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)
by Ryan Ponto | Nov 24, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products
25 years ago
NOV. 28, 1991
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole on Wednesday secured $56.2 million to make U.S. 81 a four-lane expressway between Concordia and the Nebraska border. “This will help Salina a lot,” the Kansas Republican said. “It will create a lot of jobs in the area, there will be twice as many people coming through and there will be a lot more commerce.” Dole made a last-minute amendment to the nation’s six-year highway bill to get $73.6 million in reimbursements for the state’s construction of portions of interstate highways. Of that, $49.2 million goes to U.S. 81 along with $7 million he had previously secured.
NOV. 29, 1991
More than two years after a pigeon panel was convened to determine how to control pigeons in downtown Salina, the pigeon panel is no more. The pigeons? They’re still happy in downtown Salina, merrily making life interesting for downtown visitors who dare look up to the pigeons perched atop building roofs. Pigeons became a concern because of their droppings, which some found offensive and a possible health risk. The city is still on a waiting list to have some rare peregrine falcons relocated in Salina. The peregrine falcon is a raptor that preys solely on birds and has been used successfully in other cities to control pigeons.
DEC. 1, 1991
Three or four times a week by his estimate — through messages left with the court clerk, the defendant’s attorney, or on a hurriedly scribbled note — another domestic abuse case dissolves before City Prosecutor Gary Denning’s eyes. A new law that takes effect statewide Jan. 1 requires law officers arrest people suspected of abusing their mates. The law applies to any parties in a close relationship — be they married, unmarried, heterosexual or homosexual. The policy is at work in Salina and Saline County, where abusers are held in jail for up to six hours before being allowed to post bond. Most are charged with misdemeanors and referred to Salina Municipal Court for prosecution.
DEC. 3, 1991
The 1991 Smoky Hill River Festival turned a profit of $23,472, which is attributed mostly to the excellent weather for the three-day festival in June, festival organizers said. It was the first time since 1988 that the festival turned a profit. The biggest income producers continued to be button sales ($94,788) and vendor/exhibitor fees ($63,084). The festival generated income of $259,448. Expenses were $235,976.
50 years ago
NOV. 28, 1966
GOODLAND — Construction of a sugar beet factory near Goodland is expected to begin within one week. The new plant is an economic shot in the arm for the Goodland area. During construction, 300 workers will be employed. Construction will take around one and a half years to complete. The new plant will also provide stable year-round employment. About 50 persons will man the plant after its completion. During peak processing months, at least 200 persons will work in the various departments.
NOV. 29, 1966
A decision on ambulance service in Salina and for much of the rest of Saline county may be near.The two Salina funeral homes, Chapel and Rush Smith, which now provide ambulance service, want to discontinue it Dec. 23. The new plan calls for the director’s office to be set up in the sheriff’s department. One of the ambulances also would be housed near the sheriff’s office with the city providing places for two other ambulances and for personnel to sleep. The housing and telephone service available from the law enforcement agencies would save on the expenses of operation.
DEC. 2, 1966
COLBY — Cable TV will soon be at Colby. Construction of a reception tower will begin Jan. 2 and the system will be on the air shortly after this. The tower will be 350 to 400 feet tall and on land owned by Francis Dible, one and a half miles southeast of the Colby Community junior college. Services will be provided by Multi-Vue TV and besides the networks, there will also be a 24-hour weather scanner channel and 24-hour program of music.
DEC. 4, 1966
Appropriately, the information came in during the “graveyard” shift. The increase in traffic deaths is almost 10 percent. Through November, across the nation, 28,590 persons have died this year. In 1965, 26,379 persons had died. Saline County has also added to totals in the first half of the year. There have been no deaths in the county since June 24, but by then 30 persons had died in 12 accidents.
75 years ago
NOV. 28, 1941
BELLEVILLE — Whether it’s a two-penny or six-penny nail, a nail from Sweden, Arabia or Iceland, an 18-inch cotter key or an odd-sized screw that you want, you can probably find it at 2110 H. Street. For W.E. Muth of Belleville has assembled more than 2,000 nails, screws and fasteners during the first six months of effort in that direction … and he says that he’s barely started. Although handicapped by ill health, which doesn’t permit him to get away from home often, Mr. Muth has developed a “sixth sense” for nails. For seldom does he return from even a short jaunt without some new specimens and he has his friends organized and working for him too, 79 of them. Begun in May of this year, his collection of 2,000 items includes 729 different nails, 448 screws, 203 tacks, 72 set screws, 110 screw eyes and screw hooks, 66 staples, 128 rivets and 64 cotter keys.
