by johnnymarin | Dec 22, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
The “El Chapo” trial took an interesting turn this week. It appears that an I.T. guy is a principal in making the case against the cartel leader.
This is from the Washington Post:
In February 2010, Cristian Rodriguez showed up at a Manhattan hotel expecting to attend a business meeting of sorts.
An information technology expert living in Colombia, he had previously set up an encrypted communications system for Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, making it impossible for law enforcement to eavesdrop on phone calls placed by the alleged leader of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel.
Joining him in New York was a potential client who needed a similar system for his own shadowy crime syndicate – or so Rodriguez thought.
In fact, the man – who posed as a Russian mobster, according to the New York Times – was actually an undercover agent.
Testifying in federal court on Tuesday, FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen Marston said the agency had become aware that cartel members were using an encrypted voice-over-Internet system to make phone calls but had been unable to crack the code.
After the clandestine meeting, however, federal agents persuaded Rodriguez to cooperate, allowing the U.S. government to listen in on hundreds of incriminating phone calls, including conversations in which Guzmán allegedly plotted drug deals and ensured that Mexican officials were being paid off to look the other way.
That evidence may prove to be crucial in Guzmán’s ongoing trial, which began nearly two months ago in federal district court in Brooklyn.
This is huge and will send most cartel leaders into shock. Don’t be surprised if they throw away all of their phones and tablets in the garbage and go back to messengers or even pigeons.
A few years ago, I remember stories of how the cartels were run by sophisticated MBAs and I.T. people. In other words, the cartels ran their business through “front companies” that laundered money and processed communications, not at all different from any other multinational doing business in Mexico.
At the top of the sophisticated organization sat a cartel leader who checked the accounts and messages before sitting down for breakfast. The “boss” was further protected by a network of guards also speaking to each other by phone.
A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary titled Getting to El Chapo through His Inner Circle. In the end, El Chapo and his wife were discovered in a hotel room, tracked there by means of a guard’s phone.
The I.T. guy’s testimony is huge and may bring down quite a few cartels. It won’t end the criminal enterprises, but the days of hiding behind encrypted phones are over.
The cartels are smart, and they will adapt. They will go back to messengers or even pigeons.
About 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 Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Dec 21, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
The Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said it received up to 30 calls in recent weeks reporting sightings of sparrows and pigeons with tinsel intentionally tied to their bodies.
“Many try to pry the foreign objects off their bodies with their beaks and feet, becoming further entangled and preventing them from eating, drinking and flying. With others, the decorations are wrapped so tightly it completely cuts off their blood circulation,” SPCA spokeswoman Jessie Gilchrist told CNN.
“Those that do survive and arrive at our center are often in a very bad state, they are so malnourished and distressed that we have had to humanely euthanize them.”
Since 2015, the charity said there has been over thirty cases of “decorated” birds found dead or with injuries severe enough to require euthanasia.
On Tuesday, SPCA officers were called to a house in Kilbirnie, a suburb of the capital Wellington, where they rescued several birds covered in decorations and paint. The birds were in a distressed but otherwise healthy condition.
“One pigeon had quite bright red Christmas tinsel wrapped around its wings and then the top of its head had been painted with red paint as well as its wings had been tipped with red paint,” Gilchrist said.
While charges have yet to be laid against the owners of the house, Gilchrist said the case “remains an ongoing investigation.”
Sparrows and pigeons — which forage for food on the ground, in shrubs or shallow water — face a number of threats from predators, including foxes and racoons, as well as larger birds and snakes.
But humans are perhaps the biggest threat to the birds. In 2015, New Zealand recognized all animals, including birds, as “sentient” under law, extending protections and making it easier for charities like the SPCA to prosecute people for animal cruelty.
One stated purpose of the law was to “remove uncertainty around the ill-treatment of wild animals by targeting acts of wilful or reckless ill-treatment.”
