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Reducing Number In Pigeons

Pigeon Patrol — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 07:23:35 +0000

Do You Wanna Know How To Reduce The Numbers In Pigeons Roaming Around?

Keep on reading!

The need to reduce numbers in feral pigeon populations in urban areas has been the subject of intense debate for decades with town and city councils making little impact on the problem due to lack of investment and, in many cases, a reluctance to think laterally. Although the feral pigeon has been a common feature of urban life for the last 100 years there is no doubt that urban flocks are now growing faster than their numbers can be controlled. The reason for this unprecedented rise in feral pigeon numbers is due, almost exclusively, to the availability of food and the methods used to control the birds. Other factors such as the availability of good roosting and breeding facilities also play their part.

The feral pigeon is completely at home in urban environments, exploiting humans for food and using buildings for the purposes of roosting and breeding. This is because the feral pigeon is a descendent of the rock dove, a cliff-dwelling bird that was commonly found feeding and breeding along rocky coastlines prior to its mass exodus inland to make its home alongside man.

Pigeons (Rock Doves) in
their Natural Habitat

The reason that the rock dove chose to desert its natural habitat is the obvious availability of food combined with the optimum breeding and roosting potential offered by buildings, which resemble cliff faces. In its natural habitat the only real predator of the rock dove was the peregrine falcon, an extremely efficient predator that preyed on both pigeons and gull chicks.

In these natural environments flock size was restricted and maintained at levels dictated by the availability of natural food sources and the extent of predation in the area concerned. In urban environments, however, the picture is very different with man being the sole predator of the feral pigeon and food sources guaranteed.

Peregrine Falcon

Today the feral pigeon can be seen in virtually every area of the globe other than the two polar icecaps, exploiting man for food and his buildings for the purposes of roosting and breeding. Man has attempted to control the feral pigeon by using a variety of lethal controls, including poisons, narcotics, cage traps and shooting, and yet the pigeon has shrugged off all these attempts at population control and continued to live and breed in close association with man undeterred. Lethal controls have been complemented by an arsenal of deterrents, provided in an effort to deny or restrict roosting and perching opportunities (thereby reducing guano-related problems). Anti-roosting systems such as anti-roosting spikes have proved extremely effective at displacing pigeons from areas that pigeons roost and nest; but may not be a total solution as pigeons may simply move to other areas nearby.

Rifle Used for Pigeon Culling

So what other options are available to control and contain the problem? The answer to the question really lies in the source of the problem: available food and the means by which we currently control the birds. The use of lethal control as a means of controlling and reducing pigeon populations has been found to have no effect in terms of reducing pigeon flock size. Scientific research has even found that lethal controls can have the opposite effect, resulting in an increased flock size as a result of rejuvenation within the flock. Although we now have the science which proves that all attempts to reduce flock size by lethal means will be a wasted effort, the use of lethal control on pigeon populations is still extensive in the UK and many other countries worldwide. Why then are lethal controls used at all? Culling has been relied upon for decades by the pest control industry as a highly lucrative and revenue-rich service. If it were withdrawn as a control option many contractors would simply go out of business.

Pigeon Loft used for
Breeding Control

The only proven method of reducing pigeon flock size as part of an area-wide control system is to use a method pioneered by PiCAS International involving the use of artificial breeding facilities. This stand-alone method of control has been scientifically* proven to reduce pigeon flock size and is currently being employed throughout mainland Europe by councils and commercial organizations alike. The principle of a scheme using artificial breeding facilities is to provide a pigeon loft or dovecote in which feral pigeons can be encouraged to roost and breed and from which their eggs can be removed as laid and replaced with dummy eggs. This method of breeding control has been found to be extremely effective in reducing flock size and maintaining that reduction indefinitely

Whether a dovecote or pigeon loft is used the principle is the same – pigeons are encouraged to take up residence in the facility provided and as soon as breeding commences their eggs are removed as laid and substituted with dummy eggs. The hen bird will then continue to sit on the eggs for a period of between 18 and 25 days before realizing that the eggs will not hatch, at which time she will then abandon them. If eggs are removed without substituting with dummy eggs the hen bird will re-lay immediately and continue to re-lay each time her eggs are removed.

This may result in long-term health-related problems for the hen bird (such as a severe calcium deficiency) and as the goal is to maintain a small healthy flock of pigeons this is clearly not desirable.

The two types of artificial breeding facility available for use as a breeding control are very different in respect of both design and siting criteria, with a pigeon ‘loft’ normally provided on or possibly even within a building and a dovecote provided in an open space and at ground level. A pigeon loft would normally be provided by a property owner on a specific building or site in an effort to control breeding flocks of feral pigeons within that localized area. A dovecote would normally be provided in a green open space, such as a public park, where the scope of the facility would be the control of large feeding flocks of feral pigeons. In the case of a dovecote-based system a designated public feeding area would normally be provided adjacent to the dovecote in which the general public would be encouraged to feed pigeons, as the food would act to attract the birds to the dovecote facility.

The additional benefit of a designated feeding area, certainly where deliberate and persistent feeding of pigeons is identified as being the root cause of the problem, is that the facility will draw feeders away from their normal feeding areas in town and city centers and relocate them to green areas where pigeons can be better tolerated. Many councils will use the ‘carrot and stick’ approach when offering a system of this nature, providing feeders with legitimized areas in which to feed pigeons but large fines if they continue to feed outside the designated areas.

The main source of all pigeon-related problems in urban areas is deliberate and persistent over-feeding of pigeons by a small number of people who normally feed large quantities of high quality food 7 days a week. To a lesser extent the methods most commonly used to control pigeons (lethal controls) exacerbate and further entrench problems caused by overfeeding. The combination of overfeeding and the rejuvenation of pigeon flocks through the use of lethal controls has resulted in deeply entrenched problems in virtually every city in the Western world.

sourceFlock of
Urban Pigeons

In some countries the feral pigeon has a religious significance and this fact has also acted to further embed the problem. Muslim, Hindu and Sikh cultures feed pigeons for religious reasons and although the feeding of pigeons for these reasons still continues in many UK towns and cities today, there is a view that the feeding of pigeons is the preserve of the older generation with younger generations taking little interest in the bird. In multi-racial cities like Leicester, for example, where the council embraces the concept of culling and where ethnic minority groups offer huge quantities of food to feral pigeon populations on a daily basis, feral pigeon flocks have grown to unsustainable proportions, creating deeply entrenched problems for property owners.