NOV. 29, 1941
Officers of this county are sitting back at present and watching the fun at Abilene, where the state seeks to convict Emerson Nichols, of Harlan, on a charge of possessing the liquor that intoxicates. For Saline county has a “hold order” on Nichols. It was November 5 when Sheriff Paul Shanahan came up on a bootlegger’s car a short distance east of Salina on the North Street Road and would have succeeded in running it down had it not been for the mud. Two men in the car fought off the sheriff, who fell as the auto drew away, tearing his topcoat and burning a shoulder. The ‘leggers threw out six pints of alcohol as they left and later abandoned their car at Bennington.
DEC. 1, 1941
McPHERSON — Mrs. Chester Ribeau, slight, dark-haired 60-year-old housewife, was held without bond for trial in the current term of district court on a first degree murder charge in the slaying of her 34-year-old fourth husband early today. Mrs. Ribeau broke into sobs as county attorney Kenneth Hodge read the murder charge , filed a few hours after she appeared before dawn at the county jail and told officers her husband had beaten her most of the night. When Sheriff’s deputies went to the residence they found Ribeau seated in a rocking chair beside a radio that still was playing and a shotgun wound in the back of the head.
DEC. 2, 1941
HAYS — A Hays bachelor got up with the sun as usual Tuesday morning and went off to work in the oil fields north of Hays. Later that morning, as usual, his landlord showed up to clean his room and tidy things up a bit. The landlord opened the door to the bachelor’s room — gasped, and immediately closed it again. Determined he set out looking for his tenant. After all, he told himself, no renters of his were going to take advantage of him and have women in their rooms. Finding his bachelor tenant, he proceeded to discuss in pointed, emphatic language, exactly what he thought of his renter’s actions. “But,” the bachelor said, barely squeezing a word in edge-wise, “that’s my wife. We were married last night.” The landlord apologized profusely.
100 years ago
NOV. 28, 1916
The November term of district court opened this morning with the heaviest docket ever listed in the county. One hundred and seventy seven cases are listed on the docket prepared by District Clerk Hedquist. Eleven naturalization cases, the first work of the term, are under way this afternoon. The jury men have been summoned to report and it is not anticipated that court will get under way much before the beginning of next week.
NOV. 29, 1916
Boy Scouts will shine again. This time they will help the board of public welfare in distributing baskets of food to the poor Thursday. Two Boy Scouts to the car will be the arrangement and by this plan welfare officers says the food would be quickly distributed. The city will be divided into districts similar to those used during the clean up campaign.
DEC. 4, 1916
McPHERSON — Should a minister of the gospel use more moral discretion than a justice of the peace when performing a marriage ceremony, or should he consider himself performing an ordinary legal act and forget his technical moral obligation? This question is now under advisement in the divorce suit of Mrs. Sadie Rollings against Harry Rollings. Mrs. Rollings claimed she was intoxicated. She testified she would not have done so had she been sober. The Rev. Mr. Jacob Rader admitted to the court that he performed the ceremony while Mrs. Rollings was considerably under the influence of intoxicants, but said she appeared to know what she was doing, and, as it was a civil contract under the law, he merely performed a legal duty.
125 years ago
NOV. 28, 1891
The council met in special session to consider the matter of city lights. An ordinance was passed abrogating the gas lights and accepting a contract with the company by which the city is to take seven arc lights in the place of the gas street lights now used. In the 1st ward, one light will be on Third and Ash and one at Second and Elm. One will be located at Fourth and Walnut in the 4th ward and one at Oakdale and Iron between 1st and 4th wards. The light now located at Prescott and Eighth is to be removed to Santa Fe and Prescott. This will make 26 arc lights in all, and as they are to be raised several feet higher, the light will be greatly improved.
NOV. 29, 1891
TESCOTT — In this country town there lives a little old man who sells milk, carrying it from house to house morning and evening in a small handcart. There is nothing strange about that, but his companion on these daily trips is the very strangest you ever heard of — an old gray goose, who follows him about in the most dignified manner, and stands watch over the cart, letting no one go near it in his master’s absence. His name is Major, and his master says that he is just as useful as a dog would be.
DEC. 4, 1891
ABILENE — The sensational disappearance of the Simmons children, who have been missing the past four days, was settled today. They were found several miles out in the country, where they had wandered on a runaway tour. The parents’ theory of abduction by an alien was due to their excited imagination.
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 23, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
THAT pesky pigeons is still proving to be a problem in Cornhill, Wellington, town councillors heard at their November meeting.
It was reported that town clerk Greg Dyke was working with legal representatives of Wetherspoon’s to try to persuade the owners of adjoining properties to take action to deal with the nuisance and the mess.
Thanks to the efforts of Cllr Janet Reed, Taunton Deane Borough Council’s cleansing department had pressure-washed Cornhill and it was hoped that this washing would be carried out every two weeks.
Cllr Marcus Barr said a broken window above the archway needed to be boarded or wired up to keep the pigeons out.
