Pigeons are making nests out of discarded syringes as drug crisis bites

A shocking image has captured the horror of a drug crisis in Vancouver, Canada – a pigeon’s nest, made out of syringes discarded by users of a powerful new drug, fentanyl.

Vancouver Police Department’s Superintendent Michelle Davey Tweeted the image, saying, ‘Pigeons spotted making a nest out of needles. Sad reality of the opioid crisis.’

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Some have questioned whether the image is real – but Vancouver police maintain it is not staged.

Davey says that the shocking scene was found in the bathroom of a ‘single room occupancy’ – low-cost rooms often used by addicts.

Vancouver is in crisis due to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug which has ‘replaced’ heroin on the streets – because it’s cheaper and stronger, produced in illicit labs.

Fentanyl has caused a wave of overdose deaths across America – and is thought to be behind 50% of overdose deaths in British Columbia, local coroners said.

The illicitly manufactured Fentanyl is between 20 and 100 times stronger than heroin, according to America’s Drug Enforcement Administration.

The drug – prescribed to cancer patients for severe pain – is highly potent, and can cause fatal overdoses even in hardened drug users.

Several American states have reported a surge in deaths caused by fentanyl – with two-thirds of the 420 overdose deaths in New Hampshire thought to be caused by the drug.