by Ryan Ponto | Nov 30, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products
TREVOR WEEKS: Injured pigeon was found to have been shot WRAS Rescuer Iain with the rescue Canada goose at Piltdown Pond SUS-161123-101421001 07:00Sunday 27 November 2016 0 HAVE YOUR SAY We were horrified on Monday when we received a call to a grounded pigeon in Hailsham High Street. Barely able to muster the strength to stand let alone get away, the pigeon was picked up and immediately it was clear he had a horrific wound under his wing. He was rushed to the casualty centre where Kathy, Katie and I examined him and immediately suspected he had been shot due to the compacted feathers pushed into the wound. Sure enough as the plug of feathers was pulled out so was a large 8mm ball bearing, along with more damaged tissue and feather behind it. The pigeon was in good condition and good age before this happened, so it is very upsetting indeed to see him suffering in this way. Shooting animals or birds and leaving them sick and injured to die a long, lingering death is just plain cruelty and illegal. Due to how recent his injury was Sussex Police was informed. This is one of a number of shot birds we have had in from Hailsham. If anyone has any information on who is doing this please contact the police or us privately. If anyone witnessed the incident please contact Sussex Police by dialing 101 and quoting ref 0904 of 21st November 2016. Another upsetting case was a juvenile gull rescued at Norman’s Bay. The poor bird has a huge fishing hook through the soft tissue at the corner of mouth. After working on the bird at our casualty centre the hook was safely removed. We have had a beautiful grebe admitted from West Rise Junior School in Eastbourne on Tuesday. He is being taken straight to the Swan Sanctuary by rescuer Tony for specialist care. We are very low on newspapers and desperately need our supplies topping up! Any size newspapers but try to avoid the magazines that come with them if you can. If you have any, please bring them to our Casualty Centre, The Shaw Barn, A22, Whitesmith, BN8 6JD. We have two donation bins outside our reception at Unit 2. Rescuers have been all over East Sussex this week, from Hastings to Burgess Hill and everywhere in between. Rescuers Andrew and Charlotte dealt with a baby hedgehog out during the day, they have been to a crashed goose, looked for an injured swan in Eastbourne and released a sparrowhawk back to the wild. Kathy and I had our Sunday lunch interrupted after a poorly pigeon was found in Uckfield High Street. We rushed down which is thought to have had a collision either with a vehicle or window. We gave emergency first aid before the pigeon was brought back to the Casualty Centre to be further assessed. Chris Tucker at Bexhill Wildlife Rescue dealt with a window strike owl for us in Sedlescombe. Luckily the owl was only stunned and flew off before capture. Rescuers also dealt with a cygnet crash landed in Linfield Road Eastbourne, a hedgehog and a partridge in Ringmer and a dove in Newhaven. At one point we had all our ambulances out on the road plus volunteer in their own vehicles all at the same time! I was called out Saturday morning to deal with a collapsed fox in Uckfield’s Victoria Park Pleasure Ground. My first visit was unsuccessful in finding the fox. The finder was waiting for us but luckily local councillor Ian Smith spotted the fox and rang us for help and met us at the car park to show us direct to the casualty. The fox was in a very serious condition and was rushed to Henley House Vets where they were able to stop the fox from suffering further. Tony meanwhile rushed to Old Heathfield after a woodpigeon smashed through a window. Surprisingly the bird had no severe injuries apart from a graze to the head. The window definitely came off the worst! Katie was also busy with a hedgehog being delivered to the centre after being found early in the morning. Luckily nothing wrong other than just being way too small for hibernation. Rescuers Kathy, Iain and I visited Piltdown Pond to check on a Canadian goose with a damaged leg. Kathy was able to encourage the goose away from the water’s edge where she was able to quickly catch the goose before Iain and I had finished screwing net heads on our rescue polls. A huge thank you to everyone who donated towards our thermal imaging cameras. After reports of a hoglet running around Eastbourne sports park, centre manager Chris Riddington thought he would just take a look on his way home. Using the new thermal imaging cameras he managed to spot the hoglet running through some undergrowth. Thinking job done, Chris continued to play around with the camera on the way back to the van and when a small glow appeared, he quickly investigated. One became two hedgehogs. Both too small to hibernate and were quickly on their way to a nice dinner in Katie’s warm orphan room. These two would not of made it without kind donations from members of the public. Chris would have had no chance finding them otherwise. Donations will also help to pay for these guys to stay with us over the winter whilst they fatten up for spring. Thank you so much for all of your support! It really makes a difference, they only weigh 135 and 160g! A sparrowhawk has come into care after flying inside City Electrical Factors in Hawthorn Road Eastbourne. Flying around the bird was hitting the beams and glass windows. WRAS rescuer Tony Neads was able to catch the bird which has now been admitted to WRAS’s Casualty Centre for observation and because a blood on its head. We hope he will be a quick turn around and be back out in the wild shortly.
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 Ryan Ponto | Nov 29, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection has suspended its plans to string bird-deterrent wires across Jerome Park Reservoir, officials told The Press this week, after the community denounced the project as a needless expense that would further blight the historic reservoir’s natural beauty.