About 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 Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Dec 17, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
During his 40-year career with The Florida Times-Union, Foster Marshall was known as an innovative photographer who came up with the idea of using a homing pigeon to carry film of a presidential visit from a locked-down naval base. A few of the memorable events Mr. Marshall photographed were the Roosevelt Hotel fire, the visits of six presidents, the arrival of the Beatles and Hurricane Dora. Mr. Marshall died on New Year’s Day of complications from pneumonia. He was 83. He retired in 1994 as assistant managing editor for graphics. In 1970 Mr. Marshall was the only still photographer to shoot the sinking of a Navy vessel loaded with nerve gas. He was the pool photographer for all newspapers and wire services. “We flew figure eights over the ship, waiting for it to sink for eight hours,” he said in a 1985 Jacksonville Journal interview. They had pulled the plug, but it just wouldn’t sink. Finally it just slipped beneath the surface to the relief of everyone.” In his younger years Marshall had a reputation for being ready to do anything “He did some hair-raising things,” said Stephanie Marshall, his wife of 58 years. “I would say, ‘Don’t tell me before you go and do these things. Just tell me afterward.’ ” During Hurricane Dora in 1964, she said, he was taking photos on the Jacksonville Beach Pier when the wind started dismantling some of the boards. Mr. Marshall said in an interview that he remembered being awakened by a phone call from the fire department at 4 a.m. on Christmas Eve in 1956 and told that a plane had crashed. The 17 people aboard had been killed. He said it had a psychological effect on him seeing the holiday presents strewn around the wreckage. Another unforgettable disaster was the Roosevelt Hotel fire that took 22 lives in December 1963. Mr. Marshall took a haunting black-and-white image of three firefighters hauling a stunned, soot-covered woman out of the hotel. Times-Union photographers Bob Self and Will Dickey, who were hired by Mr. Marshall, related the pigeon incident. President Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy had come to Mayport Naval Station in 1984 to attend a memorial service for the sailors killed aboard the USS Stark during an Iraqi missile attack in the Persian Gulf. The day before the visit, the newspaper was told that the Secret Service would restrict movement on the base until Air Force One had departed. Self, who was covering the service, wouldn’t be able to leave the base with his film in time for the afternoon deadline. So Marshall told his staff to find a homing pigeon. Robert Bernard, a Jacksonville pigeon racer, agreed to help. Photo editor Don Ray devised a mini-capsule that was attached to the pigeon’s leg. Self carried the pigeon in a ventilated box onto the base with his jacket casually draped over his arm. He got shots of the grim-faced Reagans holding hands as they climbed down from the plane. Self placed the film in the capsule and released the bird. The pigeon flew to Bernard’s home, where a newspaper lab technician was waiting to speed the film across the Mathews Bridge and into the newsroom to the cheers of staff. “Foster came up with the idea and it worked,” Dickey said, adding that the journalistic coup got a lot of press attention. Mr. Marshall was born in Jacksonville in 1935. While attending Andrew Jackson High School, he worked for United Press as a telephoto operator. After graduating from Jackson in 1954, he joined the Times-Union photo staff. Mr. Marshall was promoted to supervisor in 1966 and was named chief photographer in 1970. Mr. Marshall became illustration editor of the TimesUnion in 1979, assistant director of news illustrations for the Times-Union and Journal in 1980, director and then assistant managing editor for graphics in 1983. Don Burk, a retired Times-Union photographer who also was hired by Mr. Marshall, said he was an outdoors enthusiast who enjoyed fishing and hunting. Mr. Marshall once said the job gave him the opportunity to fish with Joe DiMaggio and Jack Dempsey and see the heavyweight champion of the world turn green from sea sickness. In addition to his wife, Mr. Marshall is survived by a son, Scott of Pensacola, two grandchildren and a sister, Marlene Mizell of Keystone Heights. There will be no funeral service. Burial will be private.
About 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 Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Dec 15, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Birds staged in the Studio real chaos.A leading British talk show Good Morning Britain piers Morgan (Piers Morgan) decided to sneer at a, seated on the shoulders of two pigeons.
