweeted a photo showing a pigeon nest made of opioid needles.

“Pigeons spotted making a nest out of #needles in a #DTES SRO room,” she said. “Sad reality of the #opioidcrisis #fentanyl #frontline #notstaged.”

Staff Sgt. Randy Fincham said the photo was taken in the British Columbia city’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood by a homeless outreach coordinator. The officer, according to the Vancouver Courrier, saw pigeons fly out of the room before snapping the shot of a rundown dirty sink filled needles and three white eggs.

Vancouver has become a hot spot for drugs such as heroin coming in from the Pacific Ocean, reports PRI. Many of the drugs, PRI wrote, stay in the Downtown Eastside neighborhood.

The VPD said the photo was shared, “to show the reality of drug use in the Downtown Eastside,” and to start, “a conversation about the harm reduction efforts of first responders, and the need for treatment options for substance users.”

In the U.S., heroin use has increased in both men and women and across income levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bolstered by huge increases in cases involving heroin, Americans are dying from drug overdoses at more than double the rate they did in 1999.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)