by Pigeon Patrol | Aug 16, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News
Hundreds of trained homing pigeons were burned to death in their rooftop coop as a massive inferno tore through five Brooklyn buildings Tuesday night, officials and residents said Wednesday.
The fire broke out at a building on DeKalb Avenue between Wilson and Knickerbocker avenues in Bushwick at around 10 p.m. and quickly engulfed several other surrounding structures.
Gil Areiliares, who had maintained the coop for more than 20 years, kept at least 500 pigeons atop 1427 DeKalb Ave., where there is now a charred, gaping hole.
Only about 20 pigeons survived. They were spotted circling above the charred and destroyed buildings Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t know how to put it in words — I’m sick,” a distraught Areiliares told The Post. “My heart is broken.”
Pigeons from the coops caught up in the fire are seen flying in Bushwick before the massive blaze.
Video courtesy of Abigale Hoke
About 200 firefighters battled the flames for more than three hours before bringing it under control by 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The blaze left 11 people injured and dozens of families displaced, officials said. The Red Cross helped to relocate families.
Four of the injured were taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center for treatment, including one firefighter who suffered minor injuries and a civilian who was seriously wounded.
Seven people were treated at the scene for minor injuries and smoke inhalation, fire officials said.
Edwin Torres, whose relatives live in one of the burnt buildings, said he was told the pigeons were “screaming like babies” during the fire.
Neighbors recalled marveling at the pigeons as the flock flew high above the area before returning to their roof.
“They used to fly the pigeons at sunset — it was so beautiful,” said Abigale Hoke, who set up a GoFundMe account to help raise money for displaced victims of the blaze.
“RIP #bushwick pigeons,” posted Twitter user @4rilla along with a 10-second video of the flock.
The FDNY was still investigating cause of the fire Wednesday.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Aug 15, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News
Pigeon droppings harbour a fungus that could lead to hardening of lung tissues in humans and controlling the infection in the birds will help in reducing the incidence of lung diseases in Mumbai, said doctors at a conference in the city to discuss on zoonotic diseases or infections that can be passed between animals and humans.
Doctors stated that the increase in the number of people with interstitial lung disease, or stiffening of the organ, in the city can be linked to the nesting of pigeons.
“We had a hospital employee who after retirement developed difficulty in breathing. As she had a family history of asthma, we first suspected that,” said Dr Amita Athavle, head and professor, chest medicine, KEM Hospital, Parel.
“She was treated and once she went home her symptoms reappeared. She told us that her landlord feeds pigeons, which was actually the cause for her medical condition.” Dr Athavle prescribed the patient to change her residence. “She shifted to Vashi and her symptoms disappeared. To prevent such cases, we need to find a solution to treat the pigeons so that they don’t spread the disease to humans,” said Athavle.
Experts said that several countries to reduce the transmission of such lung conditions owing to pigeons’ advocate fertility control pills to reduce their population. “As pigeons have a 45-day memory, we ask our patients to spread something bitter around their nesting place to stop them from coming,” said Dr Athavle , adding that people with compromised immunity are the worst affected. Doctors said that elderly, people who have undergone a transplant, children and those with compromised lungs can easily develop the condition.
Dr Pratit Samdani, physician, Breach Candy Hospital, said that in several patients’ exposure to pigeon dropping is the cause for developing pneumonia. “Some patient even land up on ventilator support because of pneumonia which is caused by the exposure to such droppings,” said Dr Samdani.
According to Dr Om Shrivastav, infectious disease consultant who was speaking at the conference, adult vaccination is the way forward.
“Childhood vaccination will not necessarily give you prolonged lifelong immunity. Vaccination against influenza is a must,” said Dr Shrivastav.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Aug 14, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Spikes, UltraSonic Bird Control
Heartbreaking sight: Hapless pigeons lie dead on a complex rooftop in Margate.
My wife and I are on leave at the moment and went for a walk to the Margate beach this morning (March 21). In the parking area near the tidal pool, we noticed a pigeon in distress with mucus foaming from its beak. My wife cleaned away the foam and gave it water. We then placed it in a safe place and checked on it again after breakfast. It was still foaming and needed help so we took it home, fed it oats, which is the only thing we had available at the time, but we know it absorbs mucus and is nutritious.
We searched for an open vet, but since it was a public holiday, we found none. Upon our return to the flat in the afternoon, we discovered that the pigeon was looking healthy – no foaming and very alert. I took it downstairs and without any hesitation, it flew away. When I got back to the flat, my wife said that I must take a look at the roof of the complex next door, saying she was sure that it was connected to the distressed pigeon we rescued. Some idiot must have poisoned the pigeons. I counted 11 dead pigeons on the roof.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Aug 13, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes
Brisbane City Council has removed “aggressive and cruel-looking” bird deterrent spikes from the recently revitalised Shorncliffe Pier, north of Brisbane.
The 350-metre pier, originally built in the 1880s, reopened to the public last month after a $20 million renewal project.
As part of the project, bird deterrent spikes were added to the tall lamp posts along the length of the pier to prevent birds from defecating on visitors.
