FRANKFURT—The glass-enclosed newsstand on platform 102 at Frankfurt Central Station has bird decals on its doors to ward off errant pigeons. That’s nothing unusual, except the newsstand sits three stories underground.
“You expect rats or mice, but pigeons?” said traveler Ingeborg Striebl, watching one of the birds peck at crumbs that missed a trash bin. “How do they get down here? Do they come with the train?”
Europe has millions of pigeons. London’s Trafalgar Square is carpeted with them. They swarm San Marco’s square in Venice and the steps of Milan’s cathedral. But those sites are all above ground.
The pigeons of Frankfurt’s Central Station navigate underground corridors like commuters on autopilot. They come and go from the deep suburban-rail platforms by flying inches above escalator riders.
“It is striking to see them down here,” said rider Rosario Scolaro, standing near four pigeons strutting around the newsstand. “One doesn’t expect to see them under these dim ceilings.”
Frankfurt Central is hardly the world’s only city station with pigeons. But representatives for New York’s train stations and the London Underground say the birds aren’t too numerous—and don’t make too many feathers fly.
But in Frankfurt, the station’s open structure and easy access to lower levels have turned it into a subterranean aviary.
The rush-hour nature show isn’t exactly a welcome one. In an attempt to minimize the birds presence in the 19th-century landmark, station operator Deutsche Bahn Service has festooned it with nets, wires and spikes. Nothing has worked. A spokeswoman for the service calls pigeons “the plague.”
And so they keep coming, flying in every direction. It’s in their blood. Their dexterity navigating underground tunnels today “links to their heritage living in cliffs,” says Steve Portugal, a zoologist at Royal Holloway, University of London. Pigeons are the descendants of rock doves—seaside birds that live on precipices and in caves.
That helps to explain why, to pigeons, leafy green trees are for the birds. They prefer to nest on ledges, roofs, beams and other flat surfaces.
“The city perfectly mimics rock doves’ environment,” says Dr. Portugal.
Slow and rotund, pigeons struggle to soar. Their shape is adapted to short bursts of flight, often in tight spaces. Physiognomy and heritage mean pigeons, unlike other birds, have no qualms about dim lighting or spelunking.
“They’re happy to go into dark tunnels,” says Dr. Portugal. “They see a hole in a building and think ‘OK I can do this.’ ” A larger, more graceful bird in a similar spot “couldn’t get the oomph behind it to get back out.”
Humans and other objects pose no obstacle. “Sometimes they fly past at a hair’s breadth,” said Ms. Striebl, the traveler, as a pigeon swooped along the platform toward a tunnel.
Pigeons aren’t just nimble. They’re smart, too. Zoologists say they can count, solve simple puzzles and distinguish between colors and individuals.
“Pigeons could learn to tell a Picasso from a Matisse if you trained them enough,” said Luc-Alain Giraldeau, an expert on pigeons and dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Quebec. “Some have learned to wait for automatic doors to open,” he said. “Some have learned to operate automatic doors.”
And while people grumble about “flying rats,” few actually want a pigeon-free city, says Peter Havelka, a zoologist at Karlsruhe’s Natural History Museum. Pigeons are part of the collective unconscious, he contends, inextricably bound up with positive associations.
Pigeons were among the first domesticated animals; many instinctively return to their owners. People bred them for food and used their droppings as fertilizer. It’s those droppings, of course, that have soured public opinion—and made some people fearful that the birds will defecate on the fly (they don’t, according to the experts).
“It certainly happens that you have to take cover,” says Annette Drescher, who works at a bakery under the Central Station. To entice pedestrians, the bakery is completely open to the surrounding passageway, which means pigeons also whizz through. “They’re a pest because you never know when something is going to land on you,” Ms. Drescher said.
Dr. Havelka acknowledges humans “have had more profane experiences with pigeons” than as beloved pets. “One falls out of love quickly,” he said. “It’s understandable.”