The problem has become so entrenched that several years ago PICAS International was called in to humanely remove nearly 2000 breeding pigeons and their young from 7 residential roof-spaces in council-owned properties in the city. This indicates the scale of the problem and confirms that citywide overfeeding of feral pigeons, combined with the over-use of culling, will only ever result in upwardly spiraling pigeon flock size.

For any urban pigeon control system to be effective there must not only be area-wide controls provided in the form of pigeon lofts and dovecotes with designated feeding areas, but also an acceptance by property owners that they must play their part. The only body that can be a catalyst for area-wide controls is a council, but if property owners fail to control pigeons on their own properties and allow entrenched roosting and breeding problems to occur or to continue any programme provided by the council will inevitably be compromised. Breeding controls can be astonishingly effective, but if property owners fail to exclude pigeons from their properties those same birds will continue to breed unchecked, further compounding the problem throughout the area. If breeding controls are provided in the form of lofts and dovecotes, however, and if both the local authority and property owners pull in the same direction, a vast majority of pigeons that are excluded during proofing programmes will end up in loft or dovecote facilities where their breeding can be controlled.

The average property owner can provide an extremely effective pigeon control system by installing deterrents in areas where roosting, breeding or perching exists and, if the problem justifies it, by providing an artificial breeding facility in the form of a pigeon loft. The combination of these two controls on one building or site will not only reduce the incidence of soiling in sensitive areas, but will also reduce flock size year on year, resulting in a small manageable flock of pigeons. This must be the goal of every property owner based on the fact that it is simply impossible to eradicate the feral pigeon completely. Although deterrents cannot be considered to be cheap, if the correct choice is made and if the product is sourced and installed by the property owner concerned at least 20-30 years’ protection should be afforded. The correct choice of deterrents is key, with some anti-perching products such as repellent gel only providing between 3 and 12 months’ protection and bird exclusion products like nylon bird netting only offering 5-10 years’ protection. The anti-roosting spike will, however, offer the property owner up to 30 years’ protection without the need to maintain or replace the product, making it an economical and aesthetically pleasing choice.

When a council chooses to provide an area-wide control system for feral pigeons (and very few UK-based councils do provide area-wide systems) expert guidance is critically important. Control systems that are designed to resolve entrenched pigeon-related problems are complex, particularly if the root cause of the problem is persistent and deliberate feeding by the general public. Many UK-based councils have attempted to address the problem by using hard-hitting and aggressive campaigns threatening pigeon feeders with large fines or imprisonment and often undertaking deeply unpopular culling operations at the same time. In each and every case these campaigns have failed due to the fact that the council concerned has failed to understand the underlying reason why people feed pigeons. The ‘problem’ cannot be dealt with as a littering offense or an anti-social act; it must be dealt with by education and persuasion rather than by threats and legislation.

If public feeding is identified to be the cause of the problem a system of controls must be provided that take the impact of persistent feeding into consideration at the same time as identifying large-scale pigeon roosts and closing them down. The principle of an effective area-wide control system using dovecote-based artificial breeding facilities is to provide the general public with an area specifically set aside for the purpose of pigeon feeding and to confirm that feeding is allowed in this area, but nowhere else.

A high-quality public education campaign must be launched confirming what the council is trying to achieve and why. Once a dovecote and designated feeding area facility has been provided in a central and accessible area the task of encouraging the feral pigeon population to feed on the site and take up residence in the dovecote is the next step.

Where pigeon-related problems exist as a result of public feeding the public education campaign will guide feeders to use the dovecote site for this purpose and as a result pigeons will follow, thereby resolving problems for property owners. Where breeding or roosting-related problems exist, however, it will be necessary to exclude pigeons from these areas with physical deterrents or to provide a loft-based artificial breeding facility or a combination of both.

One of the main reasons that area-wide control systems break down is the failure of councils to identify large-scale overnight roosts and force property owners to close them down and exclude pigeons. Councils have the power to force any property owner to undertake works to exclude pigeons from their property or, if the property owner refuses, to undertake those works itself and then bill the property owner. Even in light of these far-ranging powers, however, councils are deeply reluctant to take this action even though it may make render the area-wide control system a failure.

Of course, it is not always advisable or desirable to exclude pigeons from an existing roosting or breeding site, particularly if there is no area-wide control system in place to provide alternative accommodation. This does not stop property owners and companies like Network Rail excluding tens of thousands of pigeons from buildings and roosting sites under railway bridges every year. These excluded birds simply become someone else’s problem and the cycle begins again. This is why it is so important to provide a system of sustainable controls, such as the use of artificial breeding facilities, that will continue to control both breeding and (in the case of dovecote-based systems) feeding indefinitely, with little or no cost involved other than the initial outlay. These systems are popular with the general public and property owners alike as they humanely relocate pigeons to areas where they can be tolerated, accommodated and controlled without the need to resort to unpopular, invasive and unsustainable controls such as culling.

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.

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Bacteriological survey of feces from feral pigeons in Japan.

Pigeon Patrol — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 22:09:41 +0000

Some public areas in Japan such as parks and gardens can be highly contaminated with pigeons feces. We examined levels of four bacterial contaminations in fecal samples from feral pigeons in 7 prefectures. We isolated Salmonella Typhimurium and S. Cerro from 17 (3.9%) of 436 samples, as well as Mycobacterium spp. including M. avium-intracellulare complex from 29 (19.0%) of 153 samples. The polymerase chain reaction detected Chlamydia psittaci and C. pecorum in 106 (22.9%) of 463 samples, but E. coli O-157 was not isolated from any of the samples. Our results indicate that pigeon feces are a source of several zoonotic agents for birds, animals and humans.

