Birth control for bird control? Toronto put pigeons on the pill to fight the flock

Birth control for bird control? Toronto put pigeons on the pill to fight the flock

Birth control for bird control? Toronto put pigeons on the pill to fight the flock

A city pilot that put pigeons on the pill to regulate the population costs about $24,000 a year and is listed as a success in this year’s budget.

Toronto’s pigeon problemA city pilot that put pigeons on the pill to regulate the population costs about $24,000 a year and is listed as a success in this year’s budget.

Luis Canseco gets anxious when he walks across the Yonge Street and Finch Avenue intersection because he knows he’s directly in the line of fire.

Not from cars or trucks — Canseco keeps a wary eye on the wires overhead where dozens of pigeons congregate, feather to feather.

Whether he can make it across unscathed has become a crapshoot. “I’ve been hit with liquid three times in the last year,” said Canseco. “Now I cross it with an umbrella, rain or not.”

Toronto’s prodigious pigeon population has long been a frustration for residents who — even away from their excrement-painted balconies — can seem like collateral damage in a war being waged between those who want to feed the flocks and those who want them gone.

Coun. Lily Cheng (Ward 18 Willowdale), whose ward includes Canseco’s intersection, said many residents have complained about the influx in recent years.

“There’s many condo residents who no longer feel like they can use their balconies, which is what precious outdoor space they have,” said Cheng, noting there’s been more signage in her ward imploring people to stop feeding the birds. “It’s just not hygienic and hard to keep clean.”

In an effort to humanely reduce the numbers of feathered bombers, the city has put some of them on the pill, an endeavour listed as a success in this year’s budget. Under the pilot project that began in May 2022, the city has set up feeders in four locations across the city that dispense feed laced with OvoControl — birth control for birds.

Esther Attard, veterinarian and director of Toronto Animal Services, said her department worked with a pest control company to set up automated rooftop feeders: two downtown, one in East York and one in North York. City staff are looking at adding a fifth downtown.

According to Attard, OvoControl has proven to be a humane, successful baby blocker for birds in various countries, including Spain where a recent study showed a steady decrease in the avian population after several years.

The feeders dispense a fixed amount of food that contains the birth control pellets at the same time every day. The flock size is then tracked by a nearby camera, although it’s nearly impossible to get the same pigeons to take their daily dose.

Attard said the pilot costs about $500 per site for a flock of no more than 150 pigeons, or about $2,000 a month for all four sites.

Attard said there has been “some decrease” in the flock size, but she expects to have a better picture of its progress by the summer.

“The bulk of them are domestic, abandoned pigeons,” she said, noting the 2022 bylaw amendment to restrict the number of pigeons residents can keep. “The difficulty has been getting people to stop feeding and conditioning them.”

Canseco said he’s concerned about the health implications of having so much excrement around the city, but Attard noted that while it could carry silicosis or salmonella, the risk to humans is notably low and rarely poses a public health threat.

Vancouver’s TransLink tried a similar tactic at eight SkyTrain stations in 2019. The city’s automated rapid transit was often disrupted by pigeons that ended up on the tracks, triggering intrusion alarms, hard brakes and unnecessary service delays. A spokesperson for TransLink said the project lasted 18 months and returned in 2022 at seven stations. While the pigeon populations have not increased, Thor Diakow said, they also haven’t declined.

Attard said the method doesn’t harm the birds, even if they embrace their greed for feed and swallow more than one daily dose, but it also doesn’t harm what few seagulls and squirrels have gotten into the laced food.

Nathalie Karvonen, biologist and executive director of animal rescue Toronto Wildlife Centre, neither endorses nor condemns the pilot project.

“People tend to ride into two camps: either they are adamant they must continue to feed animals or they’re very upset because there’s too many pigeons,” Karvonen said, adding that as long as it’s humane and fiscally responsible the pilot is better than the cruel practices of poisoning or trapping and killing them.

Pigeon Patrol

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.

Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/

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Pigeon Protest: Free the Brooklyn Navy Yard 2,000

Pigeon Protest: Free the Brooklyn Navy Yard 2,000

At least one of the protesters’ claims is undeniably true. No one asked 2,000 pigeons if they wanted to have lights strapped to their legs in the name of art.

Nor did anyone ask the birds how they felt about being shooed from their homes at dusk and sent flying up to illuminate the Brooklyn sky.

But whether Duke Riley’s avian-powered performance piece “Fly by Night” constitutes pigeon abuse is a more complicated question.

More than 5,000 people have signed a change.org petition calling for the show, which opened May 7 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to be closed. At Sunday’s performance, a gaggle of protesters — perhaps several dozen — gathered outside the Navy Yard gates.

