An animal owner in Luzerne County is under investigation after several animals were left outside in frigid temperatures.
More than a dozen dogs and farm animals were left with no food or heat.
State police spent their New Year’s at a home near Wapwallopen investigating the incident where they found dogs kept outside with chickens, goats, and pigeons.
“Lacking shelter, two dogs to one small shelter with frozen water is just not sufficient,” said Mary Sult of the Animal Resource Center.
Troopers and Luzerne County SPCA came to the home on Cemetery Drive Sunday evening to confiscate the dogs and other animals. Pigeons and chickens are still there, left in the cold weather.
Neighbors alerted the Animal Resource Center near Bloomsburg about the conditions. Sult went to the home to provide food and that’s when the investigation started.
“I really have to toast them for the new year because they’re the ones who saved these animals,” said Sult.
The owner was not home at the time. Authorities brought the animals to a local shelter. Now, animal activists are warning others that might be doing the same thing.
“Bring your animals inside,” said Sult. “It does not take much and if you can’t bring them inside then don’t have them.”
Sult says no animal should be outside for more than 20 minutes when it’s 32 degrees or colder. That’s the new state “Libre’s Law,” which makes a conviction for such an offense a felony.
“They would have been in these temperatures for weeks and who knows if they would have survived,” said Sult.
Sult says if you can’t care for them, take them to your local shelter. It may cost a few bucks, but it might be cheaper than animal cruelty charges.
We are waiting on more information on whether charges will be filed.
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.
Winter migratory birds are being sighted farther away from Delhi-NCR as the region’s own wetlands shrink into nothing. This stands true for Haryana’s Sultanpur and Basai, Uttar Pradesh’s Surajpur and Dadri, and Delhi’s own Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Sanjay Jheel and Yamuna Khadar – former rich habitats of winter-roosting avians.
Dr. Surya Prakash, a renowned biologist from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), indicated towards this in a retrospective of rare birds seen in Delhi and NCR in year 2017, on Sunday.
Wild birds are natural indicators of a healthy ecosystem. They thrive only in peaceful habitats and pollution-free environment.
Dr. Prakash said, “This year was good for birding primarily due to rains. Dhanauri wetlands in UP remained on top in number of birding trips being a ‘Sarus crane paradise.’ For many birders, Najafgarh jheel attracted due to its Greater flamingos and Common cranes.”
“Birders enjoyed Sultanpur National Park (SNP) flats to witness Stoliczka’s Bushchat’s mesmerising ‘puff-n-roll’ display. Indian Pitta and Cuckoo Shrike showed up as usual at Mangar but the highlights were Jungle Bush Quail and Greater Rackettail drongo seen at SNP and Mangar forests each,” he said.
Sohail Madan of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) reported Eurasian Griffon and King Vulture from Asola Bhatti Mines along with the second sighting of Brown Hawk Owl from the same area, Dr. Prakash added.
One Gyps species of vulture was reported from Okhla Bird Park also and a birder, CB Maurya, reported 40 Black Storks from RK Puram, that’s the highest number till date in the history of Delhi. One of the most interesting sightings from NCR cities was that of six Slavonian grebe ducks from Dighal in Haryana by birding enthusiast Rakesh Ahlawat.
Veteran birder Anand Arya said, “We have lost about 150-200 rich and healthy bird habitats over the past decade. Basai wetlands in Haryana were fed by a canal in arrangement with the irrigation department, which has now reduced to about onefourth its size. Sultanpur and Okhla Bird sanctuaries are dying due to bad management. The Yamuna Khadar has been lost to illegal agriculture and mining while Dadri and Hasanpur have gone to construction. Ponds in villages Mandkoula and Mandnaka in Palwal, Haryana, are also lost.”
Bird lovers are now venturing farther to Haryana’s pristine Dighal and Yamunanagar wetlands, which are still unspoilt by development, he said.
But interestingly, Dr. Prakash noted that forest-based raptor birds, previously seen in forest areas mainly, are now being spotted in Delhi more often, thanks to the explosion in population of feral pigeons and common mynas that serve as easy prey.
“We are spotting more of Common kestrel, Perigreen Falcon, Booted Eagle, Bonalese eagles, large owls and shikras than before – most of them with pigeon kills,” he said.
“This is besides the scavenging birds – black kites, vultures and common crows – which frequent landfills. This is quite notable for town planners and civic authorities too as pigeons are believed to be a big nuisance and carriers of diseases, believe some experts,” he informed.”
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.
