by Pigeon Patrol | Feb 24, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Spikes
PIGEONS IN ST JAMES PARK TODAY
. REXMAILPIX.
It’s time to take a leaf out of Spain’s book, as complex lung ailments are being reported by city pulmonologists, thanks to a rise in pigeon population
A bird census carried out three years ago by citybased NGO Ecological Society had pegged the number of Rock Pigeons at 13,271 all over Pune. The population has increased since, with its impact felt on the health of citizens over this period of time. Today, pulmonologists in Pune are known to attend to three to four patients each week with lung ailments caused by pigeon droppings — a rarity just three years ago.
Forty-one-year-old Mohan Sonkamble (name changed to protect identity), who used to run a laundry, had to give up his favourite hobby of feeding pigeons. It’s tending to the same flock that has had him bed-ridden with acute and subacute hypersensitivity pneumonitis. He is presently on ventilator. “He has loved pigeons since he was a child and now the feathers and droppings have wreaked havoc on his system. His lungs stopped functioning, given the deposits of dust from droppings. It has also affected his heart.
We have no option but go for a lung transplant, which is not only beyond our means but also comes with no guarantee of success,” said his brother.
The cases of ailments are not localised in overpopulated and congested parts of the city. Given the corresponding rise in construction activity in and around the city — where the birds fly in to roost — the ailments have become widespread. As Dr Mahavir Modi, pulmonologist, Ruby Hall Clinic, said, “Illnesses driven by residue of pigeon droppings and feathers are affecting those living in posh areas as well. Most of them develop cough, which cannot be easily traced as the symptoms are that of an asthma patient.” Like Sonkamble, most patients are hit by acute and subacute hypersensitivity pneumonitis, where the patients’ lungs inflame from the inside, with early symptoms resembling pneumonia. “The patients do not respond to antibiotics and steroids have to be administered to them. The condition can get very serious with some even needing ICU care with a need for oxygen,” added Dr Modi.
In yet another case, the wife of a senior government employee residing in Erandwane has been a victim, too. She has been suffering from dry cough for six months and, at times, her face would blacken due to lack of oxygen supply. “She used to be treated for respiratory tract infection, but there was no let-up in her condition. After she tested negative for tuberculosis, we finally got a CT scan and blood test done, which revealed the ailment,” said her husband. He added that pigeon menace in their neighbourhood stops them from even opening windows and balcony doors. “There is a shop nearby and the owner puts out food for the pigeons over there. This has led to a spurt in pigeon population here,” he added.
Such patients, with repeated exposure to the birds, are also likely to become victims of lung fibrosis, which can be devastating with no cure available. “Besides these, they are also carriers for many deadly fungi and atypical bacteria, which can cause diseases like cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis (fungal lung infections) and psitacosis (bacterial lung infection) — all of them rare and hard to diagnose,” said Modi.
Dr Nitin Abhyankar, a pulmonologist from Poona Hospital, said pigeons lead to 60 per cent cases of hypersensitivity pneumonitis among patients living in urban areas. “It is almost as if flying rodents are affecting people. While those with acute hypersensitivity can be treated with high dosages, it is extremely difficult to treat the patients who reach the chronic allergy stage,” said Abhyankar. Dr Sundeep Salvi, director of the Kalyani Nagar-based Chest Research Foundation, explained that the hypersensitivity pneumonitis or bhronchiolitis obliterans are known to block the small windpipe and sometimes affect the alveoli in the lungs. “The constant dry cough is known to last nearly four to six weeks. The diagnosis is difficult and a CT scan becomes imperative,” he said.
A Spanish town, Badia del Valles, near Barcelona, plagued by pigeons, has started mixing contraceptives in the bird feed to curb population, as some birds are known to have as many as 48 chicks a year. While there is yet to be an initiative of that scale here, Swati Gole, founder of Ecological Society, votes for a second census. “We want another survey to mark the change in the pigeon population. Since the pigeons are known to nest in buildings, with the rising settlements around us, their numbers are bound to have increased. Moreover, birds also thrive when they are fed with grain, which is common among Indians,” said Gole.
The constant dry cough is known to last nearly four to six weeks. The diagnosis is difficult and a CT scan becomes imperative
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 | Feb 23, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services
(October 6, 2015 – Toronto, ON) Ingrid Veninger is one of our favourite filmmakers. Publisher Ralph Lucas first met her for the Toronto screening of The Limb Salesman at the Canadian Film Festival in 2004. Since then Northernstars has interviewed her twice, most recently in 2013 when the film she wrote, produced and directed, The Animal Project, opened in general distribution. It is strange to use the word general, which makes things sound sort of normal, when reporting on such a talented and unique filmmaker.
In a small group that includes Winnipeg’s Guy Madden, Veninger doesn’t so much make movies as she constructs them, builds them from initial idea to a finished project that has been crafted with abundant care, remarkable problem solving abilities and a swift spirit that adapts undaunted to the challenges involved in getting a film made. And when it is done, she finds a way to make it even better.
Such is the case for He Hated Pigeons. It’s her 5th feature film and it will enjoy a very special one-time only showing at Toronto’s Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on October 18 at 3 in the afternoon. He Hated Pigeons is a deliberately low-budget film, this time a remarkably well-measured tale of love and loss. It stars Pedro Fontaine (pictured) who met the director when he served as a translator when Veninger was attending a film festival in Santiago, Chile in 2014. When the job was done, Fontaine mentioned that more than a translator he was also an actor and it would be nice to work together. Sometime later Ingrid Veninger contacted Fontaine to say that she wanted to write a role just for him.
As Veninger tells it, “This project has been the most intense. Not because I booked the crew’s flights to Chile before there was a script, or because I planned to primarily shoot in a language (Spanish) that I don’t speak and in a foreign country, or because I wrote the lead role for an actor whose work I has never seen… but because every step of the process had to allow for the added uncertainty of a live-score.”