Source

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Pigeon Ban Leads To Conflict Of Interest Allegations In B.C. Community

Pigeon Patrol — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 06:24:30 +0000

Pigeon Ban Leads To Conflict Of Interest Allegations In B.C. Community

The District of North Vancouver is now investigating council after it passed a bylaw targeting a councillor’s neighbour and pet pigeons.

A new pigeon prohibition in a North Vancouver community has roused suspicions that a councillor’s continued grudge against the birds has led to a serious conflict of interest.

Thursday, in response to concerns from the public, district Mayor Mike Little ordered an independent investigation into the events leading up to and the passage the controversial ban known as the “Pigeon Prohibition Bylaw.” It bans residents from harbouring what some consider intelligent animals (who mate for life!), and others believe are rats with wings.

The chief administrative officer will look into the conduct of all councillors, including Little.

The pigeon squabble started almost three years ago, when Kulwant Dulay and his multi-generational family moved to the north shore neighbourhood and transformed a dilapidated backyard chicken coop into a charming miniature cottage for his homing pigeons.

“I fixed it up. I wash the coop every week. I keep it clean. There’s no smells at all,” Dulay told councillors Nov. 18. He and his family wash the pigeons and clean up their droppings.

His neighbour, councillor Betty Forbes, saw the situation differently. She declined to comment, as the independent review is being conduct and therefore would not be “appropriate.”

In emails to staff, released through a freedom of information request and first provided to CBC News, Forbes complained of her neighbour’s pigeons flying over her house and landing on her roof, and requested staff review a bylaw from 1971 to “control” the look of the coups, and limit the number allowed.

“Both chickens and pigeons can carry disease and are dirty,” Forbes wrote to staff in May 2017, before she was councillor. “How can you control health risks, monitor that the chickens or pigeons are being kept in approved coups, under humane living conditions, food is stored so as not to attract other animals, the number of kept birds is within the by-law?”

Forbes was elected Oct. 20, 2018. Five days later she requested staff act on her “pigeon complaint.”

“I have been patient but I feel that 1.5 years of asking for this issue to be dealt with in accordance with the bylaw is long enough,” Forbes said in her email.

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“Dirtiest Hotel in America” Looks to Clean Up

Pigeon Patrol — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 18:30:24 +0000

Dirtiest Hotel in America” Looks to Clean Up

A day after being dubbed the filthiest in America, a Tennessee hotel is pledging to clean up.

The Grand Resort Hotel & Convention Center was ranked the filthiest hotel in America, according to ratings compiled and released by the travel review site TripAdvisor.

The historic Smoky Mountains hotel in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., was graded “terrible” by 161 of 224 reviewers on the site. Twenty-six called it “poor” and 15 gave it an “average” grade.

But CEO and General Manager Nicky Darrell Chaney said he has already fired one manager, hired a new maintenance manager and new head of housekeeping, and is in the process of using a new sanitizer to clean the rooms, reports CBS affiliate WVLT in Knoxville.

“We knew we had some problems, and we’ve started to work on these problems,” said Nicky Chaney, President and CEO of the company that runs the hotel. Chaney took over operations in December and vows to restore their public image.

“I fired one of the managers, I hired new maintenance, and new housekeeper,” he said. “We’re proud of what we’re doing now, and were excited about where we’re going to be in the next few weeks.

Chaney took over just last month as president and CEO of KMS Enterprises, which runs the Grand and several nearby properties owned by hotel magnate Kenneth M. Seaton.

“This is an issue the company is taking very seriously,” Chaney said a statement Tuesday.

Seaton also is a defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging sexual harassment of two former housekeepers hired to work in KMS hotels, the Sentinel reports.

Meanwhile, the Grand will have to keep making changes to stay ahead of negative reviews – and the unwanted spotlight following the TripAdvisor “award.”

“This is a nasty place, would not let my dog sleep there,” reviewer LaFolettePat wrote last week under the headline “health inspector please.”

JordynC’s assessment: “If you are looking for a hotel with: pubic hair stuck to the bathroom floor in some unidentifiable, gelatinous liquid; chewing tobacco spit oozing down the halls and corridors; spiders actively making webs in every corner of your room; carpeting so greasy and dirty you wouldn’t want to sit your luggage down – let alone walk around barefoot; dingy bedsheets and towels as rough and thin as sandpaper; and a room so putrid and smelly it causes a gag-reflex when you walk in… by all means, stay at The Grand Resort.”

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Twelve pigeons stolen from Buxton loft

Pigeon Patrol — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 21:50:34 +0000

Liam Barnes – BBC News

Police are appealing for information after 12 pigeons were stolen from lofts in Buxton.

The lofts, on Lightwood Road, were broken into between 16 September and 17 September, Derbyshire Police said.

If the birds get loose somehow, they’re sure to return!

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.

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Lawmaker in Chicago gets pooed on by a pigeon while complaining about pigeon poo

Pigeon Patrol — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 20:43:52 +0000

Chicago has had a long and storied battle against pesky pigeons on their transit systems.

Speaking to CBS Chicago, state Rep. Jaime Andrade was in mid-flow discussing the problem of pigeons pooping on the Chicago Transit Authority, when he was pooped on himself.

In the middle of the interview, he can be heard saying:

“Did I just get – I did, didn’t I?”

He then added:

“I’ll just have to go clean up.”

“That’s what happens to my constituents. They get s*** on all time.”

According to CBS Chicago, bird droppings have long been an issue for commuters at the Irving Park Blue Line station, which has reportedly been dubbed the “pigeon poop station.”

Andrade is reportedly trying to fix the problem, with one of his innovative ideas being to ask the CTA to install a hose line for power washing when it constructs new escalators at the stop. Either way, that’s a crappy situation.

