by johnnymarin | Oct 16, 2017 | Bird Netting
Video has emerged of a group of men believed to have been catching pigeons for food in Exeter.
The footage was shot by a man who was in Sidwell Street shopping with his young daughter last month.
The driver says he saw one man scattering seeds then was shocked to see another grab a white pigeon and stuff it into a rucksack.
He caught a few seconds on vide while pretending to be talking on the phone as he was scared to attract the attention of the group, who he says were loud and aggressive.
Afterwards, he went to Heavitree police station to report the men.
He told Devonlive.com the group appeared drunk and were “speaking and laughing loudly”.
“My daughter felt intimidated even just being in the car,” added the man, who asked not to be named but has given police his details.
“The men were sat on the bench – it looked like they were having fun, like it was planned.
Sidwell Street traders’ have spoke of their horror after witnessing street drinkers stuff 14 pigeons into a rucksack in the space of 20 minutes
“They spread the seeds then waited for the pigeons to come. One captured a white pigeon and the other opened the bag and dropped it in.
“That’s when I thought I am going to the police. People were looking wondering what was going on but these guys didn’t look like the sort of people you could ask why there were doing this.
“I thought it was disgusting, to see humans behaving like this in the middle of a city centre. It was very aggressive and they were doing it in front of children.”
Sidwell Street traders’ spoke of their horror after witnessing street drinkers stuff 14 live pigeons into a rucksack – in a cruel act believed to be food-gathering.
PCSO Sarah Giles, part of the city centre’s policing team, described the unbelievable incident as part of ‘blatant pigeon eating’ recognised by police, and has pinpointed a particular group of drinkers responsible.
One anonymous trader said the incident, on August 31, which took place over 20 minutes, was “horrifying” to witness.
She described how she, and passers-by, saw a man known for drinking regularly at the spot, coaxing pigeons with bird seed.
“I was horrified. I know there are too many pigeons and I’ve never been a fan, but how can you be so cruel to an animal? That to me was cruel.
“If I was a bigger person I would have taken the rucksack off them, but it was two strapping blokes.”
“It’s all alcohol related, they sit on Sidwell Street drinking at all hours of the day. There aren’t enough police around.”
PCSO Giles said geese and swans have been reportedly captured by the river in the past, and that it is all down to a particular group of “street attached” drinkers.
It is ingrained issue, one she wishes she could solve.
She said: “They have money to spend on booze, so they have the money to buy food. ”
“Many of this group are housed, in B&B’s, bedsits or small flats.
The incident happened just one week after the murder of a seagull on the same street.
Shoppers, including small children, watched as a woman on Sidwell Street stamped on the head of the bird at 3pm on Friday, August 25.
PCSO Giles believes traders on Sidwell Street need to band together to stamp out the anti-social behaviour which has become commonplace on the key route into Exeter city centre.
She worries it will soon fall foul of the “broken window” theory – that if you leave a broken window unfixed another will break, and the area will soon be disrespected.
“We need to get community cohesion going, we need a sense of identity in Sidwell Street. We don’t have the option to police it every day and a traders group would be benefitial.”
She is also positive the recently introduced PSPO will help combat the problems, offering greater leverage with the drinkers.
“It is still early days, but I am hugely optimistic it will help,” she added.
Police said they were investigating the incident and are currently studying CCTV of the area.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 15, 2017 | Bird Netting
When I informed my wife that I was heading out to join my friend David Hanson for an afternoon pigeon shoot with the new air powered “Wing Shot” air shotgun by Air Venturi, her reply was something like, “Not those little pigeons that hang around city parks? Surely not!”
I assured her the birds we were going after probably had never even been in the city limits of Lone Oak, the nearest “town” to where we were hunting. These were “wild”, feral birds that made their living just like other wild birds, eating seeds and grain around farms in the area. Little did I know just how “wild” these birds really are!
A few days before the hunt, the UPS man delivered my new air shotgun, complete with pre-loaded shot cups with #6 and #8 shot. I’ve been shooting and hunting with PCP air rifles for several years. These are not your grandfather’s air rifles. They charge up to 3,000 psi. of air pressure via scuba or carbon fiber tanks and the big bore rifles have enough power to harvest any animal in North America. I have a .25 caliber that is absolutely lethal on small game. But this Wing Shot air shotgun was totally new to me.
I promptly charged the shotgun to 3,000 psi., loaded it with a shot cup containing a little over an ounce of #6 shot, placed a quarter inch piece of plywood against a safe backstop, stapled a square of paper to the plywood, stepped back 25 yards, centered the shotgun bead on the center of the paper and fired my first shot. With the discharge of the pressure, I knew the shotgun was shooting hard. Upon closer inspection of my target, I was amazed at just how hard!