That’s right. The movie has been made without a music track. As we have written here before, while the words in a movie may tell you what to think, it’s the music that tells you what to feel. Veninger continues: “The idea different musicians, in each city, improvising their own music was a commitment that influenced and informed every choice in making this film from writing and shooting, through editing and sound design. There was no way the live-score could be a gimmick, it needed to be intrinsically woven into the fabric of the film so that it became essential.”
The key word in here in case you missed it is “improvising.” There is no written score for the live musicians to follow. This isn’t a rehearsal piece. I any other filmmaker’s hands this might be ascribed as throwing caution to the wind. But for Ingrid Veninger this is just part of the process of making her highly individual films.
“He Hated Pigeons deals with letting go. Life is uncertain. Filmmaking is uncertain. And, I want the audience to feel something which has its own intrinsic impermanence. So every public presentation will be a one-time-only event.”
For the October 18 screening in Toronto the improvisation will be provided by Ohad Benchetrit and Justin Small. The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is located at 506 Bloor Street West and the rice of admission is “pay what you can.” Which is quite a bargain when you’ll be experiencing something that is, quite possibly, priceless.
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 | Feb 22, 2016 | Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, UltraSonic Bird Control
The fence looks like it belongs in a maximum-security prison – but was in fact designed by Tiggly the cat’s neighbour to stop the feline straying next door.
A cat-hating neighbour has devised an extreme solution to stop next door’s feline walking on a wall.
The neighbourly dispute began over fears poor Tiggly the cat would damage a car by jumping onto it from a shared wall.
But it ended with the wall looking like the border of a maximum-security prison – complete with barbed wire, sharp studs and three-inch spikes.
Read more: Dog rescues cat and her kittens left to die in sealed cardboard box
Tiggly’s upset owner Bea Upton, of Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, said the cat has already become stuck in the wire and spikes while trying to get to the ground.
The clerical worker, 46, said: “It’s awful. Tiggly got stuck in it and neighbours had to rescue her.
“The neighbour has put all the barbed wire just to stop Tiggly. It prevents her living a normal, happy free life.
“I have complained to the RSPCA but they say they cannot get involved because people are allowed to put up pet deterrent.”
Previously the black and white cat would come out of an upstairs window, drop down onto a tiled roof before dropping down to the wall to then jump to the ground at the house two doors down from its home.
Ms Upton added that Tiggly has to use the window to get out because she is too frightened of Miss Upton’s two dogs to use a ground floor cat flap.
The neighbour, Valerie Pollard, declined to discuss the barbed wire and spikes.
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said: “Although the law does not state that adding barbed wire to a fence is illegal, it may become so depending on the case and what happens to an animal as a result.
“Deliberately injuring an animal and causing unnecessary suffering is a criminal offence and we take that very seriously.
“There are more humane methods of deterring cats and other animals from your garden such as automatic water sprays or introducing natural, prickly shrubs to cover surfaces.”
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 | Feb 21, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services
Chinese authorities placed live rabbits, pigeons and chickens near the Tianjin blast site in an effort to calm the public who were worried about the presence of poisonous chemicals in the area. The animals and bird were alive for more than two hours, Reuters reported.
Images of rabbits, pigeons and chickens in brightly-coloured cages are being shared among Chinese citizens as part of the government propaganda to dispel fear of contamination in the region.
Since the massive explosion at the warehouse owned by Ruihai International on 12 August, there has been much concern, especially after it was found that deadly cyanide had leaked into underwater drains. Cyanide was also found in the air.
Also Read: Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Ashore Tianjin Lake Days After Warehouse Blasts
Amid rising fear, another development on Thursday further spread panic among Tianjin residents. Thousands of dead fish washed ashore from a lake located six kilometres from the explosion site.
However, local officials, who are still investigating the “mysterious death of the fish in the Tianjin lake”, claimed that it had nothing to do with the explosion.
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 | Feb 20, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, UltraSonic Bird Control
Much goes into maintaining the grounds and operations of a major airport that typical travelers don’t see. One of those is managing bird populations.
On Friday, a Tampa resident tweeted a photo of pigeons confined in a cage on the roof of Tampa International Airport’s long-term parking garage. Susan Gail Taylor, a social media manager and copywriter for RME360, a direct-marketing company in Tampa, tweeted, “Are there really pigeons being trapped there and held outside in this oppressive heat?”
For the past three weeks, a pest control company contracted by the Tampa airport has been trapping pigeons on the property and euthanizing them to help reduce the bird population, said Emily Nipps, an airport spokeswoman. Pigeons and other birds present unique safety issues at airports, as they can interfere with aircraft that are taking off and landing. It’s not uncommon to read news reports about flight delays and cancellations because of collisions with birds.
“The problem with pigeons is we can’t trap them and release them somewhere else because they’ll always come back to where they came from,” Nipps said.
After Taylor’s tweet, the airport was answering questions from travelers about the birds on social media and through emails Friday. The traps also were removed from the parking garage.
The airport has been trapping pigeons periodically for years when the populations get too great. Nipps said the pigeons are attracted to the high buildings at the airport.
“They present significant health and safety concerns,” she said.
The pigeons are removed from the traps daily and euthanized. They have access to water while they’re confined, she said.
The airport also uses other measures to control the bird population such as shooting loud cracker shells to scare them away from runways and cutting the grass at a certain angle to not attract too many bugs.
“The population gets worse every couple of years,” Nipps said.
Taylor, who tweeted the photo, said she didn’t take the picture but received it from a friend. Officials with the Tampa airport responded to Taylor’s tweet on Twitter. She was encouraged to call Nipps, who told her she is a bird owner herself.
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)