Mysuru: Helping Hands’ Kabutar Daan, a project for providing food grains to Pigeons in front of Kote Anjenayaswamy Temple at the North Gate of Mysore Palace, which was started on Jan. 1, 2015 is going a step forward by successfully completing three years of feeding pigeons tomorrow.
Inspired by a Hyderabad tourist, Rajan Baghmar and Anand Patwa of Helping Hands, began the project under ‘Helping Hands Kabutar Daan Project.’
The project which began with just four members now has about 28 members, who feed the pigeons with food grains such as Bajara, Jower, Wheat, Fried Gram, Moong Dal etc., on all 365 days of the year braving all types of climate.
Birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions such as Independence Day, Republic Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Kannada Rajyotsava etc., are celebrated at the feeding venue with members Jambu Lodha, Sunil Patwa, Dinesh Bohra, Adesh Lodha and Vijay Bhora writing the names of the persons celebrating birthdays and names of festivals and other occasions with food grains.
About 200kg of food grains is fed to the pigeons by the organisation along with the members of the public, who too are feeding the pigeons daily in front of Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple. Helping Hands have started feeding Kabutar (Pigeon) at City Stanik Bhavan in Halladakeri twice a week. The total requirement of food grains per month is nearly 7,000 kg and around 84,000 kg a year which cost about 18 lakh per year. The expenses is pooled in by the members and also through generous donations from the public.
Helping Hands has been awarded with ‘Pride of Mysore’ by Pragathi Prathistan and Kannada Kriya Vedike has honoured Helping Hands Kabutar Daan Project during Kannada Rajyotsava celebration.
Along with Kabutar Daan Project, Helping Hands is also involved in various social activities. They have adopted a Government School in Ittigegud where they are providing books and other stationary items, tables and chairs, uniforms to poor school children besides providing financial assistance to poor students to pursue higher education under ‘Shiksa Project.’
The organisation is also undertaking eye screening camps, artificial limb distribution camps, heart and sugar check up camps regularly besides providing financial assistance for poor patients to undergo various surgeries.
Helping Hands thanking everyone for their support and has urged the public to join them in celebrating New Year by feeding pigeons in Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple at 6.30 am tomorrow.
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.
Don Hickman lives on Sauvie Island, but hunts ducks at a friend’s farm.
…Which is where he was pleasantly surprised to take three banded mallards Wednesday. A single banded mallard – bands are used on relatively few ducks to monitor their movements during migration – is unusual, but three in one day is rare.
And they weren’t his only reward for hunting in the rain.
Hiking back to his rig, he recognized two forms sitting in the branches of the only tall tree along a fenceline. A couple of no. 7 steel shotshells later, he added a pair of doves to his duck strap.
But not native mourning doves.
Mourning dove season lasts through October, but Hickman’s similar quarry can be taken all year – no season; no limit.
Nor are they common rock pigeons, also subject to year-round hunting.
Rather, these were Eurasian collared doves; larger and lighter than mourning doves and marked by a distinctive band around the back of the neck.
Collared doves reproduce naturally, but aren’t native to Oregon or even the western Hemisphere.
First seen in the Caribbean in the 1970s, collared doves showed up in Florida in the 1980s and quickly spread across the continent. Most states consider them invasive. They’re popular among hunters across Texas and the southeast.
“They’re pretty well-established,” said Brandon Reishus, migratory bird biologist for theOregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Kind of like feral poultry.”
Oregon biologists began noticing collared doves in 2000. They were common across most of Eastern Oregon within four or five years and by the end of the decade were seen statewide, from desert to sea.
Reishus said the department didn’t initially allow hunting, but then relented and allowed hunters to take collared doves during the mourning dove season.
While other states opened hunting with no limits, the agency remained concerned for awhile hunters might mistake mourning doves for collared, but hunters in other states were easily able to discriminate so a few years ago, Oregon removed collared doves from its protected bird list.
That means they can be taken any time, along with house sparrows and starlings. A hunting license is required on public land.
The same is true in Washington, which also requires a hunting license.
It does not, by the way, eliminate city or local laws prohibiting shooting or trespass laws on private property.
Which is where most collared doves are found, although they’re probably still spreading into available habitat.
“They seem to be associated with humans,” Reishus said. “They’re not real common away from structures.”
That includes farms and rural communities, where permission to hunt big game or game birds might be problematic, but easier to obtain for rock pigeons and collared doves.
Reishus said many believe collared doves compete with mourning doves for food and nests, but there hasn’t been much research and biologists don’t believe it’s a problem, although “people still don’t buy it,” he said.