Their charges: that the birds are terrified by the flapping plastic flag Mr. Riley waves to keep them flying; that it is unnatural to make pigeons fly at night, when they normally rest; and that between their poor night vision and the distractions of the moving lights, they could become disoriented and crash into the East River.

An artist, Duke Riley, has trained 2,000 pigeons to fly above the Brooklyn Navy Yard with tiny lights attached to their ankles in a performance that will run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through June 12.   An artist, Duke Riley, has trained 2,000 pigeons to fly above the Brooklyn Navy Yard with tiny lights attached to their ankles in a performance that will run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through June 12.CreditCredit…Yousur Al-Hlou

“There’s plenty of ways to create beautiful art without using unwilling participants who are forced to perform,” said Nora Marino, who runs the Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund.

Mr. Riley has kept pigeons most of his adult life, and says the birds are not suffering and that they fly when he waves his trash-bag flag for the same reason a dog gets excited when you pull out your car keys. The birds are not forced to fly, Mr. Riley said — every night, some choose to stay in their coops.

The show’s critics say “Fly by Night” disregards the growing sentiment against performing animals. Ringling Bros. is retiring its circus elephants, SeaWorld its killer whales.

Before “Fly by Night” opened, the nonprofit arts group that organized it, Creative Time, asked the director of the Wild Bird Fund, Rita McMahon, to inspect. The fund, based on the Upper West Side, treats more than 2,000 sick and injured pigeons a year.

“Mixing art and animals is a very risky business,” said Ms. McMahon, who is a state-licensed wildlife rehabilitator, “but I was very impressed.” The pigeons were healthy and well fed, their temporary homes beautiful and clean.

“I didn’t see any traumatized pigeons,” she added. “You see them mating, courting, everything, all over the boat. I think that’s a pretty good sign.”

“Fly by Night” runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until June 12, and the protesters say they will be out every night for the rest of the run.

Pigeon Patrol

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.

Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/

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Keeping Pigeons Away from Your Home

Keeping Pigeons Away from Your Home

PROBLEMS OF PIGEON HABITS AND HABITATS

Pigeons aren’t menacing to humans, but they can be problematic when they build a nest inside a structure. Although most people love to feed pigeons in the park, they aren’t so happy with the negative effects. The same place where pigeons roost becomes a space for pigeon droppings. These droppings are acidic and cause a lot of damage to property. Eaves and gutters can get clogged, which leaves your home vulnerable to water damage and leaks. Humans can also potentially slip and fall on the mess that accumulates. In addition, pigeon droppings can carry disease and parasites. Pigeons damage plants and crops in search of food. They don’t have natural predators, so it can be difficult to control their population. A group of pigeons can be very noisy, especially when dealing with the sound every day, 24 hours a day. Movies may romanticize the cooing that pigeons make, but when you’re woken up on a lazy Sunday morning, it’s not so idealistic. Pigeons may also bring lice, ticks, and other insects to your home through their nest.

HOW TO GET RID OF PIGEONS

If you have a flock of pigeons living in your home or business, you will need to take multiple steps to eliminate the problem. Modern pigeons may not be used as messengers any longer, but they do have a strong homing instinct. They cannot simply be relocated to remove them. Removal should be performed by a professional wildlife service that can employ countermeasures that prevent pigeons from returning to the nest.

  • The nest area will need to be cleaned and disinfected.
  • All food and water sources will have to be removed.
  • A prevention plan will need to be established.
  • Entry points of the home must be sealed off properly.

One important consideration in removing birds is to know any laws that pertain. In some jurisdictions, it is illegal to remove birds and bird’s nests with eggs, even if the birds are a nuisance. Depending on where you live, you may need to work with a wildlife agency to remove the pigeons, which is why we always recommend calling a professional.

HOW TO KEEP PIGEONS AWAY FROM YOUR HOME

Once you’ve removed the pigeons, prevention is key. The goal is to make your home as unappealing to birds as possible. Installing physical barriers, such as screens or netting, can prevent pigeons from roosting, but it’s not always practical in certain locations. There are other options that deter pigeons from nesting, such as spikes, audio, or taste deterrents and bird wire. In some cases, it’s enough to install reflective surfaces or metal surfaces that reflect sunlight. These deterrents affect a pigeon’s ability to see and keep them away from your garden or home. Keep in mind that you may want to deter pigeons from roosting in your garden without repelling beneficial wildlife, such as hummingbirds or bees. Professional wildlife removal services can help you get rid of pests without harming other wildlife.  Don’t try to deal with a pigeon nest on your own. Professional wildlife control services in North York are available to keep your family safe and to prevent re-infestation. Contact Skedaddle for safe, effective, and humane wildlife removal.

