by Pigeon Patrol | Aug 12, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
Temporary work to address the pigeon infestation and roof repairs at the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court is expected to begin today.
This was confirmed by the Judiciary in a statement yesterday, following complaints by court users and workers about the current situation at the court building.
Last week, reporters were forced to abandon the press table in the First Magistrates’ Court after pigeon droppings fell on them from a gaping hole in the roof above their heads. And earlier this week, pigeon poop fell on the clothes of another reporter and on a clerical worker.
Pigeons flying through the court rooms while court is in session and intense heat have become a “normal thing” in the courthouse. There is also a large yellow tarpaulin covering the dilapidated roof of the building.
“We are so fed up complaining. We don’t know what to do again,” an employee told the T&T Guardian.
The release stated that the Judiciary, having recognised the age of and the adverse conditions plaguing the court, has over the past years undertaken a number of short-term measures and embarked upon plans for longer-term solutions to provide a safe and comfortable working environment for its staff and for court users.
It stated that a structural survey of the court’s roof was undertaken in 2014 and a consulting engineer recommended work on its structural framework, as well as the replacement of the roof sheets.
The Central Tenders Board has been engaged to tender for design, engineering, cost consultancies and project management/supervision for this project, the release stated.
However, the Judiciary said the work will only be undertaken when the building is vacated.
Court operations are expected to be relocated to a property at 1-3 Court Street, San Fernando, which is currently being prepared. It is expected to be ready for occupation by year’s end, the Judiciary confirmed.
“In the interim, the issues at the current court location, such as the pigeon infestation and the need to undertake temporary roof repairs, are being addressed.”
The Judiciary further stated that work was expected to begin today and would include the installation of louvered windows to prevent the entry of pigeons to the courtrooms.
The Judiciary also said yesterday that progress had been made in the upgrade of several courts, including at Mayaro, Siparia and Princes Town.
The Chaguanas Magistrates Court, on which extensive work has been done, is expected to be completed and re-opened within the next six weeks, it 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 Pigeon Patrol | Aug 2, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
Humans could become better at switching between tasks – such as shifting from emailing to taking a phone call – if they behaved more like pigeons and stopped thinking about what they are doing, research by psychologists at the University of Exeter suggests.
In an experiment that compared humans’ ability to switch between tasks with that of pigeons, the researchers found that while the birds’ way of learning to do tasks associatively caused no decrease in accuracy, humans incurred costs, in that they were slower and made more mistakes when they stopped doing one thing and started doing another.
The work of PhD student Christina Meier and Professors Stephen Lea and Ian McLaren, which was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, has been highlighted in the American Psychological Association’s series of ‘Particularly Exciting Experiments in Psychology’ (known as “PeePs”) this week (June 9).
A large body of research has shown that people are faster and more accurate when they repeat the same task than when they switch between tasks. This experiment showed that pigeons who learnt a task associatively by means of Pavlovian conditioning were able to switch between tasks without slowing down or making more errors.
Lead author Christina Meier said: “We looked at why humans make more errors when they move between two different tasks whereas pigeons don’t. Pigeons don’t analyse what they see. If they experienced a given situation before, the pigeons will repeat the behaviour that had the best outcome for them in those previous encounters. Humans don’t do this, we use rules. We make things complicated.”
Professor McLaren said: “We are not saying that pigeons are super clever. What this research shows is that we can teach pigeons to swap between tasks at no cost to their efficiency, and that they appear to be doing it without what psychologists call “executive control”. We suspect humans have access to this associative solution to the problem too and this has educational implications, skills implications and implications for our understanding of human behaviour.”
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 1, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
Humans could be more efficient if they learnt from pigeons and stopped thinking about what they are doing, according to scientists.
Switching between making a phone call and writing an email led to more mistakes as humans stopped doing one thing and started another.
Scientists at the University of Exeter carried out research to compare a human’s ability to switch between tasks with that of pigeons.
They found that while the birds’ way of learning to do tasks associatively caused no decrease in accuracy, humans incurred costs – in that they were slower and made more mistakes when they switched tasks.
Previous studies have shown that people are faster and more accurate when they repeat the same task than when they do something different.
The work of PhD student Christina Meier and professors Stephen Lea and Ian McLaren revealed that pigeons who learnt a task associatively by means of Pavlovian conditioning were able to switch between tasks without slowing down or making more errors.
Ms Meier, the lead author, said: “We looked at why humans make more errors when they move between two different tasks whereas pigeons don’t. Pigeons don’t analyse what they see.
“If they experienced a given situation before, the pigeons will repeat the behaviour that had the best outcome for them in those previous encounters. Humans don’t do this, we use rules. We make things complicated.”
Prof McLaren said: “We are not saying that pigeons are super clever. What this research shows is that we can teach pigeons to swap between tasks at no cost to their efficiency, and that they appear to be doing it without what psychologists call ‘executive control’.
“We suspect humans have access to this associative solution to the problem too and this has educational implications, skills implications and implications for our understanding of human behaviour.”
The study, Task-Switching in Pigeons: Associative Learning or Executive Control?, is published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition.
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 | Jul 29, 2016 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Netting, UltraSonic Bird Control
FEATHERS have been ruffled after peregrine falcons were encouraged to nest at Beverley Minster.
Garden bird lovers and pigeon fanciers have criticised the church for allowing the RSPB to install a bird box on top of the minster.
The box was installed this month after a pair of peregrines were spotted in residence at the minster.
But Beverley resident Annie Cox, 69, who lives near Beverley Minster, claimed the falcons are preying on song birds.
