Swart, Taljaard are Springfontein race winners

GAUTENG Pigeon Union (GPU) liberated the pigeons from Springfontein in the Free State on Saturday.

When the pigeons were liberated at 7.15am (young birds) and 8am (open birds), the skies were clear and the wind blowing a light north westerly. On the way back to the lofts the winds were blowing north easterly and south easterly in places.

This race was also the GPU’s second last middle distance race of the season.

Springfontein is an average distance of 518km for Riverpark which had 13 members flying 156 pigeons in the young bird race. The young bird race winning pigeon had a nett flying time of six hours 33 minutes and 33 seconds, which is 80km/h.

With his fourth young bird win under his hat, Blackie Swart’s Dark Check cock GPU 2016 12502 beat Doves Nest Guest House’s (Gawie Botha) Blue Bar cock GPU 2016 12438 by a margin of only 19 seconds. There were only five seconds between Doves Nest Guest House and Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) in the third position.

The top 30 positions on the result sheet took 20 minutes and 19 seconds to fill up:

Blackie Swart 1st, 8th, 13th, 14th, 27th; Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) 2nd, 4th, 12th, 23rd, 24th, 26th; Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 3rd, 6th, 17th; Hilton Pitout 5th; Reinhold Brichta 7th, 20th, 22nd, 29th; Fred van Rensburg 9th, 25th, 30th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 10th, 11th, 16th; G & E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 15th, 21st; Bakgat Lofts (Danalien Snyman) 18th, 19th, and 28th.

In the open race, the club had 17 members flying 261 pigeons. The winning pigeon had a nett flying time of six hours 32 minutes and 22 seconds. With his second old bird win for the season Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) pipped Hilton Pitout by two minutes and 54 seconds. Tallies Lofts and Hilton Pitout have now each won two of the open bird races this season.

The top 30 positions took only 14 minutes and 47 seconds to fill:

Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 1st, 10th, 19th, 23rd; Hilton Pitout 2nd, 8th; Albert Neilson 3rd, 20th; Beano Daschner 4th, 29th; Pine Pienaar 5th, 15th, 21st, 26th; Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) 6th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 22nd; Henry Mostert 7th, 18th; Sky Lofts 9th, 27th; Blackie Swart 12th; Connie Coertse 13th, 14th, 25th,, 28th; G & E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 24th and Fred van Rensburg 30th.

On Saturday the GPU will liberate the pigeons from Hanover in the Northern Cape. This is the last middle distance race of the season, about 660km for Riverpark members, and is also the derby race for the young birds.

This is the last race of the season for the young bird scheme as the balance of the races, long distance, are open bird races. Technically, Springfontein was the last young bird race for the season as the points from the derby race are allocated to the open bird scheme.

Riverpark will also have the second and last leg of their hat draw competition during this race.

 

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)

Salem report

Honouring freedom fighters and their family members, distribution of commendation certificates to 183 government servants and welfare assistance worth Rs. 10.56 lakh to weaker sections marked the Independence Day celebrations at the Mahatma Gandhi Stadium here on Tuesday.

District Collector V. Sampath hoisted the National Flag and inspected the guard of honour presented by police personnel.

Mr. Sampath, and P. Rajan, Superintendent of Police, released white pigeons. Later they honoured the freedom fighters.

The Collector distributed welfare assistance provided by Different abled welfare department, backward class welfare, revenue, rural development and other departments to the people belonging to weaker sections.

G. Subbulakshmi and Ramakrishnan, both Deputy Commissioners of Police, R. Sukumar, DRO, R. Vaithinathan, Assistant Collector (training) and other officials, were present. Students from various schools presented cultural programmes at the end.

R. Sadheesh, Commissioner, hoisted the National Flag on the Corporation premises and paid floral tributes to the portrait of Gandhiji.

He gave away commendation certificates to the staff who had completed 25 years of service and also special awards to the SSLC and Plus Two toppers.

K. Pandi, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) hoisted the National Flag at the head office. He gave away special award and commendation certificates to 11 drivers for accident-free driving, 36 conductors for maximum ticket collection.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Pandi said there was a marked increase in the revenue of the Corporation compared to previous years. The corporation was also able to save much in the diesel front, thanks to the cooperation extended by the bus crew.

At the Noorul Islam Madrasa at Suramangalam in the city, M. A. Haroon Rasheed, Muthavalli, hoisted the National Flag. Moulvi A. K. Kamaluddin Baqavi, chief Imam, Azad Nagar Mosque, and Moulvi J. A. Nainar Mohammad Baqavi, vice-principal of the Madrasa spoke. Qari Abrar Ahmed Qasimi, principal, hoisted the National Flag at the Markazhul Uloom Al-Islamiya Arabic College at Hasthampatti in the city.

In Namakkal, District Collector M. Asia Mariam hoisted the National Flag, at a colourful function held at the district sports stadium.She inspected guard of honour presented by police personnel.

Ms. Mariam released pigeons and honoured freedom fighters and their family members. She distributed commendation certificates to 31 police personnel and 108 government staff and also welfare assistance worth Rs. 57.73 lakh provided under the different government schemes to 136 beneficiaries.

School students presented cultural programmes.

