MARINES FOWL PLAN FLIES AGAIN
The Marines have a new set of feathered friends.
Only days ago, Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken -- the Marines' plan to use poultry as living biosensors -- ended with the birds' untimely death.
"It is unclear why the chickens died," the Associated Press reports. "Some believe they had the flu. Others said chickens were simply not meant to live in the desert."
So the Marines are trying again, this time with a heartier bird: the battle-tested pigeon. As was the case with chickens, the idea is for the pigeons to serve as the military equivalent of canaries in a coal mine. If Saddam sets off biological or chemical agents, the birds will feel it first, giving the humans some time to don protective gear.
Chief Warrant Officer Rob Garcia, 34, of West Paterson, N.J., said, "We've got the pigeons. Hoorah!"
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