All this fearful event of the fast-spreading avian flu has reminded me of this short story by Patricia Highsmith. It would have graciously fit in her collection of stories about animals-turned-revengers, The Animal-Lover's Book of Beastly Murder, but for one reason or the other it wasn't included and was shamefully left unpublished for life. Fortunately, Highsmith's editors rescued it from their papers and published it after her death in Nothing That Meets The Eye. Although it's an outstanding story, you're warned to read it at your own risk.

Two Disagreeable Pigeons, by Patricia Highsmith.