 

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)

Dead pigeons, rats and the shocking mess behind a row of popular Swansea restaurants

A lane behind a number of popular Swansea city centre restaurants has been labelled an environmental threat because overflowing bins there are claimed to be attracting rats.

The lane in Castle Street is where a large amount of rubbish from several sources is left out for collection in the same place.

Kevin Casey is a resident of Baron’s Court which overlooks it and was extremely concerned by the situation.

“I used to live in Townhill and people say that Townhill is a dump, but it’s heaven compared to this place,” said Mr Casey.

“There is a lane behind a number of shops and restaurants in Castle Square and it is absolutely filthy.

“There is rubbish all over the place and there has even been rats there.

“There’s about three bins that are overflowing and there has been some dead pigeons on the floor for weeks.”

“I know the council come and clean some of it up but they don’t solve the root cause of the problem.

“They need to send enforcement officers and tell people to stop leaving rubbish all over the floor.

“I have complained to the culprits. The Council are soft and just don’t do enough.

“There are another three restaurants going in there in the near future and I dread to think how much worse it is going to be.”

But the owners of various restaurants and businesses in the area said they were unsure as to who was responsible.

“It is absolutely disgusting but we don’t have a lot of rubbish ourselves,” said Anna Redfern, the owner of Cinema & Co.

“It really needs to be cleaned up because it is an environmental risk and there is often a lot of glass on the floor.”

A restaurant owner, who asked not to be named, said: “We don’t know who the culprits are but it is annoying us as well and we have been on to the council.

“We have four bins round the back and we always put our rubbish out properly.

“But as for the main culprit I couldn’t tell you.”

A Swansea Council spokesman said: “Our cleansing team regularly visit this area to ensure that fly-tipped waste is removed, but we will continue to monitor the lane and will contact businesses there to remind them of their waste management responsibilities.

“There have also been a number of incidents recently where illegally parked cars have blocked our waste collection vehicles from accessing the lane to pick up commercial waste, so we’ve alerted our parking services team. Anyone caught illegally parking there runs the risk of a penalty charge notice.”

 

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)

PIGEON POO BEING BROUGHT INTO DUNDEE TAXIS ON THE SOLES OF CUSTOMERS’ SHOES

Pigeons have been ruffling the feathers of taxi drivers by leaving their calling card on a Tayside street.

Grant Donald, 57, said pigeons are roosting on the top of buildings at Monifieth High Street beside the taxi rank — and their mess is being brought into cabs on customers’ shoes.

He said: “Every day when we arrive here there is a terrible mess on the pavement below.

“Basically the pigeons seem to roost on the ledges of local buildings and their droppings leave behind a terrible mess on the pavement below.

“It’s very unhygienic — the pigeon poo is everywhere.

“There’s loads of it and people walking along the pavement can’t help walking through it.

“It’s getting brought into our taxis on the soles of people’s shoes.

“It’s also getting taken on people’s feet into the shops in the area, including several food shops.”

Fellow taxi driver Trevor Rooney said that the problem had been going on for some time.

He said: “I’ve complained to our councillors about it in the past, but it continues to be a huge problem.

“The pigeons sit above the street and their guano drops onto the pavement below.

“The council do try to keep on top of the problem by cleaning the street, but there’s always loads of it left even after they have been along to try to clear it away.

“Some other kind of action needs taken to deal with it.

“I would hope that there is something that Angus Council can do.

“The mess is unsightly and it is very unhygienic.

“I’ve had it in my taxi and it ends up on the soles of shoes and gets dragged into the local shops. Some days it’s worse than others, but it’s a problem that’s not going to go away.”

Shona Gibb, co-owner of the Coffee Pot, said retailers had attempted to tackle the problem in the past.

She said: “Around four years ago several of us decided to take the matter into our own hands. People in the block here clubbed together and we paid for spikes to be put on ledges above the shops to stop the pigeons gathering there. It appears to have worked, although the pigeons just seem to have moved a little further along the street.”

A spokesman for Angus Council said: “Removing food sources is the single most important factor in reducing the number of feral pigeons and gulls in town.

“Means of doing this can include reducing food availability or preventing them from accessing roofs or other areas where they could cause disturbance.”

 

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)

Pigeon used by Chinese fraudsters in attempted scam

These days, there are a multitude of different scams, each one designed to part innocent people from their hard-earned cash. From African princes to credit card scanners, pyramid schemes to hard luck online stories, they are as varied as they are many.

However, fraudsters in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province have turned to a more ‘pi-genius’ mode of theft – in the form of the common carrier pigeon.

The latest scam involves strapping fake lottery scratchcards to a pigeon’s leg and then waiting for unsuspecting passers-by to discover it and ‘claim’ their winnings.

One such victim was a woman in the city who was travelling to work on Wednesday. After peeling the card from the pigeon, she was amazed to find that she had won second prize, which just happened to be more than US$41,600.

When the lady dialled the number to claim her winnings, the voice at the other end of the line told her that US$7,400 in tax would have to be paid in order to free up the money. Fortunately, she realised it was a fraud and called the police.

The good news is that while the fraudsters appeared to be ‘winging it’, the pigeon has been released and officers are investigating.

Hopefully this is a scam that will not take off and that the criminals are cooped up for a long time.

 

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)