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Inside the fascinating and sometimes brutal world of pigeon racing in China

Pigeon Patrol — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 20:11:53 +0000

By Karoline Kan, CNN • 6th April 2019

Every day during the racing season, 55-year-old Zhang Yajun wakes at 4 a.m. and carefully loads bamboo cages containing his 76 cherished racing pigeons into a van. Then he drives up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) from his Beijing apartment to release them. They are in training for the October and November racing season, during which time millions of dollars can be won in total prize money across races.

Zhang is just one of some 100,000 pigeon breeders living in Beijing, according to Sun Yan, the deputy general-secretary of the Beijing Changping District Racing Pigeons Association.

“Pigeon racing is a culture, but it’s also a sport,” Sun says.

On a crisp fall morning, Zhang opens the cages in a cornfield at Niutuo in Hebei province, 80 km (50 miles) south of Beijing. Forty minutes later, he uses his phone connection to a rooftop camera to watch the birds arriving home. He’s happy with their speed.

Zhang, who was a state-owned beverage factory manager before retiring in the early 2000s, says he spends about 100,000 yuan ($14,900) a year on his pigeons. That covers food, medicine, race entry fees and transport costs for training sessions — as well as equipment such as his rooftop camera gear.

Each spring, Zhang says, some 100 pigeons are born on his roof but by fall only about 20 are left. The rest have either succumbed to illness or died of injuries suffered from hitting telegraph poles or other obstacles. Or else they just got lost on the way home.

But pigeon racing also has a darker side.

Zhang says “bird-napping” — when pigeons are baited and netted during training sessions before being sold off — is a common problem.

And then there is the cheating.

In April last year, two men hid their birds in milk cartons and caught a bullet train in Henan before releasing them in Shanghai, 750 km (466 miles) away. But the birds’ unusually fast speed aroused suspicion, and the men were fined and given suspended three-year prison sentences for fraudulently obtaining prize money totaling about $147,000.

However; Beijing is becoming less and less friendly to bird fanciers.

In the spring of 2017, under a city beautification campaign targeting two-story buildings in the lanes known as hutongs, many rooftop pigeon lofts were subsequently demolished.

The government classified them as illegal buildings.

Breeder Zhang Jian says four large pigeon cages on his roof were demolished, although he still surreptitiously keeps four other cages housing about 100 pigeons. Most of his neighbors have known Zhang Jian since he was a boy and he says they understand his passion for the birds.

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CTA Orders Cleaning of Garage Covered in Pigeon Poop

Pigeon Patrol — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 23:43:58 +0000

CTA’s Kiss ‘n Ride parking garage at the Cumberland Blue Line station is covered in pigeon droppings. The CTA has ordered the company that runs the garage to clean it up and install devices to keep pigeons away. (Credit: CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) — The CTA has ordered the company that runs the “Kiss n’ Ride” parking garage at the Cumberland Blue Line stop to clean the place up. The place is overrun by pigeons and some fear it may become a health hazard.

CBS2’s Mike Parker reports, pigeons are everywhere at the parking garage for the Cumberland stop – lurking on every floor of the huge garage. They’re birds of a feather, all right, and wreaking havoc with some pretty fancy car exteriors.

“There are pigeon droppings, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were bats up there as well,” said garage user Mark Gelula.

CBS 2 found no bats at the garage, only pigeons and mounds of droppings all over – some of them two to three inches deep.

Professional bird chaser Joe Seid toured the garage and said, “Maybe it’s cleaned occasionally, but it appears it’s not cleaned very frequently.”

Seid said he’s concerned about the health danger, not the paint jobs of the cars.

“If the droppings get airborne and you breathe it in, it could take a long time to take effect but it can be deadly,” he said.

Late Tuesday, after CBS 2 called to report what we found, the CTA ordered Central Parking Services to take action.

The company, which manages and maintains the garage was told to install measures designed to prevent roosting. The transit agency also ordered that the “area be thoroughly cleaned”, and that “efforts will be monitored and evaluated for effectiveness.”

According to the CTA, “the safety, security and well being of our customers and employees” is a top priority. Looks like a job for the experts!

Original by CBS 2 Producer Ed Marshall.

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Scientists have recruited pigeons to help stop climate change

Pigeon Patrol — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 22:26:00 +0000

Pigeons are helping researchers gather data on climate change. (University of Birmingham/Cover Images)

Jeff Parsons – Monday 25 Mar 2019 2:15 pm

Pigeons have become the latest recruits in helping researchers gather data on climate change.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a tiny set of sensors resembling a small backpack that can be strapped onto the back of homing pigeons. These little sensors help researchers collect data on urban microclimates, including fluctuations in temperature, humidity, and winds that can have major effects on living in major cities.

The pigeons themselves come from local volunteers that raise them and who agree to work with the scientists. Pigeons are helping researchers gather data on climate change.

Known for their abilities to return to their nest, homing pigeons have been used as far back as Ghengis Khan to carry messages across long distances. Using homing pigeons means that the researchers are sure to get their instruments back and can download the information before sending the birds on their way to collect more data.

The design of the backpack conceived to keep the safety and comfort of the birds in mind. Each weighs less than 3% of the pigeon’s body weight, which is the standard for bird tracking devices. Sensors in the backpacks help researchers collect data on urban microclimates (University of Birmingham/Cover Images)

‘If [the pigeon owners] are not happy with any aspect of putting the sensors on their back, then they don’t have to fly their birds,’ explains Rick Thomas, the research fellow who leads the study. The welfare of the birds is utterly paramount and, they’re not likely to cause the same issues as drones, explained Thomas.

The pigeons all come from local volunteer groups.

Drones are not allowed to fly freely in any area, particularly after the trouble a drone caused at Gatwick airport in December. What’s more, drone technology would not be as cost effective as what’s possible with the pigeons.

Thus far, the group’s band of pigeons have logged over 620 miles with their backpacks over the course of 41 flights. Impressive!

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/25/scientists-recruited-pigeons-help-stop-climate-change-9008203

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Mum fined £150 for feeding sausage roll to pigeon

Pigeon Patrol — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 22:20:41 +0000

Elisa Menendez – Wednesday 19 Jun 2019 9:56 PM

A woman has been fined £150 by her local council for feeding a piece of sausage roll to a pigeon. Sally-Ann Fricker fed the bird while shopping with her three children in Bath.

