CORN WAGES CHEMICAL WARFARE

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Let's take Rolling Hills Estates, California, for instance. Last year, when bands of wild India blue peafowl suddenly began roaming around community neighborhoods, residents nearly went berserk. The ingrate peafowl took it upon themselves to feast lavishly on vegetable gardens, relieve themselves on residential properties, and scream wildly at indecent hours of the night. Eventually community members became so fed up with the birds that city officials phoned Dennis Fett and offered him $200 plus expenses to figure out a solution. Fett agreed, and spent several sleepless nights determining ways to help out. He then flew to California and spent four days outlining alternatives and offering his suggestions to the town.

One of Fett's ideas was to develop a foundation that would organize the care and nurturing of the peafowl, using homeowners' associations to handle the peafowl problems and protect community plants from hungry birds. He also threw in some survival tips to make life more tolerable, such as: 1) avoid planting plants that peafowl like or put up a soft mesh screen around those garden vegetables, 2) avoid chemical pesticides, since peafowl also feed on bugs-the more they eat bugs, the less they'll eat gardens, and 3) hide your kitty's food bowl. Peafowl adore cat food.

As for the raucous noises, Fett told residents that they'd better get used to it. There's just no way to keep a peacock from screaming. (Well, no humane way).

So, weigh all of your pros and cons, and if you decide to buy one (females are peahens; males are peacocks; babies are peachicks), check with your city or county codes to ensure poultry may be kept, and then look for a good breeder. For more information, a price list (hatching egg prices range from $4 to $50), or their books/newsletter, write to: The Iowa Peacock Farmers, Debra Buck and Dennis Fett, R.R.1, ME, Minden, Iowa 51553.

Some Cyanide in Your Soil?

Bad news for country dwellers. Big mining corporations are blowing the tops off mountains from Iowa to Washington, and it's not coal they're after. It's gold. When they're going for coal, they at least have to clean up their mess-not so with gold.

Here's the real kicker: most companies use cyanide to separate the gold from the ore it's found in. Then, when they're finished mining they just, well ...leave it there. Unsuspecting animals fall victim to its nasty effects when they drink from cyanide pools. It also seeps into the ground, where sunlight can't break it down, and then enters the aquifer (underground water source). When ingested in large amounts, cyanide can be fatal.

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