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)
by Ryan Ponto | Nov 25, 2016 | Bird Netting
Autumn again and countless birds are preparing to fly south for the winter, unaware of what their journey will bring. During China’s National Day holiday in early October, volunteers took down two large swathes of illegal bird nets, stretching over 20 kilometres.
Over 8,000 birds were trapped in the nets, with only 3,000 of them still alive. Many Chinese people watching this on the news were unaware of the mass slaughter of wild birds being carried out in the countryside around their cities.
Net gains, net losses
Members of the China National Net Removal Centre have been busy lately. The 300 members of this WeChat social media group are dedicated to taking down bird nets found in forests, reeds, and farmers’ fields. Some are over 10-metres high and 40 or 50-metres long. Wherever nets are found the voluntary teams take them down.
At this time of the year the number of clashes between trappers and activists spikes. A number of important migratory pathways pass through China each year. Populous cities such as Tangshan and Tianjin lie on the East Asia-Australasian flyway, used by around five million birds travelling between Alaska in the north-west and south Asia. Bird trapping is rife along the China-stretch of this path which has become a battleground for removal teams and hunters.
Liu Yidan, China’s best known volunteer bird conservationist, is mainly active around Tianjin, a big industrial city north of Beijing. She told chinadialogue that she has freed 40,000 birds so far this year.
Migratory flyways pass through populous areas, which are often rich in resources and suitable for both agriculture and industry. This can bring people and birds into conflict. Image: WWF China / Li Yiwei, Zhang Yimo
Those concerned about the safety of migratory birds have been able to find each other and connect via social networks. The WeChat forum used by many of the net-removal volunteers keeps its 300 members up-to-date on efforts to save the birds.
Blogs and other online platforms facilitate discussions between the animal rights activists and the public. One volunteer who blogs under the pseudonym “net removal worker” writes in one article about taking down 90 bird nets in six days in the township of Chenjia, on Chongming Island, Shanghai. Chongming is known as a winter refuge for migratory birds.
E-retailers must take responsibility
But the nets are going up faster than they can be taken down. The volunteers have found that online shopping sites have spurred the trade in captured birds. They complain that Taobao, China’s largest online retailer which is owned by Alibaba, has made it easier and cheaper for hunters to acquire tools, meaning disaster for migratory birds and other animals.
A search on Taobao for “bird nets” brings up 5,000 suggested purchases, including one net that is 5-metres high and 30-metres wide for only 30 yuan (US$5). Cheap prices and quick delivery makes acquiring nets simple.
One volunteer, who preferred to remain anonymous, complained that: “Nets, lures; you can get anything you want on Taobao, and the sellers even tell you how to use them. E-commerce has sent the bamboo partridge to the brink of extinction.”
The trade in captured birds is also increasingly reliant on the internet. A 2014 report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Wanted – Dead or Alive, Exposing Online Wildlife Trade, exposed illegal online trading of many CITES Appendix 1 and 2 listed endangered species. In China the online trading of live wild birds takes place on sites like Alibaba’s Taobao, second only to that in turtles and tortoises.
The industry behind the nets
Zhang Yimo, head of the WWF China’s migratory birds network, told chinadialogue that flyways in China are much more densely populated than in other places where migratory birds rest, such as Russia and Alaska. And so the birds come into conflict with people more often, relatively speaking.
The netting of the birds is just one part of a business. Many of the wild creatures are then sold to restaurants in large numbers. In the chat room one volunteer reported large numbers of nets in a Zhejiang tourist spot, with restaurants openly advertising wild-caught game. The Yellow-breasted Bunting, once a common sight, is now as endangered as the Giant Panda.
Also, some Chinese people like to keep birds as pets, and a rare songbird can mean huge profits. According to one volunteer, one Siberian Ruby Throat hummingbird, known for its pleasant song, can fetch as much as 8,000 yuan (US$1,156).
Effects of new law remain to be seen
Zhou Haixiang, head of the Ecology and Environment Laboratory at Shenyang Ligong University, does not think taking down the nets will prevent trapping. He toldchinadialogue that this has no deterrent effect and that efforts should be directed towards catching the poachers.
“A net is cheap, you take one down and they will put another up,” said Zhou Haixiang.
Some of the volunteers are disappointed by the lack of law enforcement. “Net removal worker” wrote on his blog:
“Just taking the nets down simply isn’t enough. If you don’t strike at the people trapping birds, trading birds, eating birds and keeping birds then you can take down as many nets as you like but they will just get put back up.”
The punishment for trapping birds under Chinese law is minor but the potential profits are huge. For many it is worth the risk. Zhou Haixiang explained that in some places farmers make several thousand yuan a year by planting crops. However, you can make more, and faster, by spending a few days trapping birds during the migration season.
Zhou thinks the most effective approach would be to fine anyone caught with a wild migratory bird, regardless of whether they are the buyer, seller, or poacher.
There are differing opinions on whether the new Wild Animal Protection Law, due to come into effect in 2017, will offer much protection to migratory birds. The sale of nets online will be restricted, as the law is expected to ban online trading platforms from allowing the illegal sale of wild animals and hunting implements. It also bans the use of poisons and nets to hunt wild animals.
Xie Yan, a deputy researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology, said that the new law is the first law designed to protect the birds’ habitats and to ban hunting, including on the migratory routes of birds that are not necessarily protected species.
But Zhou Haixiang thinks the law still focuses too much on the protection of rare and endangered species, rather than the ecosystem as a whole.
More importantly, it’s hard to see the new law having much impact if enforcement isn’t improved.
“The question now is how to ensure the law is strictly enforced,” said Liu Detian, head of the Liaoning Panjing Society for the Protection of Chinese Black-headed Gulls. Under the law, the poaching of more than twenty wild animals is to be treated harshly; and one net can easily catch hundreds of birds. Lu thinks law enforcement agencies aren’t doing enough to combat bird netting, and imposing fines just means the poachers trap more birds to cover the costs. He thinks prison sentences are needed to solve the problem.
According to Zhang Yimo, as the internet makes it easy to buy and sell trapping tools and wild animals, there is a need for the authorities in charge of online commerce, businesses and wildlife protectors to cooperate. The roads and railways authorities, including delivery firms, should also work to prevent breaches of the law.
On October 18, the State Forestry Administration launched a 40-day “Net Clearing Action”, intended to remove illegal bird nets and smash the underground networks trapping, transporting and trading trapped birds. So perhaps this migratory season, the volunteers will have a bit more official support and the birds will face less danger. But as Zhang Yimo says, to ensure the long-term safety of migratory birds, “strong law enforcement is crucial, and that will be very hard to achieve.”
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)