Frankfurt has managed to keep its greater pigeon population under control with scattered rooftop roosts, known as dovecotes. The oversize birdhouses deter pigeons from nesting in nearby buildings. In an attempt at population control, caretakers also replace some pigeon eggs with convincing fakes—a trick that works until the birds realize their “eggs” aren’t viable. Manager Gudrun Stürmer estimates her team collects about 180 real eggs a month with the switcheroo.
Ms. Stürmer wants to build more dovecotes to help manage the population in “pigeon hot spots” like the station but few Frankfurters are eager to volunteer their rooftops. One bar owner who showed interest later backed out due to sanitation concerns.
“People don’t like them because they’re so much like us,” said Ms. Stürmer. “They’re hungry and there are many of them.” she said.
Still the central station’s pigeons have defenders. “Sometimes they fly right into your face,” said Tesfalem Haile, who works at a juice bar on the main floor. “But they’re a good sign, a symbol of peace.”
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.
BEIRUT: Rats and pigeons will no longer be able to penetrate the grain silos at Beirut Port, Economy Minister Alain Hakim assured Monday after a visit to the facility.
But a photographer from The Daily Star witnessed pigeons feeding on wheat that was poured from the silos into the open beds of delivery trucks.
“The silos were insulated from rodents, birds and [everything that comes] from the port,” Hakim told reporters after his tour.
“The silos’ internal and external work has been improved.”
Hakim’s announcement came more than two months after Health Minister Wael Abu Faour toured the facility and said he discovered that “the Lebanese are sharing wheat with rats and pigeons.”
In Monday’s comments, Hakim said Abu Faour’s visit last December was “positive in terms of remarks,” but stressed that the rehabilitation work in the silos had begun six months earlier. He added that he was in close contact with the health minister over the silos file.
But the fact that pigeons are still accessing the wheat after it is transferred to delivery trucks indicates that the risk of contamination still remains high.
“This was an inspection visit, and we will visit the silos soon with Minister Abu Faour,” Hakim said.
He noted that there was a difference between the silos in question and the “well-closed bunkers” where grains are completely isolated.
Hakim highlighted the importance of insulating the silos as part of improving the provided services, and revealed that restoration work was being carried out by the facility’s workers under the direct supervision of qualified engineers.
“Let the Lebanese rest assured that Lebanese wheat is being handled by Lebanese hands,” he said.
“The wheat is fine and we are improving the spaces surrounding it,” the economy minister added.
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.
Every region of the world seems to have a local critter dish liable to raises visitors’ eyebrows — think boiled lobsters in Maine, dried grasshoppers in Mexico, snails in France and sheep stomach in Scotland.
In Amsterdam, two artists are trying to widen their city’s list of local tasty creatures — and expand minds, too — with dishes like the My Little Pony Burger, Peace Pigeon and Bambi Ball.
Their project, The Kitchen Of The Unwanted Animal is a food truck and specialty food provider featuring animals that are, generally, considered pests and almost always considered inedible.
“I think there is a kind of block in your head because it’s a pet or [an animal that’s not typically eaten],” says Rob Hagenouw, 55, one of the founders of the Kitchen. “Here we have pet, pest and eating animals — and we don’t mix them.” But he and his partner, Nicolle Schatborn, 51, are trying to show their neighbors that these animals can be delicious, and shouldn’t be wasted.>
It all started five years ago with a wild goose stew Schatborn and Hagenouw made for an art fair as part of a larger installation. The stew got them wondering about what happened to geese and other animals that were considered “unwanted” in Holland.
“For the past 50 years, it has not been normal to eat the goose in Holland because in the [1970s] the goose was a rare animal,” Hagenouw says.
