by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 3, 2015 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — The owners of a San Francisco tofu company agreed in a consent decree filed in federal court Tuesday to cease operations until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines the company is selling clean and sanitary food.
The consent decree concerning the Fong Kee Tofu Co. Inc. was filed in the court of U.S. Magistrate Kandis Westmore in Oakland.
The settlement stems from a civil lawsuit filed against the company and owners Yan Hui Fong, Jen Ying Fong and Suny Fong on Jan. 23 by the U.S. Justice Department at the request of the FDA. The lawsuit alleged that unsanitary conditions at the company were causing its products to become adulterated.
It alleged that FDA inspectors last year observed pigeons on top of plastic-wrapped raw soybean pallets, insects flying around the area used to process firm tofu, lack of proper handwashing by employees, and residue on equipment that was supposed to have been cleaned.
Kasie Lee, a lawyer for the company and its owners, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Joyce Branda said in a statement, “Fong Kee Tofu was repeatedly informed that the sanitation practices at its facility were deficient.”
“The failure to make sure that its facility was operating under sanitary conditions could be a serious risk to the public health and needed to be remedied,” Branda said.
The company’s products include firm tofu, soft tofu, fried tofu balls, soybean cake and soy drinks made from soybeans from Missouri, according to the lawsuit.
The company and owners agreed in the consent decree to be bound by a permanent injunction that requires them to stop preparing, manufacturing, packaging and selling the products.
If they wish to resume operations, they must hire an outside sanitation expert, labeling expert and auditor to develop and monitor a program for preparing uncontaminated and correctly labeled food. The experts can be three separate people or the same person.
The company cannot resume its business until it receives written authorization from the FDA. It would then be subject to FDA inspections without prior notice, under the injunction.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 2, 2015 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Spikes, UltraSonic Bird Control
During one of the worst winters on record for native pigeons dying of disease, state officials continue to seek public assistance in monitoring the disease’s progression and removing transmission sources from their yards.
The band-tailed pigeon is the only pigeon native to California. It is especially susceptible to avian trichomonosis, a disease caused by a single-cell protozoan called Trichomonas gallinae.
The protozoan is believed to have co-evolved with the common rock pigeon, which was introduced from Europe. It causes lesions to form in infected birds’ mouths and throats. The birds, which subsist largely on acorns that they swallow whole, are unable to move food down their throats and starve or can even suffocate.
A state scientist said the ongoing drought may be aiding in the disease’s transmission among the band-tailed pigeon population.
“These mortality events seem to occur more frequently in winters with lower precipitation, so it’s certainly possible that the mortality events that we’re seeing this winter are related to drought conditions,” said Krysta Rogers, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The drought has reduced the number of available water sources, thereby concentrating the numbers of birds at remaining watering holes.
“Anytime you have a small volume of water and lots of band-tailed pigeons utilizing it, if there is this parasite circulating within the population, it can spread more rapidly in that close contact,” Rogers said.
Rogers gave a rough estimate that as many as 10,000 band-tailed pigeons have died in California this winter as a result of the disease. Hard numbers are difficult to produce, because birds are difficult to monitor. Current estimates of the disease’s impact are based on reports of dead birds submitted by the public.
Rogers said the department is continuing to ask for citizens to report on sick or dead birds that they find.
You can report on ill or dead birds at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Mortality Reporting website.
The department is also asking for residents to remove feeders, birdbaths and fountains until the pigeons leave their wintering grounds. Rogers said that it’s unclear whether past calls for restricting the features have aided in disease control but that the request is logical.
“I can’t really put a number on whether or not it helps, because I don’t know if people are actually doing it or not,” Rogers said. “I think it’s one of the easiest things that can be done. If that bird feeder and that bird bath aren’t available for wild birds, then disease transmission definitely will not happen there.”
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 1, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Spikes, UltraSonic Bird Control
About 20 pigeons were killed by the driver of a blue van in the parking lot of the Vallejo public boat launch Sunday afternoon, in what Vallejo police say appears to be a deliberate act of animal cruelty.
A woman who regularly feeds birds had started feeding pigeons in the area, near the former Brinkman’s Marine business, when a van parked in the lot drove through the flock of birds, killing at least 20.
Vallejo police Lt. Kevin Bartlett stated that due to the suddenness of the action, they have no suspect description other than that of the van.