Councillors were told that the Deane hoped to be able to find money from its budget to repair the paths in the park and also the roof of the park bandstand.
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 22, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products
BEIJING — With the arrival of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, one billion birds are migrating or have migrated to warmer climates. Nearly a quarter of them were expected to pass through China as part of their journey.
In recent years, however, much of the country has become a treacherous place to fly for the 1,300 species of birds passing through. Once inside China’s borders, many of them fall prey to poachers who supply the country’s thriving underground wildlife trade.
In early October, animal rights volunteers dismantled more than 20,000 metres of bird nets near the northern cities of Tianjin and neighbouring Tangshan, Hebei province. More than 5,000 dead birds were caught in the traps. Later that month, 233 swans and 26 mallards were found dead in Inner Mongolia’s Hongtu Lake, also known as “Swan Lake”. The birds were found to contain traces of carbofuran, an agricultural pesticide that poachers use to kill birds they later sell for food.
China’s demand for migratory birds, whether for meat, Chinese medicine or gambling fights, is not new. But the scale of the current underground trade has put many species on a path toward endangerment, or even extinction.
The State Forestry Administration is currently in the middle of a national crackdown on poaching nets in the countryside. The “net-clearing operation” also aims to clamp down on all aspects of the thriving illegal trade, including transportation and sales.
Still, the trade flourishes. Legal loopholes, lenient penalties and regulators who lack expertise and enforcement jurisdiction have failed to deter poachers and traders.
Even if the birds can manage to elude capture, they are left searching in vain for rest spots that no longer exist. Rapid construction and development have reduced their habitats in China by nearly 80 per cent in just a few decades.
In the rural areas of Shandong province’s Shen county, or Shenxian, bird nets cascade from the roofs of houses down into the adjoining wheat fields. Next to the nets, loudspeakers project quail calls to lure birds in.
Ms Liu Yidan, a volunteer at an animal rights organisation called Let Migratory Birds Fly, had not expected to stop here. She was on her way to the nearby wetlands, a known rest stop for migratory waterfowl, when she saw the nets. Apparently, news of the ban on netting birds had not reached Shenxian. After reporting the illegal nets, Ms Liu and local forestry officials took down nearly 8,000m of nets.
“Many people told us that no one had ever told them not to put up bird nets,” Ms Liu said. “No one had told them that catching and selling birds was illegal.”
In this relatively affluent county, the local thrushes are valued for their mild calls, and quail fighting is a local tradition. The thrush cannot be artificially bred, and the quail is a migratory bird, arriving in China each winter from Siberia.
Trading in the birds requires virtually no investment besides the net, and the work can be very profitable. At the local market, a male quail can fetch up to 30 yuan (S$6.20), and depending on the quality of their songs, thrushes can sell for over 100 yuan each. The local farmers catch about 75 birds per day in their nets, and up to 200 on a good day, according to an investigation by Ms Liu and other volunteers.
But the scope of China’s illegal bird trade goes way beyond small markets trading in the local catches. On Nov 16, forestry officials in the Guangxi region identified four underground wholesale dens trading in migratory birds in Pingle county. One of them was in an abandoned school building.
As part of the raid, they discovered more than 30,000 live chestnut and chestnut-eared buntings, migratory birds that come from Siberia to Guangxi’s Guilin each winter. Frozen specimens, including some Class 2 protected owls, were also found. A volunteer who helped lead authorities to the warehouses saw refrigerator trucks with Guangdong province license plates at the scene. The volunteer thinks the birds were being trafficked to Guangdong to be eaten.
China’s appetite for wild-bird meat has already pushed some species to near-extinction. In 2004, the yellow-breasted bunting, a small bird that migrates each year between northern Europe and South-east Asia, was considered a “species of least concern” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
But prized in China for its fatty meat and supposed nutritional value, the bunting has been the target of rampant hunting. Since 1980, the global population has decreased by 90 per cent, and in 2012 it was officially declared endangered by the IUCN, and hunting it was banned.
Beijing veterinarian Dr Ren Pu recalled seeing more than 600 yellow-breasted buntings killed and sold when visiting a bird market in Tianjin over a decade ago.
“Now there is less and less of this,” he said. “In the early 2000s, you could find all kinds of wild-bird meat in Beijing’s private clubs, including swan and even great bustard.” Known in China as the “flying pandas”, the great bustard is the world’s heaviest flying bird and a Class 1 protected animal in China.
Even the increasing awareness and sympathy for the plight of wild birds has been exploited for business gain. Some merchants coerce animal rights volunteers into buying the merchants’ supply to save the animals’ lives. Ms Liu has personally spent millions of yuan buying wild birds from dealers in order to save them. Even on her trip to Shenxian, she could not help but buy 45 thrushes at the local market.