Her daughter, Toni Bradley, said they were approached ‘seconds later’ by an officer for littering, despite the pigeon flying away with the food.

Toni said: ‘If she’d chucked the wrapper down then that would have been fair enough, but this was absolutely ridiculous, we were very upset and very shocked.’

According to Bath and North East Somerset Council, those caught littering face a £150 fine, reduced to £100 if paid within 14 days.

Councillor Dave Wood, cabinet member for climate change and the environment, said the authority would review whether the fine was appropriate in this incident.

However, he added that there are notices on many streets asking the public not to feed pigeons as they are a ‘public nuisance’.

Daughter Toni was outraged at the fine, adding that her mum is a carer and the fine was worth more than her weekly earnings.

She said: ‘When I got home my three-year-old asked me to take down the bird feeder from the garden “because nanny got into trouble” for feeding them.’

Wood added that councils and their contractors should use ‘common sense’ with situations like Sally-Ann’s.

‘I have asked officers to urgently look into this matter and review the action taken with the contractor, to determine whether it was proportionate,’ he said.

He added: ‘As a general point, pigeons and gulls cause a public nuisance and are part of the problem the council has to manage when dealing with litter on the streets. ‘There are notices all over the city asking people not to feed birds.’

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/19/mum-fined-150-feeding-sausage-roll-pigeon-10016074

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Passenger got £28,000 payout because they ‘possibly’ slipped on pigeon poo

Pigeon Patrol — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 21:56:40 +0000

By Richard Hartley-Parkinson – Friday 9 Aug 2019 6:40 am

Network Rail paid out £28,000 after a passenger ‘possibly slipped’ on pigeon poo at Paddington station. Details of the incident at the west London station – in which the victim hurt their leg – were revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.

A total of more than £950,000 was paid out by Network Rail for 290 claims over the past five years for slips, trips and falls resulting in compensation claims at the 20 stations it manages in England and Scotland.

In some instances this included money towards claimants’ legal costs.

The largest single payout was £40,000 after a passenger ‘slipped on some liquid and landed heavily on their right hip’ at London Charing Cross.

Network Rail’s head of claims and insurance, Philip Thrower, said: ‘We’re a big company that takes our responsibilities seriously. With tens of millions of people using our stations every day; only a tiny fraction of a percent experience a mishap. Horse waits for train on South Shields metro platform

‘If we are at fault for causing damage or injury to anyone, we rightly compensate them for those accidents and put in place new ways of working to stop them from happening again.’

Other accidents which led to successful compensation claims include:

A passenger slipped on an uneven surface while walking towards a train at Euston (£17,000);
A large puddle of water caused a passenger to slip while crossing a bridge at Leeds station (£10,000);
A passenger slipped on ‘discarded tomato sauce’ on the concourse at London Liverpool Street, hurting their wrist and both knees (£6,000).

Victoria station in London was the location for the most successful claims, with 44. This was followed by London Waterloo and Leeds (both 32), Euston (27) and Liverpool Street (24). The lowest amount paid was £10 after a passenger suffered ‘personal injury and damage/messing to suit’ when they slipped on ice at an entrance to Victoria.

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/08/09/paddington-station-passenger-gets-payout-slipping-pigeon-poo-10543253/

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Pigeons Swarm Chennai Airport, Nomads Roped In To Shoo Them Away

Pigeon Patrol — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 21:35:13 +0000

CHENNAI: A number of pigeons are swarming the Chennai airport premises for the last three days. Authorities were forced to hire a nomadic community to shoo them away.

Efforts by the airport personnel to shoo them away have failed; as the birds come back again and again, giving anxious moments to the authorities.

Many birds were spotted around the runway today, authorities requisitioned the services of Narikorava community, who are well versed in shooing them away using traditional techniques.

The gypsies were on the job to shoo the birds away, and have been very successful.

As part of the State Safety Programme, preventing wildlife (bird/animal) strikes to aircraft was identified by Directorate General of Civil Aviation as one of the most important safety priorities.

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Pigeongram: In Social Media Era, Odisha Keeps Age-Old Practice Alive

Pigeon Patrol — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 21:24:12 +0000

BHUBANESWAR: With the onslaught of social media and e-communication services, pigeongram may have become a thing of the past across the globe, but the Odisha Police continues to keep alive this unique practice.

The service was put to test yesterday when the Odisha Police, in association with the Bhubaneswar chapter of Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), flew 50 pigeons at OUAT Grounds here to deliver missives of heritage conservation to Cuttack, 25km away.

The ceremony was attended by people from all walks of life, including schoolchildren from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

Former DGP and state convener of INTACH, A B Tripathy, praised the police department for preserving the age-old tradition.

The determination of the men who run India’s only police pigeon service has “guaranteed the survival of a practice” that was prevalent in the Mughal era, he said.

SP (signal) BN Das said Odisha was the only state in India to use carrier pigeons to communicate among police stations.

The Odisha Pigeon Service started in 1946 when 200 pigeons were handed over to police personnel by the army on an experimental basis to communicate in areas with no wireless or telephone links, Das said.

The service was first pioneered in the mountainous Koraput district, and its success and reliability resulted in its introduction to almost all the districts of the state with over 700 sturdy Belgian Homer pigeons ferrying messages to assigned destinations.

For years, these dependable birds have been a vital link between remote police stations, where traditional communications failed, beating storms, disasters – and birds of prey, the SP (signal) said.

The messages, written on a piece of paper, were inserted into plastic capsule and tied to the feet of the Belgian Homer Pigeons, which can fly 25 km in just 15 to 25 minutes and live up to 20 years, he added.

The service, headquartered in Cuttack, was extensively used during floods and Super Cyclone in 1999, as radio networks were disrupted, said a senior police officer, adding that the pigeon service was also the only line of communication to the marooned town of Banki during the disastrous flood in 1982.

