BENGALURU: With concrete jungle robbing them of their habitat, pigeons seem to be making metro stations their home. And this is proving costly for Namma Metro as support staff has to hit the ground almost every hour to clear bird poop from platforms and other areas.
As the winged visitors ensconce themselves in the supporting structures of the stations, bird droppings have contributed to an increase in the operating expenses of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
An RTI query filed by STOI revealed a near 30% increase in the annual housekeeping charges of Namma Metro’s stations in its second and third years of operation. In a reply to the RTI query on whether bird droppings posed problems to maintenance of its stations, BMRCL said, “Yes, it is posing problems.”
“High-level cleaning (is) being done for maintaining cleanliness,” it added.
House-keeping charges for Reach 1 (Baiyapanahalli-MG Road) was Rs 106.71 lakh in the first year of its operation (Oct 2011 – Sept 2012), which rose to Rs130.7 lakh the next year (October 2012 – September 2013) and Rs 128.16 lakh (October 2013 – September 2014).
In other words, keeping the stations clean in the first year cost Namma Metro Rs 8.89 lakh a month. It shot up by nearly Rs 2.5 lakh to over Rs 10 lakh a month the next two years.
According to work staff, they used to clean the platforms once every two hours; of late they have been constrained to wield their mop-sticks on an hourly basis.
M B Krishna, a veteran ornithologist, says concrete structures such as Namma Metro’s stations aren’t favourable nesting spots to bird associated with the city. “What is the point if hardly a bird species or two reside here?” he says when asked whether such structures could help support their eco-system.
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.
Details of the cruel treatment and illegal trade of animals have been revealed.
Created using data from the Metropolitan Wildlife Crime Unit, an online map features data for all 32 London boroughs.
There were seven cases of cruelty in Redbridge between February and July this year, including cases involving a swan, a fox and a pigeon.
One report was filed of a man shooting at pigeons in Hainault Country Park in Foxburrow Road, Hainault.
The report shows he was warned by police.
There were four cases recorded in Waltham Forest, including an illegal trade of a tortoise and goldfinches being illegally offered for sale on the internet.
The highest number of offences (26) was recorded in Richmond.
The map was compiled jointly by the Wildlife Crime Unit and charity World Animal Protection.
World Animal Protection campaigner, Alyx Elliott, said: “We commend the government for the work it has undertaken so far and welcome further dialogue around the specifics of our recommendations for fighting wildlife crime.
“We feel our report busts some myths about what wildlife crime looks like in the UK and demonstrates the urgent need for more to be done to tackle it here at home.”
If you witness wildlife crime, the Metropolitan Wildlife Crime Unit can be contacted on 02072308898
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.
Commonly seen defacing the structures that facility managers (fms) work so hard to build and maintain, pest birds can cause serious problems. From office buildings to schools and hospitals to food manufacturing facilities and restaurants, birds and their droppings create unsanitary conditions and add expense to facility maintenance.
Birds frequent areas because of two primary reasons: shelter and food. In all situations, cleaning existing bird mess away is essential, including droppings, feathers, nests, and any other territorial markings. This task requires proper safety precautions such as wearing protective equipment, as bird mess notoriously carries toxic fungus and transmissible diseases.
No matter what repellent measures are taken, the area must first be thoroughly cleansed of bird smell and visual markings for an approach to be effective. Using a strong cleaner is highly recommended. Certain species are protected under the United States Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, so fms should be certain these laws are understood prior to clearing away any nests to avoid any unexpected fines.
Food sources also must be removed or blocked off. Dumpsters containing organic waste must be secured with lids, and any workers or customers feeding the birds should be instructed to stop. Posting “Do Not Feed the Birds” signs is beneficial for this purpose. Birds are far more difficult to control if food is available to them.
Fms in urban populations are all too familiar with pigeons perching on the sides of buildings and defacing architecture, windows, and sidewalks with droppings. Not only is this aesthetically alarming but large quantities of bird droppings can cause slipping hazards and disease risks—certainly no liability any responsible business takes lightly. In these situations, simple physical barriers are easy to implement—installing bird spikes, bird wire, sticky bird gels, or electrified, low-profile bird track will quickly clear ledges of these pests.