Every weekend in Beijing, the more than 20 illegal bird markets highlighted on a Let Migratory Birds Fly map bustle with activity. On Nov 12, with the national “net-clearing operation” underway, many have closed their doors. But illegal sales persist in nearby alleyways.
After discovering a shop selling a variety of protected species, a Beijing volunteer from the organisation who asked not to be named called the Forestry Department to report the violation. Four hours later, officials showed up. They could not identify the species of the birds, and only after the volunteer’s help in doing so do could they confiscate some of the protected birds.
They did not issue a fine or punishment, saying that the shop was operating an illegal business, which was outside their jurisdiction and regulated by the Business Administration Department.
Ms Liu encountered the same thing in Shandong. The Forestry Department could punish only poaching. Once at the market, sellers could avoid punishment simply by denying any poaching activity.
Ms Liu and the volunteers’ experiences can be explained by gaps in China’s legal framework for regulating the wild-bird trade. Most of the migratory birds that are hunted are classified as Level 3 protected animals, a category that includes animals that are beneficial and have economic and scientific research value. The hunting of Level 3 animals is considered criminal under Chinese law only when over 30 animals are hunted. Furthermore, no specific laws address their breeding or sale. The result is that only very-large-scale cases are penalised.
“It is really difficult to find a basis for punishment,” according to Mr Zhou Haixiang, director of the Ecology and Environment Research Office at the Shenyang University of Science and Technology. He said that the mere possession of protected animals should be criminalised. This way, prosecution can occur no matter at what level of the supply chain the animals are discovered.
But even if China was able to put a dent in the wild-bird trade and save its avian migrants from death at the hands of poachers, human activity on migration routes is in itself a threat to survival.
Of the eight main avian migration routes, three pass through China. The most threatened is the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, on which migratory birds travel north from Australia, New Zealand and the Western Pacific islands through China’s most densely populated eastern coastal provinces.
During the journey, the birds inhabit the muddy beaches of China’s coastal wetlands. But studies have shown that more than 60 per cent of the country’s natural coastal wetlands have disappeared in the last 50 years. From 2006 to 2010, an average of nearly 100,000 acres of coastal wetlands were encroached upon each year to build industrial zones, ports, and other coastal infrastructure projects.
And demand for the land shows no sign of stopping. According to the latest coastal development plans, there is a need to reclaim more than 1.4 million acres of wetlands to meet demand.
In September 2015, a wetland protection system was put in place by the central government. But local governments have still found ways around the rules. For example, any wetland reclamation project larger than 125 acres must be approved by the central government. In response, local governments simply reclassify one large project into many smaller projects, all involving less than 125 acres of wetlands.
If loopholes like these stay on the books, China will remain unable to protect the migratory birds within its borders. CAIXIN
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 21, 2016 | Bird Netting
Parts of Embarcadero Road leading up to Stanford University will be closed about every night for the next two weeks.
The reason? Pigeon waste.
Hundreds of pigeons live in the beams underneath the Caltrain tracks, causing a “dirty and unsightly problem,” according to a city of Palo Alto news release.
The road and walkways will be closed between Emerson Street and El Camino Real, near the Town & Country Village and Palo Alto High School.
The cleanup and maintenance will take place between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. from today through Dec. 1 and Dec. 5-8, city officials said.
Detours will be in place and the public should expect minor delays. And, contractors will try to keep noise to a minimum.
The city’s Public Works Department plans on installing bird netting during the closure to deter the birds from roosting in the structure in the future, city officials said in the news release.
The netting is in response to the continual cleanup costs associated with the birds living in the I-beams underneath the tracks.
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 20, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting
Avoid pigeon poop because of this emerging disease:
Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli infections in humans cause disease ranging from uncomplicated intestinal illnesses to bloody diarrhea and systemic sequelae, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Previous research indicated that pigeons may be a reservoir for a population of verotoxigenic E. coli producing the VT2f variant.
We used whole-genome sequencing to characterize a set of VT2f-producing E. coli strains from human patients with diarrhea or HUS and from healthy pigeons. We describe a phage conveying the vtx2f genes and provide evidence that the strains causing milder diarrheal disease may be transmitted to humans from pigeons.
The strains causing HUS could derive from VT2f phage acquisition by E. coli strains with a virulence genes asset resembling that of typical HUS-associated verotoxigenic E. coli.
Whole-genome characterization and strain comparison of VT2f-producing Escherichia coli causing hemolytic uremic syndrome
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 19, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products
MIKE TYSON has designed what has been described as the ‘best Christmas jumper ever’.
The former world heavyweight champion, 50, has released a festive effort which manages to feature boxing, his pet tiger and his love for pigeons – all on one sweater.
And he even takes a light-hearted swipe at his own speech, with the ‘Merry Christmas’ message changed to ‘Merry Chrithmith’.