Ornithologist Panchami Manoo Ukil feels this practice needs to be preserved for the next generation to get an idea about the ancient traditions.

“Pigeon service is an art that dates back to the Mughal days. The birds delivered messages to the harems and battlefields. This unique tradition has historical significance and should be preserved,” he said.

Anil Dhir, a member of INTACH, said the heritage service has generated a lot of interest among the collector’s community.

“All the pigeons reached Cuttack within an hour,” he added.

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Rescuers Looking For Owner Of Mysterious Bedazzled Pigeon

Pigeon Patrol — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:05:39 +0000

Blinged out Bird!

A lot of us look at pigeons less than fondly – but clearly not all of us. A bird shelter in Arizona, USA, is looking for the owner of a pigeon found wearing a rhinestone-covered vest. The bird, now nicknamed ‘rhinestone bird’ and ‘Liberace’, was given to the Fallen Feathers rescue and rehabilitation facility for birds in Phoenix.

According to local reports, the pigeon was found by a woman in Glendale, wearing a blingy flight suit.

The woman said he wouldn’t fly away and she was afraid an animal would eat him, so she turned in the bedazzled bird to Judy Kieran – the founder of Fallen Feathers.

The bedazzled bird received instant online fame once Judy shared his picture on Facebook a week ago, in hopes of tracing his owner. Comments quickly flooded in, ranging from ‘fabulous’ to ‘fancy’ to ‘rhinestone birdy’.

“Looks like it’s maybe El Chapo’s pigeon with that fancy gold encrusted vest,” wrote one person in the comments section. “You have to name him Elvis!!!” joked another.

In fact, the lost bird received so much attention that Judy shared some better pictures later.

(We must say he’s a fabulous bird)

“Apparently he did belong to somebody, because he does keep going to cages and being as friendly as he is, he’s missing his home,” said Judy.

The search is still underway for Rhinestone Pigeon aka Liberace’s owner.

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On Pigeon Patrol, Rufus the Hawk Rules the Skies Over Wimbledon

Pigeon Patrol — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 20:46:43 +0000

WIMBLEDON, England — Imagine the fluttering kerfuffle.

Roger Federer is serving for the Wimbledon title. He tosses the ball and cranes his neck.

Plop. A gift from a pigeon, right on the forehead.

Luckily, something like that hasn’t happened. At least not yet, not during a big match in recent memory.

For that, Wimbledon can thank a brown and chestnut bird of prey with keen eyes, a four-foot wingspan and bone-crushing talons. His name is Rufus the Hawk, and he plays a crucial role at the world’s oldest tennis tournament.

Every day, in the early morning, well before the matches begin, Rufus soars the skies over the All England Club, on the prowl for pigeons.

Without him, Wimbledon just might descend into aviary chaos. Pigeons could reign supreme, not just in the air, but also in the rafters, on the rooftops and across the grass courts.

The place is perfect for pigeons. “All of the grass seeds, all of the nooks and crannies, and the food waste from the fans,” Wayne Davis, one of Rufus’s handlers, said. Without Rufus, he reckoned, pigeons would number in the hundreds.

Wayne Davis, one of Rufus’s handlers, with a younger companion of the hawk. “Feral pigeons breed year round,” he said. “If you have just one pair breeding in the rafters at Centre Court, you would end up by the end of the year with about 40 more birds. You could have Roger Federer serving and clouds of pigeons wafting about.

“And pigeon poop, too, of course.”

Flocks of pigeons became a growing problem in the late 1990s, a threat to the prim fastidiousness that Wimbledon prizes above all. That was when the All England Club telephoned Davis and his family-run Avian Environmental Consultants.

Another of their birds was the first to patrol Wimbledon. Then Rufus the Hawk took over. He has become an English icon.

From dawn to dusk, he soars, on the prowl for pigeons. He doesn’t kill them. He toys with them, barreling from above, twisting, turning, squawking and nipping at their wings, announcing to all that the skies over Wimbledon belong to him.

“The pigeons learned he was in charge,” Davis said. “Other than a few stragglers, they stopped coming around like they did before. He scares them away.”

Rufus would have been a fearsome predator in the wild. Although he weighs just 1 pound 6 ounces, he cuts a much larger figure with his confident bearing and cascade of feathers.

He can spread his talons almost as wide as a person’s hand, and he can see 10 times better than any human. He can focus on a pigeon from a mile way.

Davis and his daughter, Imogen, feed him by hand because his weight is important. At less than a pound and a half, he can become too hungry and might have a pigeon for lunch. Maybe in front of the royal box.

They have taught him to come when they whistle.

Most often, he does.

Rufus soars and (almost) always comes back.

On one occasion three years ago, however, Imogen Davis had to chase him down at a nearby golf course. He took off again, across a road, then out of sight. She followed the jingle of his small bronze bell, attached to a talon.

She found him in the middle of a pond, standing in a thicket of weeds, hovering over a freshly killed duck. She couldn’t let him eat it. A full tummy would mean he wouldn’t come home until he was hungry again.

She waded through muck and lily pads, then through waist-high water. When she trooped back to Wimbledon, past crowds lined up to watch tennis in their finery, she had Rufus in her clutches.

One time, he vanished overnight.

Wayne Davis had left the bird in the family camper, parked outside an apartment they stay at during tournaments. Davis tucked him into the black cage that is his bedroom, and cracked a camper window just enough for ventilation. In the morning, Rufus and his cage were gone.

Someone had broken in and stolen him.

“My heart sank,” Imogen Davis said. She, her parents and her siblings had bought Rufus from a breeder when he was 16 weeks old, and he had become a member of the family.

“It was terrible,” she said. “There were a lot of tears.”

By then, Rufus had celebrity status, even a Twitter handle. The theft of Rufus the Hawk became headline news.

“Game, set and snatched,” wrote The Daily Mail.

The police said to expect someone to be in touch, demanding a ransom.

Three days went by. Then, from a phone booth, someone telephoned the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. No one knows for sure what had transpired — maybe Rufus had gotten away from the birdnappers, or maybe they decided to simply give him up — but he had been spotted in a park.

