by Ryan Ponto | Apr 14, 2017 | Bird Netting
Dubai: Pigeon droppings are causing a huge mess on many apartment balconies in different parts of the city, and for many residents, chasing them away has not been a permanent solution, they say.
Pigeons can be entertaining to watch, but when they constantly return to your balcony and dirty your home as a result of neighbours frequently feeding them , their presence can become very frustrating.
Tenants- especially those living in tall story buildings where it has become a common problem- say they are not only worried from the health risks that could arise from pigeon droppings, they are also not sure of the methods they can use to discourage pigeons from roosting without attracting fines from Dubai Municipality.
Dubai regulations regarding balcony use do not allow residents to hang clothes, install dish antennas, or place junk in balconies as it leads to an unaesthetic look, and violators could face penalties.
According to a municipality official, if an alteration on the balcony spoils the look of the building and goes against the building’s regulations, a warning will be issued to the tenant and they will need to restore the balcony to its original condition.
“As long as the installation does not affect the aesthetic appearance of the city, it’s not a problem. Residents can prevent pigeons from populating their balconies through various methods, but they need to make sure the methods are humane, and are not visible on the balcony,” he said.
He said using chemicals or unapproved products that can harm birds or reduce their population violates animal rights.
“It is a positive intent that tenants wish to keep their balcony pigeon-free and clean, because it also helps the building look clean,” the official said.
According to an Abu Dhabi-based doctor, though pigeons are harmless, what they leave behind can be a health hazard.
“The health risks from pigeon droppings arise from disease organisms which can thrive and grow in the accumulations of the droppings and feathers on balconies, ledges and ventilation ducts of buildings,” said Dr Nirajan Mukherjee, consultant paediatrician at King’s College Hospital London, Medical and Surgical Centre Abu Dhabi
“Fungal spores, bacteria, viruses and parasites can all multiply in this environment and pose problems for people particularly with pre-existing respiratory conditions and weakened immune systems,” he said.
Pigeon droppings, he added, can cause a multitude of infections potentially. “Those who have respiratory conditions like asthma and allergic rhinitis are at an increased risk of exaggeration of their symptoms. People with weakened immune system should not be associated with cleaning of the roosts.”
Marwa Jamal, a Lebanese mother living in Deira, said she has been reluctant about using pigeon-proofing methods for her apartment’s balcony because she does not want to violate regulations. She also said that bringing a cleaner to clean her balcony every week from pigeon droppings is costing her money. “The birds come back because my neighbour keeps feeding them and it is creating a mess in my balcony. I have to make sure it is cleaned regularly so my kids don’t end up catching any disease.”
Stella M., a Filipino resident of International City, says she has given up on reclaiming both her balconies from pigeons and relies on drying her clothes inside the house to avoid getting them dirty again.
“We have a notice below the building that says to not feed these birds, but neighbours continue to do so. It’s a waste to have two balconies and not be able to use them. I have to hang my clothes to dry inside the house. It takes up space and the clothes don’t dry fast.”
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 | Apr 13, 2017 | Bird Netting
Pigeon droppings on downtown sidewalks is not the image Park Rapids businesses and city leaders want to portray.
The Downtown Business Association (DBA) sees pigeons roosting atop downtown buildings as a real, and growing, problem in this busy district known for heavy foot traffic in the peak summer visitors season.
The city council on Tuesday authorized the DBA to take steps to eradicate the pigeon population through baiting and carcass removal.
According to information presented to the council Tuesday, pigeons have been a nuisance on Main Street for several years. The Hubbard County Developmental Achievement Center (DAC), with support of the Downtown Business Association, brought forth an initiative to control the pigeon population. The DAC operates the Tin Ceiling store on the 100 block of Main and due to the pigeon problem they power wash the sidewalk daily, and regularly spray the awning in front of the store to remove the accumulated droppings.
The DBA called in a pest exterminator to assess the situation and the DBA decided that baiting pigeons is the desired method to remove the nuisance birds. The Department of Agriculture was contacted and granted permission to bait the birds. The process would most likely involve baiting the pigeons with corn and then place poison for when the birds return to the same location.
“There is a widespread consensus that large populations of pigeons present serious health risks arising from disease organisms that grow in the nutrient-rich accumulations of bird droppings, feathers and debris under a roost. Such is the case when pigeons gather in buildings in downtown Park Rapids,” Cynthia Jones and Molly Luther wrote in a letter on behalf of the DBA and submitted to the city.
The Developmental Achievement Center plans to write a grant to cover the estimated $4,000 to $5,000 cost of the pigeon eradication plan.
“After all of our work to beautify downtown, the pigeon issue often takes center stage,” the DBA letter states. “For example, a resort owner recently reported that while participating in a sports show in Minneapolis an attendee remarked, ‘Oh, you’re from that town that has pigeon poop all over the sidewalks.'”