Tyson wrote on his Twitter: “We wish you a Merry Chrithmith! Spread some holiday cheer and get your very own sweater here before they’re gone”.
Tyson has a long history with pigeons, going way back to his childhood – and has revealed the first fight he ever got into was as a 10-year-old after a bully ripped the head off his pet.
‘Iron Mike’ revealed: “The guy ripped the head off my pigeon. This was the first thing I ever loved in my life, the pigeon.”
An enraged Tyson responded with his fists – and would go onto the be the self-proclaimed ‘baddest man on the planet’.
He continued: “That was the first time I threw a punch.
“I have loved pigeons since I was nine. They were my escape.
“I was fat and ugly. Kids teased me all the time. The only joy I had was pigeons.”
Tyson is widely considered one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time and ended his professional career with a record of 50-6-2, with 44 of those wins coming by way of knockout.
But pigeons were his first love and are plastered all over the new knitwear – along with the royal Bengal tiger which he kept as a pet at a cost of $4000-a-month.
And Mike stunned a Lincolnshire pigeon farmer in 2010 when he unexpectedly turned up at his farm with his armed entourage.
Darren Peters recalled how Tyson arrived at his farm off the A17 and stunned him with his bird knowledge.
He said: “He was here for about two hours and at the end had to be told by his manager to hurry up because he was wanting to see everything we’ve got here.
“He told me it was the best pigeon coop he’d ever seen.
“Since he’s retired from boxing he has started to concentrate more on pigeons.
“In fact, he didn’t really talk about boxing at all – just 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 Ryan Ponto | Nov 18, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
LAKE CHELAN – You may see a couple of sharpshooters taking aim at the pigeons roosting on Lake Chelan Dam in the coming weeks, but don’t be alarmed.
Between two-to-three dozen of the birds have resisted all human efforts to trap them or scare them off. And they’re pooping everywhere, says Alene Underwood, the PUD’s Fish and Wildlife manager.
“The difference between pigeons and other birds, to be candid, is pigeons only poop when they sit,” Underwood said. “Lots of excrement is building up. We’ve tried to hose it off. Hose them off. But they keep coming back. We’re attempting to trap the birds, but they can’t seem to get them in the traps.”
That creates human health hazards, she said, because pigeons carry parasites and infectious diseases that can become airborne in the birds dried excrement.
“When the folks go out and work on the dam, we want to make sure they’re not exposed to that,” she said.
The PUD has an ongoing contract with the wildlife services division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for nuisance species removal at its dams.
USDA officials will continue to try to trap the birds, she said. If unsuccessful, they’ll use pellet guns to shoot them. Trapped pigeons are also killed.
Beginning this week, work there will take place five days a week, every other week, Underwood said. Shooters will only be at the dam an hour or two each day, at different times.
The PUD has sent fliers to people who live within an 800-foot radius of the dam to alert them to the work.
The utility has used similar measures to exterminate pigeons and cormorants at its dams, Underwood said.
The cormorant is another “nuisance” species for its tendency to feast on baby salmon.
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 17, 2016 | Pigeon Spikes
It is 8am on Friday. Traffic activity begins to pick up as cars zip by the Jai Karnataka auto rickshaw stand, located at the junction of MG Road and Brigade Road, just under the Metro Rail line. Driver Syed Yaseeen rolls to a stop in his auto rickshaw. He comes out carrying a sack, full of gram. He walks on, to a spot which is blocked off by yellow police barricades. He opens the sack, takes a handful of seeds, and tosses it into the enclosure. Within minutes, a huge flock of pigeons appears, seemingly out of nowhere. For the better part of the next hour, the enclosure is full of birds, feeding while cars honk and drivers rage about the traffic all around them..
It may be hard to believe – but for the greater part of the past decade, more than a 100 pigeons have made their home at the auto stand, right on MG Road. They gather there twice a day, every day, and are fed grains by attentive auto drivers. A few birds have been named, and respond to whistles and are beloved pets for some drivers.
“It all began in mid-2005 when traffic was restricted on MG Road due to the construction of the Metro Rail. The girders erected for rail work became seating space for lot of birds including pigeons and parrots. Some birds became friendly as we started to feed them,” says Yaseen, who along with other bird-loving drivers, decided to create a permanent space for the birds alongside their auto rickshaw stand.
Over 15 member-drivers from the auto stand approached the Bengaluru Traffic Police brass to seek permission for an enclosure to protect and feed birds. “Even though it was an unusual request, especially for such a busy stretch of road, we got the required permissions. After the rail line was completed, we then isolated the area with six iron barricades in a way that pedestrians can see the birds and even feed them, if they want to,” says auto driver Murali.
