[RP]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

Yup, pigeons & starlings are good examples of animals that started as pets but now have a huge negative environmental impact. Again, I'm not saying the existence of feral cats is wonderful, I'm saying they are just one of many species that we humans have screwed up by being irresponsible.

I think we are actually in agreement.

Actually...Eugene Schieffelin (29 January 1827, New York, N.Y.— 15 August 1906, Newport, Rhode Island) belonged to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and the New York Zoological Society. He was responsible for introducing the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) to North America.

In 1890, he released 60 starlings into New York City’s Central Park. He did the same with another 40 birds in 1891. Schieffelin wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare to North America. He may have also been trying to control the same pests that had been annoying him thirty years earlier, when he sponsored the introduction of the house sparrow to North America.

European starlings were not native to North America. Schieffelin imported the starlings from England. Scientists estimate that descendants from those two original released flocks now number at more than 200 million residing in the United States.

The starlings' wildly successful spread has come at the expense of many native birds that compete with the starling for nest holes in trees. The starlings have also had negative impact on the US economy and ecosystem.