“I don’t think that’s the brand we want as a city,” Jones said in addressing the council Tuesday.
Jones explained the problem has become worse since the old water tower was torn down and now with the likelihood the old seed house on Highway 34 is going to be torn down those pigeons will need to find a new home as well.
“Baiting is not in the minds of some the most attractive way to deal with pigeons, but it is the most efficient and most cost effective way to deal with pigeons,” Jones explained.
CHI St. Joseph’s president Ben Koppelman sent a letter to the city council in support of the initiative to control the pigeon population downtown, citing it as a health and safety concern.
Pigeons roost around the main entrance at the south lobby and leave droppings on the sidewalks, in and around the main signage on the building, windows and window sills and on the brick siding.
“The pigeon population and roosting is more than a nuisance,” Koppelman wrote. “Large populations of pigeons may present serious health issues due to the growth of disease organisms that result from accumulations of bird droppings, roost debris, feathers, etc. Feral pigeons can harbor many pathogens that may be transmitted to humans and nearly 94 percent of the time this is by aerosol transmission. Although the risk for acquiring disease is very low for the general population, those with weakened immune systems (example: cancer, transplant recipients) have nearly 1,000 times greater risk from aerosol diseases.”
Koppelman went on to write that although there are other ways to eradicate pigeons, the baiting method proposed by the DAC in their grant request is the most effective and feasible for this situation.
A specific plan for baiting and the removal of pigeon carcasses downtown has not been laid out 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 | Apr 12, 2017 | Bird Netting
Pasta, pizza, even ice cream, do not excite the taste buds quite like its most delicious of spring delicacies.
Colomba di Pasqua, otherwise known as Dove Cake, even soars above their other festive favourite, panettone, not simply because it replaces raisins with pearl sugar and almonds, but in the way it comes in the shape of a dove. No birds have a closer relationship with humanity than pigeons and doves. Note that the name is interchangeable: the street pigeon’s wild alter ego is the rock dove.
Doves were first domesticated in Mesopotamia 10,000 years ago and have gone on to provide us with their meat, the understated beauty of their plumage as well as running our messages. Albeit, they do leave a few themselves.
More Dickin Medals, the animals’ Victoria Cross, have also been presented to pigeons for their gallantry than to service dogs, war horses and naval cats combined.
The population of their country cousins, wood pigeons, expanded by 162 per cent between 1967 and 2014 to about six million pairs but its meteoric rise has been eclipsed by both the shy, nondescript stock dove as well as the collared dove.
Doves were first domesticated in Mesopotamia 10,000 years ago
Stock dove numbers have risen by 212 per cent since the mid-1960s while collared doves increased 327 per cent between 1972 and 2014.
But one dove species, perhaps the very one immortalised by the tradition of Colomba cake, has suffered the most serious recent decline of any British bird: the diffident, delectable turtle dove.
Few migratory birds match the beauty of this small dove with its tortoiseshell patterning and soft, rippling song. Indeed, its scientific name, Streptopelia turtur, is a reference to the haunting purr it delivers each spring.
The sound has become muted across Europe but nowhere worse than in the UK. Turtle dove numbers here have crashed by 97 per cent since England won the 1966 World Cup. Extinction on our shores seems inevitable over the next few decades.
If ever a bird needed celebrating this Easter, it is the turtle dove. Despite a hunting moratorium on Malta, they still face a fraught spring journey from African wintering grounds to a heavily farmed European landscape increasingly bereft of the hedgerows and copses they require for nesting. Herbicides destroying their weedy food, protozoan parasites and droughts south of the Sahara have only added to their woes.
For all their veneration in Biblical scripts and traditional songs – they are gifted in the Twelve Days of Christmas – turtle doves need just the kind of hero championed in one of the original stories about Colomba cake.
So goes the legend that Fifth Century Lombard warrior King Alboin was so smitten by the gift of a dove-shaped cake during a bitter siege, he not only offered a truce but vowed to always respect doves.
It saved the virtue of 12 virgins offered as peace tokens when, on asking the maidens their names, each told the king it was Dove.
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 | Apr 11, 2017 | Bird Netting
NEW ULM — Minnesota’s oldest pigeon and poultry club kept its 109-year streak alive, hosting a swap and sale meet at the Brown County Fairgrounds Saturday.
“I’ve been going to shows here since the early 1950s, before this building was built,” said Brown County Pigeon & Poultry Association member Bob Kosek of Morgan.
“The shows are important to help keep historical and rare breeds alive by meeting with other breeders. It’s an effort to keep breeds from not going extinct, so they’re around for next generation breeders,” Kosek said.
For Mankato breeder Larry Wilmes, the poultry shows mean trips across the country. San Diego is his favorite destination because of the weather.