The drivers take turns in buying grains and fruits for the pigeons . The pigeons are fed twice a day, at 8 am and 4 pm every day. “We spend most of our time in this stand and it is a nice feeling to have the company of these birds who have become a part of us. Sometimes when one dies, the whole stand grieves,” says Wasim.
The drivers claim that pigeons who are comparatively bigger in size are the regulars to the spot and a few have been named.
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 16, 2016 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent
A stubborn pigeon has been filmed refusing to move in a busy city road, forcing every car to go around him or stop before a pedestrian finally dragged him out of the way.
The video shows seven vehicles swerving into the adjacent lane while going around the pigeon as he refused to move on a road in Birmingham on Friday.
The eighth vehicle stopped dead in its tracks so as not to run over the bird.
A pedestrian rushed into the centre of traffic to resolve the stand-off, removing the pigeon himself.
The pigeon was caught on camera dodging traffic on the bustling Pershore Road, near Calthorpe Park, during the lunch time rush hour.
But the bird but somehow survived on a wing and a prayer.
The unflappable character refused to move for man, beast or car, the Birmingham Mail reports.
His actions caused numerous drivers to slow down and swerve.
After a few minutes, a good Samaritan spotted the plucky pigeon, scooped it up and placed it in the safety of the road side.
A man called Alex filmed the episode.
He said: “I only noticed it sitting in the road as I walked past.
“I thought it was a bit funny of the pigeon.
“It’s as if the pigeon was having a lone protest, possibly for food.
“I only noticed when a car blew his horn for a car which had stopped, then everyone was just driving around the pigeon to avoid hitting the little guy.
“It’s possible the pigeon was weak but it’s also possible it was stubborn and simply refused to move for anyone or any vehicle.
“It’s not the kind of reason you’d expect to have a tailback on a busy road in Birmingham.”
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 15, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Pigeon Spikes
KEARNEY, Nebr. (NTV) — Pigeons are splattering gooey droppings on downtown Kearney. Now, business owners are putting pressure on the Downtown Improvement Board to make sure the poop doesn’t cut into profit.
Assistant City Manager Paul Briseno says there are several flocks of pigeons throughout Kearney, but it’s the one by the tracks downtown that have some running for cover.
“It’s been some sort of a problem for a long time,” said Linda Seals, owner of K-Town Cakes & More.
Briseno says the city estimates as many as 400 pigeons are flying, perching and pooping in downtown Kearney.
“We’re just having a lot of problems with the pigeons making messes on the sidewalk and in front of the store, and it’s not very appealing to your customers,” said Seals.
K-Town Cakes & More has been in the heart of Kearney for the past four years, and Seals says the pigeons sit inside awnings to stay warm.
“They had made a home, their little nest there. That was their place to go,” said Seals.
That has forced her and other businesses to install bird spikes to keep the pests from landing.
“We thought that would probably be the most humane thing to do to keep them away,” said Seals.
Other business owners brought their concerns to the Downtown Improvement Board.
“One of them was a hair salon, and they mentioned how a lot of times when their clients would leave the property, sometimes they would have to navigate through the pigeons defecating, if you will, on the ground as they left,” said Briseno.
Briseno says the board has taken the first step to getting rid of the muck.
“We took some bids, and are looking at some humane approaches to taking care of the matter,” said Briseno.
Briseno says once a bid is accepted, the board will know exactly when the birds will be pushed out.
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 14, 2016 | Pigeon Spikes, UltraSonic Bird Control
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — If any further proof were needed that geopolitical intrigue can stalk the humblest of Pakistan’s inhabitants, consider the recent cases of two Pakistani birds.
The first is a pigeon, a species that people all over the country raise on their rooftops as a simple, inexpensive pleasure and a brief escape from their daily struggles with poverty, corruption and clogged streets below.
Some weeks ago, tensions were running especially high between Pakistan and its perennial next-door rival India. The source was Kashmir, the disputed border region where Muslim protesters had been blinded with pellet guns and Indian soldiers had been burned to death in a late-night attack by insurgents.
Into the fog of belligerent rhetoric between the two nuclear powers wandered a white pigeon, which was caught and caged by Indian security forces in a border district adjoining Kashmir.
I realize I am sticking my neck out but would the Indian authorities please set the poor captive pigeon free?
According to Indian news agencies, the bird was suspected of having “Pakistani links” and was carrying a warning message for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The arresting officer posed with his feathered prisoner, and the image soon circulated on social media.
Around the same time, Indian authorities in Kashmir said that they had also discovered 150 dehydrated pigeons stuffed into a car and that they suspected the birds had been smuggled for purposes of espionage. An official was quoted as saying the pigeons had suspicious multicoloured rings attached to their feet. All were turned over to an animal welfare agency while police investigated the case.