Collared doves are “seed generalists,” Reishus said. “They’ll eat any seed they can get down their throat.
They’re also opportunistic nesters, i.e, just about anywhere they can pull a few twigs together and most likely don’t migrate nearly as much as mourning doves.
“They probably move with the snow to find food,” Reishus said, “but they won’t take off like migrating birds.”
Hickman breasted his doves and put them in a crockpot with some teal and cream of mushroom soup.
“They taste like a migratory bird,” he said. “But not as strong. It’s a milder dark meat.”
Speaking of invasives: The Oregon Bass and Panfish Club held its annual all-species fish-in Sept. 30 in Multnomah Channel.
Anglers caught 10 non-natives: Yellow perch; black and white crappie; largemouth and smallmouth bass; pumpkinseed; bluegill; bullhead and channel catfish, and walleye.
On cue, this coming week’s meeting Thursday, from 7-9 p.m. in the East Portland Community Center, 740 SE 106th Ave., will be about which color lures to use for fall walleye and smallmouth bass.
(Last year, by the way, large smallmouth were caught nearly all winter in the Columbia River Gorge.)
Washington may ease angling regs: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is simplifying fishing rules for the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to consider.
Among the proposals are standardized seasons in streams and rivers, the end of most mandatory steelhead retention rules and lifting all bag and size limits for bass, walleye and catfish in rivers and streams.
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.
Paul Charlton aka Pigeon Man is due to be sentenced this morning for breaking an order barring him from feeding birds.
Charlton, of no fixed address, is a well-known figure in Bath, often seen under the arches off Stall Street with pigeons perching on him.
However, he was prosecuted in January for the antics despite being subject to a community protection notice ordering him to stop.
It landed him with a criminal behaviour order – which he has since broken on six occasions.
He was first charged with defying the order only seven days after it was made, on January 30, and four more times in February and once in March.
The 42-year-old admitted the offences when he appeared at Bath Magistrates’ Court on September 25.
His hearing was adjourned so a pre-sentence report could be prepared by the probation service.
Charlton is due back in courtroom 1 for sentencing this morning (Wednesday, October 18).
Follow our blog for everything that happens in this case and updates on this morning’s other hearings.
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.
It is filo pastry filled with minced pigeon meat and almonds.
A bit different to the bacon sarnies of UK golf clubs but then golfing in Marrakech is different, too.
And you won’t have to contend with freezing temperatures either.
I was at the Royal Palm resort in February, and despite views of the snow-capped Atlas mountains in the background, it was 28C.
Flights from Gatwick to Marrakech take three hours 20 minutes.
Then it is just a ten-minute drive to the city centre with its hotels and courses.
That meant we could sneak a quick round in at the Royal Palm before we even checked in at the Four Seasons hotel.
When I did finally make it to my Garden Room there, I found a massive king-size bed, a separate dressing room and a bathroom with its own postcode.
Outside was an immense balcony with room for a table and chairs plus a cushion-filled nook.
Even in February it was warm enough for a pre-dinner beer on the terrace before tucking in to local cuisine of pigeon pasties, chicken and fish tagine.
The Moroccan wine and beer went down very well, too.
With it being a mainly Muslim country, I had pretty much assumed this would be a dry trip.
Not the case at all. Locals are happy to have a beer or two and are extremely proud of their Casablanca lager.
The next morning it was off to the jewel of the golfing trip at Assoufid.
The desert course, which again features stunning views of the Atlas mountains, is only three years old and was voted Africa’s best new course in 2016 by the World Golf Awards.
But be prepared to wave goodbye to a few balls when you play the cluster of holes surrounding the Dip of Death, a canyon running right through the course.
By now it was time for a little local culture and a trip to the world-famous Jemaa el-Fnaa square.
In the space of ten minutes you can come across snake charmers, get lost in the warrens of the souk marketplace and try the local street food which includes anything from the freshest orange juice to huge pans of fried snails.
The 12th century Koutoubia Mosque towers over everything, despite only being 77 metres high, as local law dictates no other building can be taller.
We sought sanctuary and dinner in one of the riads — boutique-style hotels in the heart of the city.
On our last day, we squeezed in one more round at the splendidly named Palmeraie Palace golf resort.
This was holiday golf at its best, not too taxing and the chance to give the ball a good smack.
There are three loops of nine holes to choose from.
If you’ve not had enough after all that wild swishing, the golf-obsessed can pop to the Four Seasons spa — where they will soothe your aching muscles with a golf-ball massage.
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.