Imogen Davis, another handler, said Rufus once stayed in the Centre Court rafters overnight. The animal welfare charity picked him up. Rufus went back to work. He hasn’t missed a day since.

Imogen Davis said Rufus has taught her important lessons. Like the morning he flew into the Centre Court rafters and decided to stay there.

Two hours passed. Then five. Then 10. He still wouldn’t budge. “Luckily it wasn’t during the actual tournament,” she said, a nod to the fact that Rufus polices Wimbledon year round. She and her mother, Donna, wrapped themselves in towels and spent the night on Centre Court.

“We didn’t sleep in the royal box,” Imogen Davis said. “We didn’t sleep at all.”

The next day, Rufus came down.

The lesson was a lot like Zen: Rufus never gets ruffled. He does things in his own good time.

Has he ever, in his own good time, decided to perch in the Center Court rafters during a match?

No, Davis said. She chuckled. “But if he did, he would just stay perched up there, saying, ‘I don’t know who Roger Federer is.’”

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Penticton building owner ordered to clean up heaps of pigeon droppings

Pigeon Patrol — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 19:55:36 +0000

Elderly tenants of a Penticton apartment building may be at risk of contracting a fatal disease due to “large accumulations” of pigeon poop in the ceiling above a fourth-floor hallway, according a public health inspector.

The warning is contained in a July 19 letter from Interior Health to the manager of King’s Court at 66 Duncan Ave. West.

Signed by environmental health officer Stephanie Carver, the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Penticton Herald, outlines findings of a July 15 inspection of the 52-unit building.

“We observed large accumulations of pigeon guano in the ceiling tiles above the fourth floor east-west hallway. The accumulation of guano was dry, indicating accumulation has occurred over time,” Carver wrote.

“A substantial amount fell out when one ceiling tile was lifted up and it was evident the hallway ceiling tiles are full of guano and other roosting material. There were also visible signs of waste dripping down the sides of the ceiling into the hallway above residents’ doors.”

Carver goes on to note pigeon poop carries diseases such as cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, candidiasis and encephalitis, “which can be fatal to the elderly population.”

“The amount of guano that was observed is quite significant and is considered a health hazard. Our biological concerns at this point are the many disease that are found in guano that can easily spread to the occupants as well as the amount of flies that are being attracted to the area,” she added.

Despite that warning, Interior Health gave the building owner 1-1/2 months to clean up the mess.

“The guano is not in the apartment living spaces and does not currently present an imminent health risk. It will require a fair bit of work to address the issues which have built up over time, so we have given the property owner until Sept. 3 to fix the problem,” Jennifer Jacobsen, interim manager for environmental management, said in a statement.

“If it is not addressed by that time, IH can and will take additional steps, including an order under the Public Health Act and potential violation tickets. From a public health perspective, this is a problem that does need to be fixed.”

A fourth-floor resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals told The Herald he’s been complaining about the problem for years to the building owner, Sandy Creek Properties, but to no avail.

“They just refuse to deal with anything,” he said.

But after finding a maggot in the hallway outside his door about a month ago, the man redoubled his efforts and contacted various outside agencies, including Interior Health, the Residential Tenancy Branch and the City of Penticton.

“I’m not worried about the live birds,” he said. “I’m worried about the dead birds — that’s where the maggot came from.”

During a visit Monday, a reporter could hear what sounded like pigeons cooing and scratching in the hallway ceiling just outside the man’s door.

Sandy Creek Properties administrator Trina Murray said the company is aware of the problem and the cleanup will begin soon.

“We’ve actually had that contract out for quite some time, and I believe (the work) is starting next week,” she said in a telephone interview Monday.

Murray said she’s been with the company for a year, but wasn’t aware of previous complaints about the issue. She was also unsure if tenants will be moved out during the cleanup.

“I know there will be a process. If they need to be moved, they will be moved,” said Murray.

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Council unveils secret weapon against pigeon poo…a killer hawk!

Ryan Ponto — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 16:00:54 +0000

PESKY pigeons are being given a run for their money after council bosses brought in a hawk to scare them away – and stop them dumping their unpleasant payloads on people’s heads.

The harris hawk and its handler have been seen several times on the roof of the county council’s social services offices in Clacton.

The airborne attacker sends seagulls and pigeons screeching into the air as the hawk is released from the roof of the Magnet House building in Jackson Road.

An Essex Council spokesman said: “Due to the continued roosting of pigeons and seagulls on top of Magnet House, our partners Mitie are currently trialling the use of a hawk as a deterrent, to prevent the build-up of bird droppings at the building’s entrances.

“This method is highly effective and environmentally friendly, as the hawk’s presence should quickly make an area undesirable for pest species, and in doing so help to keep Magnet House clean and safe in future.”

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London’s Pigeon Problem has a Simple Solution: a Hawk

Ryan Ponto — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 16:00:53 +0000

Fifteen years ago, the center of London was densely populated — not just with people, but also with birds. Particularly pigeons.

Huge flocks of them would fill the capital’s parks and squares. But something has changed. The pigeons are gone. One reason for the pigeon decline can be seen in Trafalgar Square at 7 a.m. every weekday.

Not far from Big Ben, the square is the very center of the city. Even early in the day it bustles with commuters, tourists and school parties. But among all that activity there is a hunter on the loose. A silent killer. One who watches over every movement — from the National Gallery on the north side to Charing Cross Station on the south. Up close to him, you notice powerful shoulders, a penetrating gaze — and also a tendency to twist his head around to the back looking for prey.

That hunter’s name is Lemmy, and he is a Harris’s hawk.

Lemmy is employed by the Greater London Authority to ensure that places like Trafalgar Square remain free of pigeons, and therefore free of their waste. He works in a team: his handler, Paul Picknell, is employed by Hawkforce, one of London’s leading avian security firms.

Speaking to Picknell, there is no mistaking his love for his work buddy. “He’s a work colleague, he’s a friend. [But he is] essentially a wild animal. Never tame. In amongst all these people — he’ll totally ignore everybody apart from me,” he says. “It’s almost a telepathetic communication.”