The pattern from the choke was well dispersed in a 14-inch diameter circle on the paper; the shot had penetrated through the quarter-inch plywood. I was convinced this gun had plenty of power to use on a bird hunt. Air powered guns are not legal on any game animals or birds in Texas with the exception of squirrels. This rules out the use of air on dove or quail or any of the migratory species but feral pigeons aren’t game birds and neither is the exotic dove species such as the Eurasian dove that is becoming common through much of the state.
Hanson had scouted a big hay barn situated in the middle of a cow pasture the day before and asked his “kin folks” that owned the land if we might go out for a late afternoon shoot. We pulled up to within a couple hundred yards of the barn and through binoculars, could see a big flock of feral pigeons setting on the beams that supported the roof. Occasionally, a small flock would fly out to pick grit from a sand pile out in the field or fly to a nearby electrical line. Hanson and I had an ice cooler along for the birds we expected to harvest. We even had a plan for cooking them. Grilled pigeon breast with jalapeno and garlic wrapped in bacon was on the menu and from our vantage point a couple hundred yards away, this should be an easy shoot! Were we about to get educated in the ways of the feral pigeon! These most definitely weren’t the docile “park” birds my wife gave reference to.
The field was wide open and when we approached within a hundred yards of the barn, every pigeon took wing and flew directly to land on a highline wire about 400 yards distant. No problem, we thought. We will just set inside the barn and shoot them as they flew back. There was no mass return flight as we witnessed when we spooked the birds. Occasionally a bird or two would approach well out of range, circle a time or two and return to their highline perch. These pigeons were as wary as any game birds I’ve hunted, actually more wary. A turkey, duck or goose for that matter, can be called within shotgun range. Spinning wing decoys are usually highly effective for bringing dove within range. These pigeons had obviously graduated from the class of “Hunter Avoidance 101.”
About thirty minutes before dark, the desire to roost caused the birds to come back to the barn but much to our despair, they didn’t simply fly inside the enclosure and land on a rafter. No, they circled high and then landed “ON TOP OF THE ROOF!” These birds were smart and we came to the conclusion that to harvest them, we would have to devise a better plan.
Picture this — two grown men inside a big, open hay barn, hidden beside the tires of trailers or tractors, listening to what sounded like hundreds of bird feet clicking on top of the metal roof. These birds were driving us crazy! Only fifteen feet above our heads it sounded as though these pigeons were having a big square dance. We could hear them cooing and clicking up their heels!
Finally a pigeon that had either been consuming too many fermented berries or possibly tired of just being “one of the flock”, hovered outside the roof, contemplating coming in and landing on a comfortable steel beam inside the barn. Hanson jerked the trigger on the Wing Shot and the pattern centered the bird. It was obvious that the power of compressed air in a shotgun generates enough power to cleanly harvest birds but Hanson and I felt a bit cheated by these “super” pigeons. The next time I hear someone use the term, “pigeon brain”, do I ever have a story to relate that might just change their way of thinking about these “dumb” little birds!
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 johnnymarin | Oct 14, 2017 | Bird Netting
PESHAWAR: Amid awareness campaign launched by the provincial government for the dengue-affected people in the provincial capital, the mosquito-borne disease on Sunday infected 310 more people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to government officials, 26 people have so far lost their lives as a result of dengue virus in KP. The provincial Health Department reported that sessions were conducted in the government-run schools in the dengue-hit Tehkal and Pishtakhara union councils, where the virus was reported in July this year. The awareness sessions were started three days ago where health experts informed local residents about dengue and its breeding causes and gave them useful suggestions for remaining safe from dengue mosquitoes.
The government is stated to have spent millions of rupees by providing services to dengue patients in the public sector hospitals, conducting larvicide sprays in the affected areas and distributing mosquito nets and repellent lotions among the residents of Tehkal and Pishtakhara.
However, these efforts by the government didn’t help control dengue virus and it has been infecting 300-400 people every day. Health experts are of the opinion that there are still open water reservoirs in different forms in the dengue affected areas where thousands of dengue larvae are breeding.
“Since weather is quite hot therefore majority of the people are using water air-coolers in their houses and work places. These air-coolers are the among best places for dengue breeding,” a health expert at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) opined.
Pleading anonymity, he said some of the people in Tehkal and Pishtakhara had kept pigeons on their rooftops where water was put into pots, saying they found dengue larvae in air-coolers and in pots from which pigeons drank water.
Meanwhile, the Dengue Response Unit confirmed that 1,527 people were taken to different hospitals where 310 were discharged with dengue. It said of the 310 patients, 120 were admitted in hospitals and 116 were discharged from hospitals their recovery.