She said: “When we moved to Minster View we were delighted to wake to the dawn chorus.
“It was wonderful until summer, when falcons were introduced to control feral pigeons around the minster, we had blackbirds raising their young and variety of small birds – even the endangered sparrow.
“I’m disabled with severe osteoarthritis and had great pleasure watching birds at the feeder in the front garden. Now there are no birds to eat the seed.”
Mrs Cox said she has put up net curtains so she cannot see piles of feathers in the garden.
She said: “All that is left are piles of feathers and one pair of blackbirds and wood pigeons in our garden.”
Mrs Cox said she was distressed when she found out peregrine falcons were being encouraged to nest at the minster.
She said: “Falcons and other raptors have no place in towns and should be returned to their natural environment in the countryside where they can live on rabbits and rodents rather than decimating the small bird population, which is already at risk.”
Local pigeon fanciers are also upset about the peregrine falcons preying on other birds.
John Baker, who keeps racing pigeons, said: “It is very nice to see peregrine falcons flying, but they eat pigeons and song birds.
“They pluck them alive and pull them apart.
“Churches are not their normal habitat and I personally think the vicar is out of order letting this happen. Is he not supposed to love all creatures?”
Minster Vicar Reverend Jeremy Fletcher said: “I am not an expert, but I think sparrowhawks have much more impact on garden birds.
“The peregrines adopted the minster towers last year as a place to roost and hunt from. They came of their own accord.
“It appears peregrines are protected so if you have them you can’t do anything about that, you are required by law not to affect them.
“One of the reasons it is good for us is having peregrines at the building scares off feral pigeons, which cause damage to the stonework.”
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 | Jul 24, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
A New Jersey teenager hired to humanely kill birds after a Philadelphia Gun Club pigeon shoot is now facing animal cruelty charges — after the incident in Bensalem, Pa. was captured on video by an animal rights group.
Steve Hindi of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness said one of the group’s investigators was filming the shoot from across the Delaware River as part of its ongoing effort to monitor the Philadelphia Gun Club’s activities.
The two organizations have been involved in litigation and are currently operating under a consent decree that required some concessions from the gun club — including that the gun club make someone available to quickly, humanely euthanize birds after shoots, Hindi said.
In the video, someone in a red hood is seen throwing rocks at the birds, and then flinging and kicking the birds themselves. He appears to be alone and unsupervised. He has been identified in news reports as being from Bridgeton, but police have not released his identity because of his age.
SHARK provided the video to police, but alleges the gun club didn’t cooperate — telling police the club didn’t have anyone in that area during the shoot and didn’t know the individual involved.
“All we can say now is that we can’t identify who the person is, and we’re cooperating with the police investigation,” attorney Sean Corr, representing the gun club, told Philly.com earlier this month. “It appears that he was down range during active shooting, and we don’t station anybody in front of the firing line. That just adds to the mystery.”
Hindi told New Jersey 101.5 his organization then provided police with further footage — showing the person in the red hood coming out of the gun club’s property and associating with its members.
“The Philadelphia Gun Club cooperated with the police and does not believe the individual would have been apprehended without our cooperation,” Corr is quoted telling Philly.com in a newer report. A call to Corr by New Jersey 101.5 has not yet been returned.
Hindi called that an “amazing turnaround.”
“They want credit for having put a kid out there by himself, a minor, torturing animals without supervision, after initially saying they don’t know who he is,” Hindi said.
In the Philly.com report, Bensalem Police Lt. William McVey said pigeon shoots are legal in Pennsylvania (though SHARK disputes that) — “so there’s nothing we can do about that. Our concern is the treatment of the animal once it is shot, to make sure it’s (euthanasia) done as humanely and swiftly as possible. In this case, it crossed the line.”
A call to Bensalem Police has not yet been returned.
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 | Jul 15, 2016 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Deterrent Products, UltraSonic Bird Control
SINGAPORE — The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) has issued a warning letter to a home owner who had suspended a live mynah from a string from his window to scare the bird after it defecated in his Yishun home.
The AVA investigated the incident after it was flagged by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), which had responded to a call reporting the incident in November last year. ACRES had also shared a video on its Facebook page showing the hung mynah.
Responding to queries, the AVA said the mynah had flown into a flat and defecated inside.
“The home owner caught the mynah and suspended it outside a window by its tied legs, in an attempt to scare the mynah,” said an AVA spokesperson. “The home owner had intended to release the mynah.”
According to ACRES, the father of the caller who reported the case to ACRES’s Animal Crime Investigation Unit had approached the home owner asking him to release the mynah, but was told to “get lost”. The bird was released after the police were called in.
In its response, the AVA said the public can deter birds from entering homes by ensuring that food and refuse are properly handled and not left out in the open or by installing bird-proofing equipment such as screens or netting on windows.
When contacted, ACRES founder Louis Ng expressed disappointment at the AVA’s “light” response.
“Obviously we had hoped for stronger enforcement (beyond) just letting him off with a warning, especially considering the abuse was intentional,” said Mr Ng, pointing out that the Animals and Birds Act had been amended to take into account incidents of intentional animal cruelty.
Mr Ng, who is also a Member of Parliament for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency, added that the incident might have psychological repercussions for the bird, and a stronger penalty could have acted as a deterrence to potential animal abusers.
In a Facebook post last Saturday (March 5) sharing that the AVA had taken action against the home owner, ACRES also suggested humane ways of scaring birds off, such as by hanging wind chimes, placing scarecrow or predator visuals, and applying non-toxic bird-repellent spray.
“We hope that, through education, people can learn to live in greater harmony with our native birds,” it said in the post.
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)