Irfan Husain, a columnist for Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, suggested that the avian seizures were a sign that India remains “a deeply insecure country” despite its large size, rapidly growing economy and military might. “I realize I am sticking my neck out,” he wrote, “but would the Indian authorities please set the poor captive pigeon free?”
No such outcry has yet been raised about the potential plight of another Pakistani bird, the houbara bustard, a grey-speckled, pheasantlike creature mostly found in North Africa. In Pakistan, this rare variety of bustard is considered an endangered species, and hunting it is banned in some regions.
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty ImagesA falcon, right, tries to catch a houbara bustard during a falconry competition in Hameem in 2014.
This past week, the bustard too ran afoul of international politics, this time at the hands of Pakistan’s friends. Parties of Middle Eastern royals often bring trained falcons to hunt smaller birds in Pakistan’s northern mountains and southern deserts. For years, among their favourite targets have been bustards.
Last year, wildlife groups petitioned Pakistani courts to ban bustard-hunting, and the Supreme Court granted their request. But the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appealed, arguing it had “adversely affected the country’s diplomatic ties with the Middle Eastern countries” and noting that hunts by “foreign dignitaries also bring in considerable funds.”
One of the Sharif government’s closest allies is Qatar, and last month, a Qatari prince came to the prime minister’s rescue in a corruption case before the Supreme Court, where political opponents have accused him of hiding assets abroad, including a group of luxury apartments in London.
Sharif, who has vowed to resign if found guilty, said he had broken no laws but was struggling to explain how his family had acquired the apartments without a money trail or tax bill. Suddenly, the Qatari prince provided a letter stating that his family had given them to the Sharifs as part of an old business settlement.
This week, a Qatari prince from the same family was issued a special permit to hunt 100 bustards in northwestern Khyber-Paktunkhwa province. According to Dawn, the province’s wildlife conservator objected, saying it was a protected species. The matter has not been resolved, but the paper reported that another Qatari royal had recently “faced some resistance” while attempting to hunt bustards in Balochistan province.
“He immediately called the prime minister on the phone,” Dawn reported Sunday, “and things were sorted out.”
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 13, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products
No matter your own personal feelings about street pigeons, a visit to a major European city just wouldn’t be the same without encountering the ubiquitous winged urbanites in overwhelming droves: bathing en masse in fountains, teetering upon — and defecating from — the ledges of historic buildings, congregating in public squares in such great numbers that the pavement morphs into a filthy, squawking sea of feathers, beaks and imperious attitudes.
Similar to London, Venice and Paris, Barcelona has long struggled with taming its own sizable — and seemingly perpetually multiplying — feral pigeon (Columba livia domestica) population. City-dwelling descendants of the wild rock dove have all but taken over — and left their unsightly mark on — some of the Catalan capital city’s most popular and iconic plazas and public spaces including Plaça de Catalunya, Plaça Reial, Plaça de Sant Jaume, Parc Güell and the stressfully pigeon-heavy area around Font Màgica.
Joining animal control authorities in neighboring municipalities, Barcelona officials have signaled that it’s high time that they ramp up their pigeon control game by employing what might seem like a most unusual tactic — a tactic that’s been heralded by animal welfare activists as being exceptionally ethical when compared to other more gruesome methods of curbing feral pigeon populations.
They’re putting pigeons on the pill.
Avoiding the cull
Citing a recent article published by El Mundo, Motherboard reports that animal control authorities were initially going to go the quick and dirty route: a large-scale culling in which hundreds of birds would be rounded up and killed. However, the government was ultimately persuaded by numerous animal rights groups to consider a just-as-effective method that, ideally, will not result in a single pigeon death: providing the birds with birth control.
Following an extensive pigeon census that will help officials better understand exactly how many pigeons they are dealing with (current estimates in Barcelona hover around 85,000), 40 bird feeders stocked with contraceptive-laced pellets will be installed in particularly pigeon-heavy areas. The pellets will contain nicarbazin, an anti-parasitic drug first used to treat poultry. While effective as a coccidiostat, a well documented side-effect of the drug is that it renders female birds infertile by halting egg formation. In turn, nicarbazin has emerged as an increasingly popular choice amongst animal control experts looking to control pesky bird populations — feral pigeons and Canadian geese, in particular — without resorting to gratuitous slaughter.
A spokesman with the Barcelona city council tells the Daily Mail that officials anticipate that by providing the scourge of street pigeons with birth control, the population could drop by as much as 20 percent within just one year. Within just a few years, the population could be reduced by 70 to 80 percent.