European laws enacted in the 1970s to protect the rare geese remain in place — the geese cannot be killed unless considered a danger and cannot be sold for profit. In part as a result of these laws, the population of geese has grown to the point of becoming problematic, especially at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport. Hunters are hired to shoot geese, in a very regulated way, to curb the dangers the birds pose to the engines of flying aircraft and to farmers’ fields. Now, some 400,000 geese are shot in Holland each year and then discarded, often being sent to factories to be ground into pet food.
Schatborn and Hagenouw started talking to some hunters, discovering that the hunted geese were “wasted,” and finally developed the idea to start a food truck. Their first product? Schipol Geese Croquettes.
The croquettes are prepared by boiling the meat, then adding butter to make a thick sauce and, eventually, rolling them in breadcrumbs. It’s an easy entre into the edible goose.
At first, the Schatborn-Hagenouw team made a workshop out of cleaning and preparing the geese, with friends helping out. (They discovered it’s pretty tedious work, so they now bring the geese to a butcher that specializes in birds.)
Rob Hagenouw and Nicolle Schatborn with their geese croquettes, made with boiled goose meat, butter and breadcrumbs.
Rob Hagenouw and Nicolle Schatborn with their geese croquettes, made with boiled goose meat, butter and breadcrumbs.
Courtesy of Rob Hagenouw
And how have the croquettes gone over? “Everyone likes it,” says Hagenouw. But more importantly, he says, it’s a conversation piece. “It was a start – a way to talk about what else is wasted.”
Initially, Hagenouw says, the plan was to wrap up the project after a year. But then they found out about the muskrat.
The semi-aquatic rodent is not indigenous to Holland; one legend has it that a duke brought them in from Hungary for fur in the 1870s. Some escaped and today, 150,000 or more of the invasive critters have made their homes in holes dug into Dutch canals.
Fortunately for The Kitchen For The Unwanted Animal, they’re also tasty.
“Muskrats are plant eaters, so they are really, really delicious when you cook them,” Hagenouw says.
Restrictions on hunters can sometimes make planning for the Kitchen tough. The Kitchen For The Unwanted Animal hosts a five-course “Big Pest Dinner” with a local restaurant twice a year. At a recent dinner, coot, a medium-sized water bird, was on the menu thanks to a hunter who was required by the government to catch enough that it should have supplied the dinner. But, at the last minute, he was told by government regulators that he was not allowed to catch any more.
“We had to find something else,” Hagenouw says. “[Hunting of these animals] is really restricted, it’s very bureaucratic, which is a good thing. We don’t like it when the animals are just shot for fun.”
The “Big Pest Dinner” menu — and that of the food truck — changes based on what’s available at the time. Which brings us to, maybe, the menu item that draws the most attention: the My Little Pony Burger.
The food truck sells about 100 My Little Pony Burgers a day at festivals.i
The food truck sells about 100 My Little Pony Burgers a day at festivals.
Arthur de Smidt /Courtesy of Nicolle Schatborn
Many people in Holland have horses as pets. But as Hagenouw tells it, during the economic crisis in 2011-2012, many families had to give them up because of the high cost of taking care of them. The sale price for a horse dropped by 80 percent.
There were a lot of horses on the market — and many ended up at the butcher. The Kitchen started buying meat from one of a few butchers that specialize in processing horse meat. The food truck now sells about 100 burgers a day at festivals.
“It’s nice meat,” Hagenouw says. “‘Ah, they have My Little Pony burgers,’ little girls will say. Most of the time the girls eat the burgers; it’s the mothers who don’t like it.”
He does say that not all the feedback is positive, especially in the case of the horse burgers. Long ago, horse was eaten in Holland (it’s still a delicacy in some parts of Italy and elsewhere), but only the older set remember, Hagenouw says. But Schatborn and Hagenouw say they try use it as an opportunity to educate people – asking what they eat, suggesting they think about how eating something like chicken differs— from eating goose or horse. They hope that people will recognize that eating horse, for example, is no different than eating cow.