“I’ve been to many shows in many places,” Wilmes said. “I’ve been to national events in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Florida, Texas. I was at one not long ago in Vancouver, Wash.”
Wilmes said he has a good relationship with the U.S. Postal Service who flies his birds to distant shows.
“They (U.S. Postal Service) are very accommodating with special mailing boxes for my birds,” Wilmes said.
He said it would be good to add some younger people to the local pigeon and poultry association since the youngest member is now about 30 years old. Most of the group’s members have been around for decades. None of them voiced any plans to end their hobby.
“Breeding poultry and pigeons can be enjoyed by people in their 80s down to six-year-olds,” Wilmes said.
Doug Grams of New Ulm brought Dominique chicks to the swap meet. America’s oldest breed, they were plentifully bred as far back as the 1820’s.
“Dominque chickens were transported across the country by early settlers,” Grams said.
Also known as Pilgrim Fowl, or Dominickers, the breed descended from chickens brought to New England from southern England during colonial times. A dual purpose breed, Dominiques are valued for their meat and brown eggs.
In earlier times, their feathers were much sought after for pillow and mattress stuffing. They tend to be calm, personable birds, making them successful as show birds or family pets.
The breed survived the Great Depression due to it’s hardiness and ease of up-keep, according to The Livestock Conservancy (TLC).
In 1970, there were only four known flocks of the breed. The remaining owners were contacted and convinced to participate in a breed rescue, the TLC reported.
The close feathering of the breed protects the breed from cold weather and provides material for pillows and featherbeds of their owners.
“It’s wonderful, a great stress reliever,” association member Aaron Dittbenner of Morgan said about breeding pigeons and poultry and meeting with others with like interests.
Brown County Pigeon & Poultry Association member Trevor Nau said he enjoys competing with his birds plus the camaraderie and fellowship of fellow breeders.
The New Ulm Fall Classic Poultry Show is Nov. 18 & 19 at the Brown County Fairgrounds. A summer picnic is set for July 29.
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 | Apr 10, 2017 | Bird Netting
A PEST CONTROL company attended St James’s Hospital in Dublin 108 separate times to deal with recurrent infestations of rodents, insects and other pests in the past two years.
Pest activity was reported in areas including a dialysis room, an endoscopy theatre, and on bedside tables in hospital wards, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.
Among the creepy-crawlies reported at the hospital during 2015 and 2016 were mice, ants, cockroaches and woodlice.
Black clock beetles – large, carnivorous insects with sharp jaws – were also discovered by pest-control technicians in a specialised unit for patients undergoing bone-marrow transplants last August.
In 2015, the company attended St James’s Hospital Sterile Services Unit (HSSU) four times in response to reports of rodents. On one occasion, a mouse was caught in the HSSU kitchen, while another was suspected to have scuttled into an autoclave.
The pest-control firm was also called to the hospital’s Breast Care Clinic four times during the two-year period in response to complaints that included a rodent in a staff tearoom, an infestation of flies in the reception area, and a “bad smell” in the clinic which staff said was “a common occurrence”.
Last October, the company responded to an emergency callout and attended a kitchenette located on a private ward, where they found a mouse “actively feeding off bait”. The little culprit was “caught and bagged and removed”, according to the inspection report.
Rodent sighting
Though the hospital declined to comment on the pest control issues seen, the increase may be related to ongoing works surrounding the construction of the new children’s hospital, which is expected to open on the St James’s campus by 2020.
Towards the end of last year, a sighting of a rodent was reported in an endoscopy theatre at the hospital. Traps were set and, three days’ later, a mouse was caught in the theatre’s observatory room.
The company was also called to inspect droppings found in a cupboard beside an operating theatre. “Old very dried up dead woodlice” were found in the same location upon inspection.
On two occasions last August, stubborn pigeons who had entered Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing (MISA) at the hospital refused to leave in spite of the pest control company’s best efforts.
“Could not remove pigeon,” the technician noted in his inspection report. “May leave eventually.”
Two days’ later, the pigeon appears to have been joined by a friend. “Two pigeons flying around atrium in MISA,” it was reported. “Technician couldn’t remove them due to height and area involved… Door left open to assist pigeons out.”
In April 2015, two dead birds in a ceiling cavity were discovered to be the source of an infestation of bluebottles in a meeting room in the CEO building of the hospital.
Insecticide treatment was carried out.
Ants were a recurring problem at the hospital during the two-year period. Up to 150 of the insects were found behind a locker in the Department of Clinical Nutrition, while others were found in locations including a dialysis room and on a bedside table.
More than €35,000 was spent on pest-control services by the hospital in the past two years. This included an outlay of €275 in February 2016 for a plastic hawk to scare away pigeons and gulls.
A public relations company contracted by St James’s Hospital was contacted for comment in relation to pest control at the facility. It acknowledged the correspondence but did not provide a response.
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)