The same methods may be used on the ledges of hospitals, restaurant windows, and schools, as they are humane to pest animals, do not make noise, and do not contain chemicals or poisons.
Fms in food processing facilities know the challenge of birds very well. These situations are even more difficult because not only is there a food source to attract birds, but the FDA and other health organizations have rigid regulations about pest animals and food production. A bird infestation during a health inspection can mean fines, citations, and even business closure.
Pest droppings are obviously unsanitary and can quickly contaminate an area through air conditioning and ventilation ducts or being brought in on workers’ shoes. If birds come in direct contact with the food or processing equipment, finished food products may contain pathogens and feces.
The best success strategy for any food processing plant is to block the food source from pests physically. Securing dumpsters with lids and closing off openings to warehouses and silos will help drastically. If areas are kept semi-enclosed, securing openings with bird netting will not only keep birds out, but will also deter bats, rats, mice, and other pests. In facilities that contain restaurants, bird netting can form an attractive enclosure for patios and open windows.
In semi-enclosed areas such as parking garages, airplane hangars and open warehouses, ultrasonic bird repellent systems are extremely effective with the added benefit of being silent to humans. Ultrasonic soundwaves are above the average human’s hearing range, however the frequencies are disruptive to birds and other pests. Light deterrents such as strobes and laser systems work well in dim warehouse corners, or when pest control is only needed at night.
Large, open outdoor areas such as golf courses with bodies of water, orchards, vineyards, and small lakes can be frustrating for fms due to their attraction for birds, especially when food is available. Taste aversion liquids and physical barriers may not be feasible in these areas, so sonic bird control methods can come into play. Additionally, one of the most effective bird control methods for preventing bird strikes at airports is a sonic control system.The overhangs of all man-made structures, including buildings, overpasses, garages, warehouses, stables, and barns are often prone to problems with barn swallows. These birds exclusively build their mud nests on man-made structures when caves are not available. These birds are protected by federal law (inhabited nests may not be disrupted), so repelling them humanely before nests are occupied is essential. Their nests can cause structural damage, mite infestations, and unsanitary conditions, as well as obvious aesthetic problems. Applying deterrent liquids along the upper walls and eaves of structures, and in certain situations installing physical barriers such as netting, are effective and legal methods to control swallows.
Every facility and bird scenario is different, but no matter the situation or budget an effective solution is available. Avoiding the costs of constant cleaning and maintenance, equipment and property damage, and liability risks make bird control an important part of responsible facility management.
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.
When Anita Grossman saw her dream house for the first time, it was occupied by a family of pigeons. Her builder husband was fond of buying “fixer uppers”, but Grossman quickly realised that this house would need a total transformation before it could be a family home.
“When we found it, the house hadn’t been touched since the 60s,” she says. “Generations of one family had lived in it but it had been left a dilapidated wreck. Birds were flying around in the roof, it was badly wired, there was no central heating and the flooring was unstable.”
Once the initial shock was over, the pair found themselves attracted to the building’s incredible proportions. The five-storey, terraced house in Islington, north London, was filled with light, offered around 4,000sqft of space and was 18ft wide at the front of the house. It still retained some of its Victorian features such as two, large working fireplaces, English oak floorboards and original cornicing. So the pair decided to give the building a chance and moved in in 2008.
After eight months of extensive work, the house was completed and it’s now a paean to contemporary family life. The 27ft-long, L-shaped reception room is the introduction to an open-plan entertaining space, a bespoke fitted kitchen, five bedrooms and a spacious back garden with a gym at the end.
Grossman estimates it has increased in value by 200 per cent since they started work and it has proved to be a nice earner in other ways. Grossman is one half of A&R Photographic which represents photographers and provides photoshoot and filming locations for businesses. As a result, her house has featured in a number of high-profile glossy magazines, including a Vogue cover shoot of Gwyneth Paltrow, shot by world-famous photographer Mario Testino.
“We go out to work and we know that the house is also earning us money,” says Grossman. “It’s paid for itself a few times over.” But now it’s time to say goodbye as Grossman and her partner sell up to concentrate on their next property adventure in Ibiza.