Pigeon Patrol

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal -friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.

Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/

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ls/bird guard

New Study Finds Unexpected Connection Between Pigeon Feather Patterns And Human Blindness

New Study Finds Unexpected Connection Between Pigeon Feather Patterns And Human Blindness

Through genomic sequencing, researchers at the University of Utah have discovered a single gene responsible for pigeon wing patterns and human blindness.

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Genetic differences cause an infinite number of differences between species and within species, for example, the variation in human hair color.

Another example is that all of the pigeons that you see have one of only four different feather patterns. These feather patterns are due to genetic differences.

“Pigeon breeders and early pigeon biologists and geneticists found that these four different patterns seemed to be determined by a single genetic locus or a single spot on the genome,” said Anna Vickrey, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utah and the lead investigator of this new research.

Vickery and her collaborators found that the one gene causes the four different feather patterns in pigeons.

“What we were excited to find is that there’s two kinds of variation…  that was really exciting for us to find these two different mechanisms acting on a single gene that is making this suite of wing patterns,” Vickrey said.

In investigating the genetics behind pigeon feather patterns, Vickery and her collaborators made an unexpected discovery about blindness in humans.

“The gene that we ended up finding associated with the wing patterns is pretty well studied in humans in the context of a hereditary disease that causes blindness,” Vickrey.

Future research will explore this pigeon-human genetic connection.

“So in humans… what happens is their vasculature in their eyes doesn’t develop correctly and so we’re working with some collaborators to look at vasculature in pigeons’ eyes to see if it’s developing normally or if it might be similarly affected,” said Vickrey.

Source

Pigeon Patrol

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal -friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.

Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/

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A backyard pigeon ban that goes to the heart of good government

A backyard pigeon ban that goes to the heart of good government

The politicians are seated in a semi-circle at a meeting of the council. One by one, they raise their voices as part of the deliberation. “I believe it is time we took a position on this,” says a black-blazered woman. “It’s not an industry that I want to support,” a second woman, wearing dark-rimmed glasses, reads into the official record.

“It’s time,” concludes the mayor, donning the heavy chain that is the insignia of his office, “to end the practice in our community.”

Pigeon Patrol

It is a fall meeting of the District of North Vancouver’s city council and they are discussing whether people should be allowed to keep pigeons. Councillors Lisa Muri, in the blazer, and Megan Curren, with the glasses, ultimately vote with the mayor in favour of an outright pigeon ban.

Coun. Matthew Bond, one of those who votes against, says skeptically, “I don’t necessarily see this as a good use of our time.” But the bylaw passes, four to two.

Something smells, though. Only one property in the community is known to harbour pet pigeons. Only one complaint about pigeons, dating back several years, is known to be active. Only one city councillor has recused herself from the discussion. “I have been in a situation like this,” Coun. Betty Forbes says, at the same meeting. “So I’m stepping aside.”

One plus one plus one equals . . . a conflict of interest?

Documents obtained by the CBC under access-to-information seem to bolster that view of events. The “situation” was that Forbes lived next-door to pigeons. That she did not like pigeons. And that after complaining to the city as a private citizen to no avail, she took matters into her own hands; after being elected to council in 2018, in an email to two fellow councillors, she requested a bylaw banning residents from keeping the birds.

Emails viewed by Maclean’s suggest that during the spring, Muri initiated a process to change the district’s pigeon ownership rules, and kept Forbes up to date on its progress. But the whole project has since run into trouble because it turns out Kulwant Dulay, Forbes’ neighbour, cares deeply about his pigeons. He cares enough to go to court.

His petition to B.C. Supreme Court, dated Dec. 4, seeks to have the bylaw declared illegal and set aside. It relies heavily on the CBC’s reporting, referencing emails between Forbes and Muri earlier this year that appear to reveal a plot to hatch the bylaw.

Dulay is arguing that Forbes’s involvement was “biased and bad faith and acting in a conflict of interest,” says Camille Chisholm, a lawyer representing the pigeon enthusiast. The district has retained its own lawyers and was expected to respond in January.

The same week as Dulay’s petition was filed, the District of North Vancouver announced it was tasking former B.C. privacy commissioner David Loukidelis with investigating how the pigeon ban came to be. His review, the district announced, will assess the “awareness” of conflict-of-interest rules by councillors. The process is expected to take a couple of months.

Dulay, Chisholm adds, has kept homing pigeons as pets for years—including during his time in India before he immigrated to Canada. “My neighbours in the front and back, everybody loves my pigeons,” says Dulay, adding that other than Forbes’s, he hasn’t had a complaint in 17 years. “Everybody comes to my house and looks at them. It looks cool, them flying around.” Some have names. One is called “Big Boss.” His favourite pigeon is blue and white. He said it always comes to his hand.