When the DEP submits its “rehabilitation project” for the reservoir to the city’s Public Design Committee for approval in January, “this submission will exclude the bird deterrent system,” DEP deputy commissioner Eric Landau said in a letter to the chairwoman of the Community Board 8 environment and sanitation committee, Laura Spalter, a copy of which his office provided to The Press.
The letter, dated Dec. 7, indicated, however, that the bird-deterrent system was not completely off the table and that plans to build it may be restored later.
When the DEP had developed its plans for bird-deterrent wires at Jerome Park Reservoir, the goal was to reduce pollutants, particularly fecal coliform bacteria, from waterbirds and to allow the Croton Filtration Plant – which purifies the reservoir’s water before it flows into the city’s taps – to “run more efficiently,” Mr. Landau said in his letter.
“As the plant has been up and running for only a year and half, we have determined that it is prudent to collect additional data on operational efficiency, especially now that the plant is running at full capacity, before a decision about whether to install the bird-deterrent system is made,” Mr. Landau said. But he reiterated that the bird-deterrent system will be “removed from the current construction contract … to rehabilitate the reservoir.”
Ms. Spalter described the letter as “excellent news,” saying in an interview with The Press on Tuesday: “We’re very pleased that this [bird-deterrent system] has been removed” from the project.
The DEP presented its reservoir-rehabilitation project to Community Board 8’s environment and sanitation committee on Nov. 16. The large-scale project included building a fence-like structure around the reservoir, which is already encircled by two fences. The new structure was to comprise poles set about 25 feet apart to hold wires that were to stretch across the reservoir to deter birds from landing on its surface.
Critics, who included a dozen or so board members at the gathering and several environmental activists from outside the board, charged that the wire system would further add to the array of barriers surrounding the reservoir. A bird-deterrent system is not required by any environmental laws or regulations, according to the DEP, and the reservoir holds only untreated water, which then goes for purification at the nearby filtration plant.
After the DEP scrapped the bird-deterrent plan, Karen Argenti of the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality praised the city agency as being “very reasonable” in rescinding the plan. An ardent advocate of opening the reservoir for public access, Ms. Argenti has been a vocal opponent opponent of the bird-deterrent plans during the November meeting.
“I think it’s good that they [DEP officials] listened to the people,” she told The Press this week.
Community Board 8 chairman Daniel Padernacht also had only words of appreciation for the DEP, saying Mr. Landau and others seem to “really make an effort” to heed community views.
With the bird-deterrent plan scrapped, the DEP has addressed what Mr. Padernacht said appeared to have been “the two biggest concerns” raised at the Nov. 16 meeting. The other involved the DEP’s plan to reduce the height of the reservoir’s inner fence to 4 feet from the current 10 feet or so. Community activists worried that lowering the fence would provide the city with a pretext to further block public access, as a security measure. But the DEP’s Mr. Landau has provided written assurances this would not be the case, Mr. Padernacht told The Press on Tuesday.
Jerome Park Reservoir opened for public access for one weekend in late November – although visitors had to pass through security gates manned by officers armed with automatic rifles and to leave all cameras, bags or cellphones outside. The DEP also plans to open the reservoir for another weekend in May.
After the DEP suspended the bird-wire plan, Mr. Landau also expressed hope in his letter that the environment and sanitation committee of Community Board 8 will support other parts of the department’s reservoir-rehabilitation project.
The committee was to adopt a resolution on the project at its next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 21, and planned to send the document to the city’s Public Design Committee.
The chairpeople of Community Board 8 and of its environment and sanitation committee declined to say whether they would back the remaining parts of the DEP project.
“I’m going to wait until the community discusses it that night,” Mr. Padernacht said.
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 Ryan Ponto | Nov 28, 2016 | Pigeons in the News
ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – When you look up at the Orange County Courthouse, you may spot vultures in the sky or on a top floor.
“There was a circle of about 50 or 60 of them when I saw them,” said Michael Deen, who works at the courthouse. “I guess it’s kind of ominous.”
But experts say the birds of prey just like how the building is laid out with places to perch and rising air currents.
“You’ve got to have the right structure and they apparently have the perfect structure for vultures,” said Dianna Flynt with the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland.
Orange County officials say the vultures haven’t been around the courthouse for a while because a hawk moved in. They’ve returned over the last few weeks with the predator now gone.
Flynt says the birds aren’t dangerous but they can cause some problems.
“They’re nosy and they’re curious and they have a tendency to be very destructive to some things,” she explained.
Damage to the building and bird droppings is why the county is working to get the vultures to move out. We’re told a bird deterrent system is in the works. That could include wires so the birds don’t perch there. County officials say they don’t know how much the plan will cost yet.
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 Ryan Ponto | Nov 27, 2016 | UltraSonic Bird Control
AMES, Iowa —
Boone and Ames police are investigating about 14 reports of vehicles being damaged by clay pigeons overnight Sunday.
Mathew Boley said he is still unhappy about what he woke up to Sunday morning outside his home in Ames.