Considering the rather harrowing current state of pigeons in Barcelona, a reduction of 80 percent will likely be viewed by most as welcoming news. But while Barcelona’s wealth of historic building and monuments will be less poop-stained and its residents and visitors less inconvenienced/intimidated thanks to such a dramatic drop in numbers, one does wonder about a virtually pigeon-free city. For better or worse, the birds are part of the urban fabric in Spain’s second largest city. Would a pigeon-free — or pigeon-lite — Plaça de Catalunya have the same authentic charm as a Plaça de Catalunya that’s swarming with hundreds of birds? Will another bird take over in the pigeons’ absence? And what will become of those little old Spanish pensioners who never, ever leave home without a small paper bag filled with breadcrumbs?
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 12, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
News — In response to a request for answers to questions posed at a special Committee of the Whole meeting on the 2017 budget, Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth submitted a report at South Frontenac Council’s regular meeting last week in Sydenham.
Of those responses, street lights and salt dome doors generated the most debate.
Segsworth told Council that the cost to run a streetlight is about $0.13 per day per light.
“The majority of our lights are 43w or 0.043 Kw and run for about 12 hours per day,” he said. “At a rate of $0.25/Kw-hour that’s 0.516 Kw per day for an estimated cost of $0.13/day per light.”
He said enough money has been set aside for about three streetlights for intersection lighting along arterial roads based on a figure of $10,000 per light if no pole is present.
“We don’t have locations yet but there are lots of potential places for streetlights,” he said.
But doors for salt domes drew more response, especially when Segsworth noted that false rumours of $10,000 per dome were circulating.
“I’m not anticipating $10,000 for doors,” he said. “More like $5,000.”
Segsworth noted that they aren’t using the domes to store winter sand an salt any more, for example the OPP boat is stored at the Hartington dome along with some cold mix and other road supplies. However, the domes seem to be popular with pigeons and with no doors on them, the birds come and go as they please, leaving droppings in their wake. This creates health and safety issues, Segsworth said.
“They (the domes) were built without doors and I don’t know a more cost effective way of dealing with the pigeons,” Segsworth said. “We have big clay owls but the bottom line is the pigeons get in and they’re problematic.”
The report also pointed to several roads projects, such as Green Bay Bridge, Carrying Place Road and Deer Creek Road.
But the suggestion that the Township buy a new garbage truck with compacting capabilities didn’t sit well with Mayor Ron Vandewal.
Segsworth said they have one truck without packing capabilities that sometimes has to be emptied three times a day, meaning extra travel time for staff. He suggested trading that one in on a truck that has packing capabilities.
“The budget we were close to passing had these things taken out,” Vandewal said. “You’re going to get zero dollars for that truck.
“Let it go to its life spawn.
“As far as which road gets done, if the budget numbers are the same, I don’t care which road it is.”
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 11, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products
Planet Earth II’s final episode last night left viewers brimming with amazement once more, this time at a giant predatory fish who hunts down pigeons.
The ancient French city of Albi plays host to ‘monstrous’ Wels catfish, who have ‘virtually exterminated the local fish stocks’ over forty years, according to David Attenborough.
And BBC One viewers could barely stomach footage of pigeons being ambushed by the scaly killers as they took a casual dip in the River Tarn.
Because pretty much everyone can agree birds are meant to eat fish, seeing the finned catfish get their own back felt all kinds of wrong.
Apparently it’s the pigeons’ biggest strength — a lack of fear — that allows the beasts to prey on them so easily.
It seems a catish is only able to pick off one pigeon at a time, usually by pulling down their feet with their mouths.
Seeing as pigeons have lived in Albi for as long as we humans have, it’s rather unfortunate that they’re now being hunted by an upstart, watery intruder.
‘After thousands of years living in this city, pigeons are now having to learn to avoid a fish,’ said Attenborough.
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 10, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting
A bar assistant who slipped in pigeon poop at the open air restaurant in which she worked at Dublin’s Heuston railway station, has been awarded almost €25,000 damages against CIÉ.
Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Raymond Groarke, heard that Leann Walsh (25) tended tables on the decking outside the Heuston Refreshment Rooms.
Barrister Karl Finnegan, counsel for Ms Walsh, told the court she had been working outdoors on May 15, 2013, when she stepped in pigeon faeces and her right leg went from under her. Mr Finnegan said she fell on her knees and back, suffering soft tissue injuries to her ankle, knees and lower back.
Gerry Ryan, counsel for CIÉ, told the court the Irish Rail Company had entered a full defence. Barrister Sarah Corcoran, for the Heuston Refreshment Rooms, said her client had denied liability.
Ms Corcoran told the court the problem of pigeons was a serious one for her client, who had asked CIÉ to deal with the matter.
Judge Groarke, awarding Ms Walsh, of Merrion Court, Blackhall Street, Dublin, €22,500 damages with special damages of €2,148, said he would make an order in favour of the restaurant against CIÉ.
He said the restaurant had tried to get CIÉ to deal with the problem but CIÉ had decided not to take appropriate steps.
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)