Dulay keeps his 15 birds in a coop that’s about as tall as the backyard fence and roomy enough for him to enter and move around. During the warmer months, he lets them out to fly around the neighbourhood, including over other people’s yards. He said they always return.

Lately, he has wondered whether Forbes has a problem with him, not his pigeons. He said she “never talks” to him, and notes that he has never complained about her two barking dogs, though he believes he might have reason to.

His across-the-street neighbour, meanwhile, has spoken in his support. “I’ve had opportunity to go over and see the coop,” Krista Page told council on Nov. 18. ”It is clean. There’s no foul smell. I’ve never met neighbours that keep a tidier driveway and home and everything.” Page noted there have been no complaints from the Dulays’ other next-door neighbour, adding: “I just feel that this is very much a misuse of power.”

Forbes declined an interview request from Maclean’s but insisted in an email that there is “another set of correct facts” to the story. “However, because the mayor has requested an inquiry of all council and himself,” the email added, “I am unable to make any comments at this time.”

Her only public response came at the end of the same meeting Krista Page attended. “If I have erred in any way,” she said, “I assure council and the community that it was done inadvertently and in good faith with my understanding, as a new councillor, of the conflict-of-interest rules.”

Muri echoed Forbes in an email to Maclean’s, saying: “We are currently reviewing the process of this bylaw, so it would be inappropriate for me to comment.” But a response to the petition later filed in court by her lawyers denies the councillor was aware of any interest Forbes could’ve had in a pigeon ban beyond one “in common with electors of the municipality generally.”

The submission argues that neither councillor stood to gain financially from the bylaw and doubles down on the councillors’ position that the ban is legitimate and serves to protect residents from current and future pigeon keepers who might “adversely impact them or their property.”

To some, this is more than a dispute between neighbours. Givo Hassko, who is on the board of the Vancouver Poultry & Fancy Pigeon Association, told council in November he believed this was a test case for corruption in Canadian politics writ large. “If there are no consequences to how council goes to change bylaws here locally or Canada-wide,” he said, “then anyone—anyone—would get a green light.”

Hassko set up a GoFundMe to help with Dulay’s legal fees. At the time of writing, it had raised $700. A single commenter named Wayne, who pitched in $55, offered this input: “It is important that pigeons are not homeless.”

Source

Pigeon Patrol

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal -friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.

Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/

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Hearts aflutter, China’s pigeon racing enthusiasts spend big to indulge their passion

Hearts aflutter, China’s pigeon racing enthusiasts spend big to indulge their passion

BEIJING (Reuters) – Yu Yuguang’s heart beats faster every time he stands on his roof, eyes trained to the sky waiting for one of his pigeons to pass through the trap door of its home loft.

“Those are the most intense and enjoyable moments of a pigeon race,” says Yu, 57, adding that the sport is like playing the lottery.

He has been lucky. “Little Ancestor”, his 7-month-old pigeon, came first in a recent Chinese Racing Pigeon Association race, beating more than 4,800 competitors and completing a journey of just over 1,000 km from Langfang, near the Chinese capital Beijing, to Shanghai in a record time of 16 hours, 24 minutes and 54 seconds.

The 5,000 yuan ($760) prize money, however, pales in comparison to the 200,000 yuan ($30,600) Yu spends on his 500 pigeons each year.

In China, where pigeon racing has a long history, economic development has allowed the sport to spread beyond the ultra-wealthy. Membership in the Chinese Pigeon Association has jumped from tens of thousands in the 1980s to about 400,000, according to its vice president, Huang Jian.

By comparison Belgium, the traditional heartland of the sport, has about 20,000 pigeon fanciers.

That said, most of the huge sums that go into the sport are from deep-pocketed top-tier enthusiasts, eager to get their hands on coveted blood lines.

In November this year, a Chinese collector made headlines when he paid 1.6 million euros ($1.9 million) for a racing pigeon at an auction in Belgium – the latest in a string of eye-catching bids by Chinese fanciers that have driven up prices.

Some Chinese breeders are also willing to bid heavily on their own birds at auctions to increase their market value.

A Hangzhou-based breeder, who gave his name as Ying, travelled to Beijing last month for an auction, buying back six of his own pigeons which had placed well in races.

Ying, who bought them at prices ranging from 15,000 to 50,000 yuan, didn’t think twice about the cash he spent.

“I’m so in love with pigeons. I love them so much. In my heart, pigeons come first and my wife and children second,” he said.

Source

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