“I came outside and there were clay pigeons all over the ground next to my car, a few scratches and nice circle size welts on the side of it,” Boley said.
Police said they hope the public will provide helpful information for the ongoing investigating.
“We really would ask the public to come forward if they have any information, if they saw suspicious activity near Aplin Road or Story Street sometime Saturday night,” said Commander Jason Tuttle, of the Ames Police Department.
Residents in Boone said they experienced the same type of vandalism.
“I just noticed there were these clay things all over the road and especially on vehicles all the way up to First Street here,” Boone resident Ryioko Peterson said. “It was car after car.”
John Wilson said he saw the same as he was getting into his car to attend Sunday morning church service. He said he is frustrated and cannot understand why anyone could commit what appears to be a random act.
“People gotta have better things to do than mess around, tearing up people and destroying property,” Wilson said.
Police advise residents to park their vehicle in a garage or driveway if possible to protect their cars. Otherwise, police said it is best to park under a street light.
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 Ryan Ponto | Nov 26, 2016 | Pigeon Spikes
Army Capt. Ray L. Delhauer in 1922 arranged for three World War I fliers to attend the first L.A. County Fair where they greeted the crowds — from their cages.
These three war heroes — with the names of Mocker, Spike and President Wilson — were carrier pigeons, birds that had played key roles in serving the military in France, explained Ray Nolan, a member of the Los Angeles Pigeon Club which holds its national pageant this weekend in Ontario.
Delhauer, who lived most of his 67 years in Ontario, might be called the father of the Army pigeon corps, both during and after the first World War. And that love of the birds continued after he became a faculty member at Chaffey High in Ontario, encouraging hundreds of students there to learn about and raise pigeons as a hobby.
Lest you think pigeon could serve no real role in wartime, the military relied on these birds to play vital roles in communications. In those days, radios were at best rudimentary and telephone lines often were tapped by the enemy. As many as 10,000 pigeons carried messages for both sides during the war.
One of those, Spike, was credited with 52 deliveries of messages from the trenches to army headquarters, each time dodging bad weather and enemy sharpshooters. Spike survived these harrowing tasks and lived to age 17, dying in retirement at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, according to the San Bernardino Sun of April 26, 1935.
This love of pigeons like Spike was a lifelong avocation for Delhauer whose family came to Ontario from Ohio when he was 4 months old.
He turned his hobby to good use after he was called to service in 1916-17 as a member of Ontario’s National Guard company. At Nogales, Arizona, during the border troubles with Mexico, he brought some of his birds and established a station, using them to carry messages, reported the Sun on Aug. 16, 1921.
When America moved closer to entering the World War, Delhauer urged the military to begin breeding and training pigeons to serve as messengers.
After some initial reluctance, Army officials assigned him to begin training not only the birds but those who would handle them in combat. Many of his own Ontario pigeons were “enlisted” for breeding purposes at the training center at Fort Monmouth.
In addition to being in the trenches, pigeons were often used by Army and Navy pilots. They would carry birds with them on reconnaissance missions and release them to carry back information or to contact rescuers when planes were downed.
The British also used pigeons, including a legendary bird, The Duke. The pigeon carried numerous messages across the English Channel from France to London. The Duke was given to Delhauer after the war and lived in Ontario until his death in 1930.
Delhauer remained in the Army for a few years after the war, continuing to expand the military program. After retiring in 1925, he was hired at Chaffey High where, for 23 years, he was not only a teacher but ran the pigeon-breeding activities in the school’s agricultural program.
At times the school’s Pigeon Club had as many as 100 members, and students regularly entered their birds in local competitions. At the 1933 L.A. County Fair, 46 Chaffey pigeons received 44 awards.
Delhauer was an impassioned advocate of the benefits of young people raising pigeons.
“Every effort should be made to encourage every boy to becoming interested in a growing bird or animal,” he was quoted in the Ontario Daily Report, Aug. 12, 1946. “All normal boys are interested in live things. Pigeon raising can help round out the character and help develop the boy.”
While at Chaffey High, Delhauer continued working on a global scale. He encouraged the nation’s new air mail program to carry pigeons in planes in case they were forced down in a crash or bad weather. He also undertook a program for the military to breed a pigeon whose camouflaged coloring would make it harder to be seen by an enemy on the battlefield.
He retired from Chaffey in 1948 but his white pigeons were a fixture when they were released as part of the annual Memorial Day ceremonies at Bellevue Cemetery. Delhauer died in 1951 at age 67.
This weekend, Ontario will play host to more than 4,000 birds on display at the Pageant of Pigeons, an event put on by the Los Angeles Pigeon Club for more than a century. Previous shows have also been at the Orange Show in San Bernardino and the fairgrounds in Pomona.
Entries are from all over the nation and birds from as far away as Dubai and Australia will be displayed, according to Nolan.
The event will be at the Ontario Convention Center, 2000 E. Convention Center Way, on Thursday afternoon and all day Friday and Saturday.
Admission is free, though there is a charge for parking. Information: www.losangelespigeonclub.com.
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)