Soon the birds were out of control and wreaked havoc in the Studio, writes the Chronicle.info with reference to Depo.ua.
A few weeks before the incident, the son of Morgan compared the leading character of the movie “home Alone 2” – s a homeless woman in the Park feeding pigeons. Viewers of the show decided that apparently Morgan is very similar to that actress, and supported the joke. The journalist also wanted to laugh at themselves, so appeared on the air with two birds on his shoulders.
The pigeons did not sit still: first one got Morgan on the head and began to beat its wings in the face. He then flew around the Studio and pooped on the papers co-host Suzanne Reid (Susanna Reid).
Soon in the frame were the owner of pigeons who tried to catch the raging birds. He came to the aid of even the master of the weather. In the end the man managed to throw pigeons on the net.
About 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 Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Dec 8, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
In a memorable segment, Anne fought through fish guts, a shower of cockroaches and an operating theatre filled with pigeons to bring back the stars.
The team gave Anne some motivation before she went off to undertake the trial and put all their faith in her to bring home the bacon.
Singer Fleur East said: “Anne’s grown so much as a person since she’s been here, she’s braver and makes me think she’ll do better than we think she’ll do.”
Anne then joined Dec Donnelly & Holly Willoughby to have her task explained: “This is the Hellish Hospital, your aim is to find the 11 stars that are hidden inside the gruesome vaults, you’ve got 11 minutes to find the stars and each one is worth a meal for camp.”
The first room of the hospital did not phase her as the quiz champ, star of ITV’s The Chase, picked up a star from beneath a snake and soon found another in a chest of drawers.
Anne then opened a wardrobe in the room and it was full of spiders.
After deciding to give the spiders a miss and moving on to the next room she was faced with a star hidden in a pile of offal and fish guts, before a shower of cockroaches fell onto her head.
The next room was an operating theatre full of pigeons which Anne was surprisingly fine with. She rummaged through some more offal and fish guts and found a star.
After finding another three stars she looked for the exit to enter the final room but found she could not go on any longer after discovering a large tunnel with a lizard inside.
She said: “I thought ‘Oh dear’, I’ll be on my hands and knees and just no.
“I said if I got 7 I’d feel like that was enough.” said Anne. “It’s incredible, you should be super proud.” said Holly.
After her victorious return from the trail she said: “The previous trial I was so panicked and the critters were so revolting this time I was able to keep it together a bit more. Having seven stars will mean we get a decent meal tonight.”
About 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 Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by johnnymarin | Dec 5, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
I recently took my niece and her partner, visiting from Montreal, on a downtown walking tour. We came off James North and headed along MacNab toward the Farmers’ Market.
And there in the grey sky to the west, we saw a falcon. We watched it dart and dive by the rooftop of the G.S. Dunn mustard milling plant. Finally we realized this was no creature of nature.
A couple of days later, I returned to the scene. There was the bird, still on patrol. I headed inside the Dunn plant.
It’s an old building, corner of Park and York, across from Jackson Square. When built more than 100 years ago, it housed the Perry Knitting Company. Through the 1920s and ’30s, Duro Aluminum/Metalwares operated there.
But for the past 60 years, it’s been home to G.S. Dunn, the world’s largest dry mustard miller. They distribute to more than 50 countries across six continents.
Go through the door, and you smell the mustard seed. It’s not unpleasant, but might take getting used to.
Kevin Whyte doesn’t smell it anymore. He’s Dunn’s operations manager and has been at the plant since the early ’80s.
That’s a long time. And all that time, there have been pigeons.
You’re not supposed to feed pigeons. They can be messy critters, splattering acidic goop everywhere. You sure don’t want them roosting in your rooftop heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
The Dunn mustard seed arrives from the fields of Saskatchewan by rail, then truck. About 42 tonnes at a time, twice a day. Those trucks back up to a shiny drying silo, several storeys tall.
About 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 Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