Local bird rescue and animal control agencies have been contacted for custody and treatment of about five surviving 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 Pigeon Patrol | Oct 31, 2015 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, UltraSonic Bird Control
California’s only native pigeon species is taking a big hit from an infectious disease thought to be spread by other pigeons, and the state’s wildlife agency has suggested that bird lovers consider putting away their bird feeders and emptying birdbaths to help slow the spread of the disease.
Band-tailed pigeons, a close relative of the extinct passenger pigeon, have been falling prey to the disease trichomoniasis for 70 years, but the disease has been taking a larger toll in the last decade, with a rise in deaths in the last two months. The pathogens are thought to be spread to band-tailed pigeons by rock doves, the common introduced pigeon of urban areas, which don’t seem to fall ill when infected.
And as a result, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is suggesting that Californians in areas with band-tailed pigeon populations remove their bird feeders and empty and clean bird baths, to avoid attracting mixed flocks of rock doves and band-tails.
The band-tailed pigeon, Patagioenas fasciata, lives in groups that tend to inhabit open oak woodlands where they feed on acorns and other fallen tree nuts, a lifestyle not unlike that of the band-tailed’s close cousin the extinct passenger pigeon.
That preference for open forests with oaks means that the birds tend to live in the state’s coastal mountains and the Sierra foothills. If you’re wondering whether the pigeons massing around your feeder are band-taileds or the more prevalent introduced rock doves, look at their beaks and feet: on band-tailed pigeons, those extremities will be yellow. Band-taileds also tend to be larger than rock doves, with a white crescent on the back of their necks, and lacking the wing bars that most rock doves sport.
Also unlike rock doves, band-tailed pigeons reproduce slowly, with each pair producing one chick a year. That, and the birds’ gregarious habit, make them especially susceptible to population declines from diseases such as trichmoniasis. Spread by at least two related protozoa in the Trichomonas genus, the disease causes lesions in the birds’ mouths that interfere with eating and, eventually, breathing. As it takes some time to kill its victims, the disease allows them to transmit pathogens to other birds in the flock rather readily.
Though it’s been known in the California band-tailed population since the World War II era, mass dieoff events from trichomoniasis are on the rise, with six large mortalities in the last decade — including one in Monterey County in 2007 in which an estimated 43,000 birds perished. Mortalities tend to happen during winter, so CDFW’s suggestion of putting your feeder away won’t have to last forever.
The agency is asking members of the public to report dead band-tailed pigeons via the CDFW website or by phone at (916) 358-2790.
If you find a sick pigeon, you can ask one of the state’s wildlife rehabilitation centers for advice.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Oct 30, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting
The unassuming pigeon, a city denizen so common some call them “rats with wings,” really deserves more respect. These birds can be beautiful (just ask the competitors at the National Pigeon Association’s 93rd annual Grand National Pigeon Show), useful messengers and surprisingly agile fliers. They are are also smarter than many might think, according to new research out of the University of Iowa. Pigeons can learn to recognize and categorize objects much the way human toddlers do, reports a university news release.
The researchers showed three pigeons photographs of 128 objects that all fell into one of 16 categories: baby, bottle, cake, car, cracker, dog, duck, fish, flower, hat, key, pen, phone, plan, shoe or tree. Each pigeon was presented with a photo and the ability to peck one of two symbols. One represented the correct category and the other was randomly chosen from the 15 remaining categories. A correct peck earned a reward. Not only did the pigeons learn how to categorize the images, but they were also able to place four new photos in the right group. The results were published in the journal Cognition.
“Unlike prior attempts to teach words to primates, dogs, and parrots, we used neither elaborate shaping methods nor social cues,” says one of the study’s authors, Ed Wasserman. “And our pigeons were trained on all 16 categories simultaneously, a much closer analog of how children learn words and categories.”
The method is very similar to ways that researchers study language learning in toddlers. Of course, many studies have shown that calling someone a “bird brain” isn’t so insulting: Birds are quite good at differentiating complex objects, using tools, working together in a group and even identifying the beat in a song. But bird intelligence can only go so far. Apparently, pigeons’ human-toddler smarts doesn’t keep the unwary ones from the grasping jaws of southwestern France’s pigeon-catching catfish.
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)
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — The owners of a San Francisco tofu company agreed in a consent decree filed in federal court Tuesday to cease operations until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines the company is selling clean and sanitary food.