Presently, according to DRU, 365 dengue patients are under treatment in different hospitals of the province. Khyber Teaching Hospital, where 917 patients were taken with fever and body ache, 196 of them were diagnosed with dengue. At the moment, KTH is providing services to 235 indoor dengue patients.
Around 42 patients tested positive at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) of whom 28 were admitted in the hospital. The Hayatabad Medical Complex also diagnosed 45 patients with dengue. It had received 156 patients.
The Naseerullah Babar Hospital in Peshawar tested two patients dengue positive. Similarly, Mansehra reported nine dengue positive cases, Mardan eight cases, Buner four and Abbottabad two cases.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 13, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
Koka is a respected figure in Cairo’s pigeon fighting world. His life revolves around preparing for the contests, in which whole neighbourhoods clash to hunt and capture each other’s pigeons.
Away from the duels, he spends his time caring for the hundreds of pigeons he rears in a ramshackle wooden tower he has built on his roof.
Like numerous other breeders, Koka treasures the pigeons for their loyalty, discipline and the deep pride they bring him.
But his pigeon fighting days may be numbered. Coming from a conservative community, the 29-year-old is under immense pressure to quit his passion, get married and settle down.
Fearing that his next contest could be his last, Koka challenges one of Cairo’s best pigeon fighting neighbourhoods. Will he cement his reputation as a great pigeon handler or lose his parting battle?
I stumbled upon the phenomenon of pigeon contests in Cairo while working on different topics in this mega city’s endless suburbs. I was always impressed by the fragile wooden structures standing on rooftops all over the city, and I knew that they were connected to pigeons, but I would never have thought that there was a whole world up there with its own rules, even with its own language.
I was wandering the streets of Garbage City, an area of mostly Christian waste workers, when I first met Koka, one of the strongest competitors inside the community of pigeoneers. Standing on his pigeon tower felt like being in a different world, far from the chaos that rules the streets.
Fortunately, I met Koka during wintertime, the season for pigeon contests. It was right before some major encounters between different neighbourhoods that have a long tradition of going into battles with their pigeons.
Seeing a race for the first time was an overwhelming visual experience, which made me stick to this topic for the following three years. These pigeon contests served as a perfect vehicle for getting an inside view of such a closed community. I was taken to gatherings and battles in areas that I would never have gotten to otherwise.
The society of the pigeon fighters is unknown even to most Egyptians. Their races are based on a sophisticated set of rules and their language is dominated by military expressions. The combatants call themselves knights and each knight has a nom de guerre, such as “The Butcher” in Koka’s case.
During filming, the question that interested me the most was, “How does a pigeon – otherwise the symbol of peace – become the token of martial spirit and male pride?”
One of the fighters tried to explain it to me this way: “Imagine it like it was Barcelona against Real Madrid. It is like football, only that it’s more serious, because we’ve been doing it for way longer than them.”
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 johnnymarin | Oct 12, 2017 | Bird Deterrent Products
If you feed them, they will roost.
And poop. They will definitely poop.
Nesting pigeons and the scat they leave behind have been a perennial and somewhat costly problem for Clark County. Complaints from residents are so common that Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak wants to discuss what can be done during Tuesday’s commission meeting.
“We’ve got a proliferation of pigeons in some of these areas,” Sisolak said. “There’s a lot of property damage as a result of pigeons roosting.”
The bird’s corrosive poop can damage paint, concrete roof tiles and air conditioning equipment. Their nesting material can clog a drainage system. There’s also a concern about the spread of disease from pigeon carcasses and waste.
Chris Bramley, who oversees the county government’s pest control management, said most of the county’s facilities “have some kind of a pigeon issue.” Flocks of 50 to 60 pigeons can be found living on some roofs.
But the problem has become exceptionally noticeable at the West Flamingo Senior Center, supervisor Diane Olson-Baskin said.
Despite the county’s efforts to dissuade the birds from roosting there — including a sonic repellent system — close to 30 pigeons have made the community center home, Olson-Baskin said. She believes the blame lies in some patrons’ delight in tossing piece of bread to the birds every morning.
“We try to discourage people from feeding the pigeons, but they enjoy it so much that all we can do is encourage them to feed them as far as possible from the building,” Olson-Baskin said.
Such is the stuff that makes up the passionate debate over pigeons. While some people see the birds as pests, others love them.
When county commissioners considered a law banning the feeding of feral pigeons in January 2012 they were inundated with opinions from both sides. A majority of commissioners voted against the proposed law.
Bramley said he has a hard time telling people they should not feed the birds. He understands it’s an enjoyable pastime for many.
Still, “if people want to feed pigeons they should feed them in small amounts,” he said. “Don’t let them learn that you’re taking care of them like they’re your children.”
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)