Geoffrey Redman from the Sandgate Environmental Appreciation Society said the group had become concerned about the birds being injured.
“They were unsightly and cruel looking,” he said of the spikes.
“This site was known for birds and we needed to get rid of them to save the birds that use the area.
“When we had the pier for the last 100 years we didn’t have these.
“Other bird deterrents I’ve seen have been bird friendly, but these spikes were ugly-looking and the public agreed.”
Councillor David McLachlan, who was in charge of the Shorncliffe Pier renewal project, said the spikes went unnoticed during the opening.
“When the pier was reopened at Easter I didn’t notice at the time and thousands of people that were there afterwards didn’t either,” he told 612 ABC Brisbane’s Spencer Howson.
“The issue was raised to us via Facebook and we made the decision to take them off.”
Finding deterrents for pigeons not easy
Cr McLachlan said pigeons were an ongoing issue for most building managers in Brisbane and finding a deterrent could be difficult.
“When the project team looked at what might happen along the pier, and keeping it clean, they concluded that it’s easier to deter them in the first place,” he said.
“The 340-metre-long pier has a lot of timber work and the lamps are hard to clean along the pier — there’s 18 to 19 posts.
“The design of the lamps has a slight point to it which we hope will now deter most birds.”
He said council would keep the new pier as clean as possible.
“We’ll have crews out there a couple of times a week keeping it clean of bird poo and fish guts,” he said.
“We’ll see what happens on the pier, but at this stage we won’t return to the pier with further deterrents there.”
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 Pigeon Patrol | Aug 10, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services
Bald eagles aren’t just an iconic national symbol south of the border — here in Toronto, they’re the noble and brave protectors of garbage dumps.
Local landfills are plagued by garbage-eating seagulls. They harm themselves by eating unnatural food sources and can harm the environment by carrying trash outside the landfill.
The city’s eco-friendly solution to that problem? Massive birds of prey that swoop in and scare the seagulls away.
“We train these raptors to chase the gulls away,” said Stephen Bucciarelli, president of Predator Bird Services Inc. “It’s essentially their job to do it. But to them it’s not going to work, they just have fun all day flying around.”
This one-year-old bald eagle is just one of the predatory birds that scares seagulls away from Toronto landfills. It’s still young and will grow to have a white feathered head as it becomes mature.
Falconry is a practice that dates back thousands of years. The predatory birds, including hawks and falcons, were trained to catch prey as food for humans before guns became a common tool in hunting.
Within the last 40 years, companies like Bucciarelli’s have used falconry as a form of bird control.
“We’ve learned how to manage these birds so they are really comfortable at work and effective at it,” he said.
A one-year-old bald eagle is one of the predators that soars across Toronto landfills.
Stephen Bucciarelli is president of Predator Bird Services Inc. The company trains birds of prey to scare away other, smaller birds.
“He’s just learning the ropes of flying in the wind and he’s doing really well,” Bucciarelli said, adding that the eagle and its winged colleagues are so effective at their job that gulls don’t even frequent the landfills anymore — they’ve learned to stay far away.
It’s a win-win because the seagulls don’t know what’s good for them, he said.
“It’s not good for birds to eat unnatural food sources, so if we’re scaring them…they’re going to be eating from natural sources like fish rather than things leftover from humans,” Bucciarelli said.
Seagulls that are harming the environment and themselves by eating unnatural food sources at landfills better watch out. This bald eagle is serious about protecting city territory.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Aug 9, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services
Don’t blame the raccoons for this one.
At least one of Toronto’s new supposedly raccoon-proof green bins has been chewed up a week after it was wheeled out in Scarborough.
Brad Gates of Gates Wildlife tells Moore in the Morning it looks to him that this is the work of either a squirrel or a rat.
The bite marks on the bin’s plastic lid tell the tale.
The city’s response to the chewed up bin? Try a home remedy: sprinkle a bit of hot sauce on the lid.
“It is not indestructible,” Jim McKay, general manager of solid waste services, says of the new bin.
He says the unique part of the new bin is the locking lid. The rest of it is pretty standard.
McKay says the plastic is basically the same material and thickness as the old bins, which also had squirrel problems.
He does not sound too concerned, adding that only 0.5 per cent of the old bins would have to be replaced each year due to animal damage.
Gates adds there will be pockets of Toronto more overrun by squirrels where the new green bins will be “rendered useless”.
But Gates says there is not much that can guarantee rodents stay out.
“We see raccoons and squirrels chew through metal all the time in our business,” he warns. “As long as they can get an edge to start to open up a hole, they will begin to chew on it.”
Mayor John Tory, who has been a part of two staged photo ops in the last year to show off the new bins joked about the breach on twitter.
Speaking on the Moore in the Morning roundtable councillor Shelley Carroll says city staff has some explaining to do.
“We guaranteed to people that you gotta do the change-out, the locking mechanism will keep out the raccoons. How did they not know about this?”
The city is paying a California firm $31-million for a 10-year contract to replace and maintain Toronto’s 500,000 green bins.
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)