Their “Peace Pigeon” roll – made by baking white breast of pigeon to rare, to prevent it from getting chewy — gets a lot of comments like, “pigeons are disgusting” or “they have diseases” from passersby. But, Hagenouw says, all of their food is prepared by providers under European food safety regulations. So, like with all of their offerings, they try to tell its story. They tell the story of pre-WWII times when pigeons were eaten more frequently. And how in WWII pigeons saved men in war by acting as messengers. And they write poems, like this one:
this is the kitchen of the undesired animal
the continuing polluting beast
the ones we see as an infestation
that bother us in our movements
those birds that ruin our safety
the rats are undermining the dikes
sometimes cultivated
for economic reasons or
fun meat or fur
eventually escaped and
without enemies they live free
and get loads of small ones
and we !!!
we are disturbed !!!!!!
the kitchen of the undesired animal says
no destruction
no needless waste
we shall eat!!!!!!
The Kitchen intends to take their truck on the road, starting this summer, to Belgium and, possibly, France. Next up, they hope to bring the fallow deer and the black crow to people’s plates — both of which are overabundant in Holland. They’ve also been working with crawfish, not native to Holland, and parakeets, considered invasive. And, Schatborn and Hagenouw have started researching unwanted animals in places as far as Korea and Australia.
The Kitchen Of The Unwanted Animal has also begun selling its geese croquettes to restaurants and pubs. And their food truck has been the inspiration for hunters, who’ve begun selling their own croquettes.
Hunters Martijn van de Reep and Tom Zinger say that the Kitchen was an inspiration for starting their Gebroeders de Wolf charcuterie — a butchery focused on goose about six months ago. They make rillettes, patés, smoked breast and dried sausages, selling them to other specialty stores, restaurants and supermarkets.
Maybe, a few years from now, the goose will not be so unwanted.
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.
The charity has now put out an appeal to homeowners to be careful with netting they put on their roofs to deter gulls this summer.
RSPCA inspector Liz Wheeler said: “We see this kind of thing happening all the time during the summer months.
“People put netting on their rooftops to deter birds from nesting but it’s often not put up properly, causing birds to become trapped and to suffer.”
Safely in the arms of the firefighter
Firefighters had to cut the bird out of the strong nylon netting and wire on the roof in Princess Avenue, Worthing, It was found to have some wing damage, so the bird was taken to a local vet, who kept it in overnight so it could regain some energy after its ordeal.
Ms Wheeler added: “It is an offence to intentionally trap wild birds like gulls, so we are asking people to be mindful of their actions and make sure that if they do use netting, they install it correctly and regularly check and maintain it.
“We spend all summer getting trapped gulls out of roof netting and it’s easily avoidable.”
Gulls and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and it is illegal to intentionally kill, take or injure wild birds – action can be taken against them only under licence. Anyone who traps a bird may then be responsible for its care under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
We spend all summer getting trapped gulls out of roof netting and it’s easily avoidable
RSPCA inspector Liz Wheeler
It is also illegal to take or damage a nest or egg of a wild bird. Herring gulls in particular are a species of conservation concern in the UK and research has shown that overall herring gull populations are actually in decline.
Each year, around 2,000 reports are made to the RSPCA about wild birds trapped in or behind netting. A major cause is bird-deterrent netting. This can be a humane and effective way of keeping birds off structures without resorting to lethal measures, but it must be fit for purpose, correctly installed and regularly checked and maintained.
Problems arise when netting is put up incorrectly or becomes damaged, leaving gaps where birds can enter and become trapped. These birds can suffer a long and painful death from injury or starvation. Bird-deterrent netting is often fixed in high or hard-to-reach areas, making the rescue of trapped animals difficult and dangerous.
People who see dead birds in netting, or are aware of a regular issue of birds becoming trapped in netting, are asked to tell the RSPCA the address, property owner (if known) and date of the incident by emailing wildlife@rspca.org.uk. The charity will then write to the owner with advice and guidance.
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.