Until the early 2000s, pigeons ruled Trafalgar Square and other open spaces in the center of London. You could buy food to feed them. Even Mary Poppins had a song advising Londoners to feed the birds.

Things changed in 2003, when the mayor of London declared war on the birds. So many pigeons produced a lot of … waste. And that’s not hygienic.

The pigeon feed stall was closed. If Mary Poppins tried to feed the birds now, she would be hit with a fine. But a humane and natural way to move the pigeons on was needed. And that’s where Picknell and Lemmy come in.

As Picknell is talking, Lemmy suddenly gags and vomits up a small oily lump of yellowish paste onto the sidewalk. Picknell is relieved. “Oh. That’s what we’re waiting for,” he says. “That’s the cast. It’s basically beaks, the feathers, the claws of the food he had yesterday that he can’t digest.”

He picks it up and rubs it carefully between his fingers for a diagnosis. It crumbles under his thumbnail. “That one’s quite normal looking. Nothing wrong with this bird. He’s ready to go now.”

Although Harris’s hawks do hunt birds like pigeons, the idea is not for Lemmy to kill while on duty. He is fed exclusively from a small plastic box of raw chicken scraps. Picknell takes a large handful and fills his pocket with these snacks at the start of every shift.

Instead, the idea is to use Lemmy’s presence to deter and intimidate pigeons. “It’s a visual thing. It’s a presence,” says Picknell. “The pigeons are aware there’s a bird of prey — there’s predator around, therefore they stay away.”

There’s an air of “The Sopranos” when Picknell describes the effect Lemmy’s presence has on pigeons. “I suppose he does intimidate them,” he says. “The big kid’s around. Keep yourself to yourself. Stay out the way.”

Unlike other forms of pest control, such as poisoning or shooting, the use of hawks is environmentally friendly and ultimately humane. It is also popular: Picknell and Limmy are constantly pestered for selfies. Some hawks like the attention more than others, Picknell says. Lemmy is not too keen on having his feathers ruffled.

There was some backlash at first — a renegade pro-pigeon activist group is still rumored to carry out vigilante bread distributions somewhere nearby — but the square today is much cleaner. And almost completely free of pigeons.

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Spring in the air, China’s pigeon racers give birds their meds

Ryan Ponto — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 16:00:56 +0000

BEIJING (Reuters) – Guarding against avian flu, which has forced a mass cull of birds in China, pigeon fancier Wang Jincang paid out nearly $400 to get his 200 racing pigeons vaccinated and fortified for the onset of the spring racing season.

“I normally choose imported medicines, which are several times more expensive than some local brands,” Wang told Reuters as he lined up to enter birds for contests that begin this month.

The cost of vaccination is small change compared with how much pigeon enthusiasts can pay to buy prized breeds.

An egg can cost a few hundred dollars, while the price for a full-grown bird with a coveted bloodline can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In 2013, a Chinese businessman paid 310,000 euros (nearly $334,000) for a Belgian-bred racing pigeon, whereas local birds can be bought for less than $100.

Wang doesn’t want to say how much he has invested in his birds, though he spends almost $1,500 a month looking after their health, and describes his pastime as wagering time and money.

“Pigeon racing is essentially gambling. We are betting our time and fortune on the birds, similar to horse-betting,” Wang said.

Any form of gambling is banned in China, but pigeon races, which are flown over hundreds of kilometers, fall under the gray category of social sports.

China hosts more than 100,000 pigeon races annually, some of them organized by corporate-backed professional pigeon clubs like Huashunde, supported by Beijing Huashunde Power Engineering Ltd, and Hongjin Pigeon Club, backed by PetroChina Huabei Oil Field Co.

Prize money has been rising. A club in Beijing is set to award 70 million yuan (over $10 million) in total prize money at its autumn championship.

Ge, a 39-year-old pigeon owner in Fujian, has 80 pigeons. So far, they have helped him win 150,000 yuan (nearly $22,000).

“We aim for good scores and big rewards at contests,” said Ge. “Otherwise, why raise pigeons?”

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Egypt’s pigeons soar above wooden towers, away from the dinner plate

Ryan Ponto — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 16:00:59 +0000

Pigeons are a delicacy in Egypt, traditionally served roasted and stuffed with fragrant rice. But for Cairo’s pigeon fanciers, their prized birds are nobody’s next meal.

Pigeon lofts, towering structures made of wood, balance atop hundreds of buildings in poorer neighbourhoods across the city. They house thousands of highly trained birds that would have otherwise found a home at a butcher’s.

Different breeds, whose speed, colouring and markings vary, can cost thousands of pounds per bird, and in Cairo the market for them is highly competitive.

“We enjoy it, we can stay up there from 7 in the morning until midnight, just doing what we love,” Sayed Mohamed, a pigeon fancier, told Reuters.

Mohamed’s loft is four stories high and overlooks a 15th-century complex built by Mameluk Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the afternoon, he releases his pigeons – first his most prized birds, later the entire flock.

The birds understand a complex series of whistles and gestures that signal for them to fly higher or to come home. They fly far and wide, usually making their way back to the loft by nightfall. They often return with other pigeons.

“You can think of it like a shared language. They’re used to certain patterns, so if they land at another loft and notice something unfamiliar, they know it’s not home,” Mohamed said.

In the evening, Mohamed and other fanciers gather around local coffee shops to brag about stealing one other’s birds, each taking pride in the day’s catch.

Mohamed first picked up the hobby in his childhood, going with his uncle to the family pigeon loft and feeding the birds.

“I started doing this out of love … but I later learned that you also have to use it to make profit, you can’t just keep buying more pigeons,” Mohamed told Reuters.

Fanciers carefully breed their birds and often sell young pigeons to traders on a lucrative market.

“When [my brother and I] moved out, we got jobs and we bought houses and the first thing we did, even before getting married, was that we built our loft,” he said. “It makes us feel alive.”

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