Town Must Foot Cost to Protect Ravens While Painting Water Tower

Once upon a midnight dreary, a northern New Jersey town became weary, waiting to paint its water tower after a pair of ravens came knocking at its door.

Edgar Allan Poe never pondered the problem Fair Lawn officials face after a resident spotted a nest on the structure and called the state.

The $1.5 million project is on hold for weeks at a cost of $20,000 until the baby ravens hatch and fly away.

Active raven nests are protected by federal and state laws.

Mayor John Cosgrove tells The Record newspaper he's all for preserving wildlife, but the additional cost seems a “little outlandish.”

“It’s just another unfunded state mandate,” Cosgrove told the paper.

The additional cost covers the rent for scaffolding.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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