DAHO FALLS, Idaho — Police in Idaho Falls have lifted a code red for the downtown area after a gunman was spotted on top of a commercial building on North Eastern avenue.
The incident happened at 550 North Eastern Ave. on the corner of Birch Street at Great Western Foods.
Officers blocked streets surrounding the building between First and Broadway and Boulevard and Shoup Avenue.
The IFPD and Bonneville County swat teams responded to the area.
After an hour, the swat team was able to get the gunman off the roof of great western foods.
They then identified him as a 16-year-old boy with a pellet rifle and scope.
Officers spent several minutes trying to get the teenager to put the gun down and leave the roof, but after making eye contact with officers he ducked and hid.
Officers say the boy was on top of the roof at great western foods shooting pigeons.
Joelyn Hansen spokesperson for the police department says the boy will not face charges.
“Officers you know are the ones that you know just depends what is going to be the best avenue as far as address the situation and that’s why it’s left to officer’s discretion,” said Hansen.
No injuries were reported and the name of the boy is not being released
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.
DEAR JOAN: I am writing about a barking dog problem, and it’s not what you think.
We live in a very quiet neighborhood and are retired, so we are home a lot. Our next-door neighbors have two small dogs that usually spend all day in their backyard. Surprisingly, they tend to be very quiet for a couple of “ankle-biters.” They only bark briefly when somebody walks past, or in response to a dog on the other side of their fence, or for other normal reasons.
About once a day they go bonkers when their owner comes home (they know the sound of his car), but that only lasts for a minute at most, and the way they carry on actually makes me laugh.
Cute is cute, but a dog’s barking can lead to trouble. (Jill Johnson/Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Somebody nearby has complained about these dogs to the county and our neighbor has now gotten two letters notifying him to keep them quieter. He is doing his best to improve the situation, but cannot confer with whoever complained because they took the coward’s way out and never attempted to meet with him directly.
How can our neighbor defend himself and his dogs? We are the residents most affected by the barking, and we do not mind. There are plenty of other dogs in the area that bark more than these two, and for no particular reason.
Can the county do anything to take away his dogs? Shouldn’t the county survey all the neighbors to determine the seriousness of the problem, rather than rely on one person’s anonymous complaint? It is kind of surprising to me that I am taking the side of the dog owner, but I am steaming mad that somebody is being a cowardly jerk.
Barbara Hill
El Cerrito
DEAR BARBARA: The county is obligated to notify the owner when someone makes a complaint about excessive noise, but for a full investigation to be launched, two or more people, living in different households within 300 feet of the barking dog, must make complaints.
The law defines excessive noise as being “so continuously or incessantly as to unreasonably disturb the peace or quiet.”
Whether the county is officially investigating or not, it would behoove your neighbor to be proactive. If it is determined that the dogs are a nuisance, they may be taken away and euthanized. The owner also can face fines and fees. Plus, keeping dogs as quiet as possible is the good neighbor and responsible pet owner thing to do.
I’d recommend leaving the dogs indoors, where their barking would be muted. If that’s not possible, there are many anti-barking devices on the market.
First Alert recently sent me its Bark Genie automatic ultrasonic bark deterrent unit to try with my yappy dog. The device emits a high-pitched sound when it detects barking.
It stopped my dog in mid-bark, but it also made him not want to be inside the house when it was turned on. He moped around like I’d taken his favorite toy away from him. I’m now experimenting with the company’s handheld device.
The devices can be placed outdoors, and considering what’s at stake, trying them would be a good idea. There also are anti-bark collars that emit ultrasonic sounds or release a spray of citronella. Personally, I wouldn’t use a shock collar.
You also can write a letter of support, outlining your experience. Your testimony could be important if nuisance charges are 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.
FRANKFURT—The glass-enclosed newsstand on platform 102 at Frankfurt Central Station has bird decals on its doors to ward off errant pigeons. That’s nothing unusual, except the newsstand sits three stories underground.