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.
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — Overgrown weeds and grass at Atlantic City International Airport may give the impression the lawn mowers are broken or the groundskeepers have been laid off.
But the airport’s unkempt appearance is part of a strategy to outwit some bird-brained intruders. Airport officials want to discourage birds from congregating on the sprawling property and creating a danger for aircraft.
The tall vegetation on parts of the airfield is seen as a deterrent because birds like to survey their surroundings. One bird expert says they avoid high weeds, because they fear predators could be hiding nearby.
“It’s certainly true that larger birds, like geese and gulls, don’t like the fact that predators, including foxes, could be lurking there,” explained Mike Crewe, program director for the Cape May Bird Observatory. “The other problem for them is, if you think of geese or gulls, they are short-legged for the bulk of their body, so walking through that type of vegetation is cumbersome.”
So far this year, there have been 25 bird strikes with aircraft at the Atlantic City airport. None resulted in any injuries or serious damage, according to the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the state agency that owns the airport.
Overall, the Federal Aviation Administration reports there are more than 10,000 airplane bird strikes a year in the United States. Globally, wildlife strikes have killed more than 250 people and destroyed more than 229 aircraft since 1988, the FAA says.
In recent years, the best known case of an airplane bird strike is the “miracle on the Hudson,” the forced landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in New York in 2009. Canada geese ingested in the jet engines caused the plane to lose power and ditch into the Hudson River. The crash was labeled a miracle because no one was killed.
Knowing that bird strikes could be catastrophic, the South Jersey Transportation Authority and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are using a number of tactics to keep geese, gulls and other feathery interlopers off the Atlantic City airport grounds.
Flocks of birds descend on the 5,000-acre airport site to forage on the insects that are abundant this time of year. But the transportation authority has a contract with the Department of Agriculture to make the airport inhospitable for birds, including setting off fireworks or even shooting them if they become a serious nuisance.
“Wildlife harassment techniques are implemented as needed, including loud noises or pyrotechnics. When necessary, birds are taken in accordance with the airport’s bird depredation permit,” said Kevin Rehmann, a transportation authority spokesman.
Rehmann could not immediately say just how many birds have been shot this year or what types. In previous years, the airport disclosed that hundreds of birds have been killed, particularly the aggressive laughing gulls that often appear in large numbers.
Crewe said he hopes the airport kills birds only as a last resort. He would like to see a compromise that allows the birds to forage and nest on the airport grounds, as long as they don’t pose a danger to aircraft.
“I would say it’s unfortunate,” Crewe said of sharpshooters killing the birds. “I would say it should be a last recourse when you try everything else.”
Other airports across the globe have struggled with bird populations. Some have used dogs to patrol the airfield for birds. Others have relied on trained falcons to chase away intruders. Crewe said one airport in Europe has been experimenting with a robotic peregrine falcon, created from a 3-D printer, to fly around the grounds as a bird deterrent.
Strangely, the roar of jet engines isn’t enough to scare the birds. Crewe said the birds simply have adapted to the noise and are unfazed by the planes. So they persist.
“They get used to it. That’s the long and short of it,” Crewe said. “They’ve come to think, ‘This thing’s kind of noisy, but it doesn’t harm me.’’’
Gulls and other birds come to the Atlantic City airport from their breeding grounds in the salt marshes of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge about five miles away in Galloway Township. Insects found at the airport are a tasty morsel for the adult gulls and their chicks waiting back at the nests.
Years ago, the airport grounds were mowed very short, similar to a golf course. But that attracted Japanese beetles. The beetles like shorter grass for their egg-laying. Swarms of beetles would then attract flocks of gulls and other birds looking for food.
But since 1993, airport officials have been allowing the grass and weeds to grow high during the summer. The hope is that there will be fewer beetles for the birds to snack on, forcing them to bypass the airport to search for food elsewhere.
Rehmann noted that the grass and weeds will be mowed once the summer growing season is over. Although large sections of the grounds remain overgrown, mowing continues near the runways, taxiways and other areas of the airport where navigational aids for aircraft are located.
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.
