by Pigeon Patrol | Jan 16, 2015 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeons in the News
Thousands of pigeons have invaded a small town in Scotland – coating roofs, streets and pavements in droppings and feathers.
Frustrated residents in Alva, Clackmannanshire, have hit out at council officials for failing to take action to remove the birds after they claim they have been hit be a ‘plague of pigeons’.
It is thought the birds are looking for a place to roost after the demolition of a former pub, the Alva Glen Hotel, which had lain empty for years and where they had taken residency.
A small town in Scotland has been invaded by a swarm of pigeons, which have coated roofs and pavements with droppings and feathers
But it was recently knocked down after it was discovered that drug barons had been using it as a cannabis farm in 2009.
Residents have complained that persistent problems include pigeons taking to balconies and that roofs of buildings are being covered in feathers and droppings.
Frank Cairns, 45, a local publican who lives and works in Main Street where most of the birds have settled, said: ‘It’s an absolute nightmare. It’s like we’ve gone back to the Middle Ages with street hygiene.
‘It will harm trade, no doubt about that. It gives us a harder job to keep the place clean.’
His sister Katrina Cairns added: ‘We have had to clean the gutters three times to clean out the pigeon mess. It is all getting dragged in here.
‘School kids are walking along the street, walking it into shops, the school, their houses.
‘I know the council said they are sending a cleaner along the street, but the mess is still there. The disease it brings – they are not exactly clean animals.
It is thought the birds are trying to find somewhere to roost after their previous home – the Alva Glen Hotel – was recently demolished
The pigeons can be seen in their thousands as they sit on roofs of houses. Furious residents have complained the council has not done enough to remove the birds
‘It’s not great, you have to try to avoid it in the street.’
Graham Johnston owns a watch shop and has many of the pigeons roosting on his roof: ‘It is annoying. Someone must be feeding them or they’d be away by now.
‘There is droppings all along the pavement. It’s horrible. The mess gets brought into the shop from the pavement outside. There is nothing being done about it.’
James McDonald, 64, who lives opposite where the hotel used to be, added: ‘It’s not very nice, the mess in the street is horrible.’
George Horsburgh, former secretary of Alva Community Council, who is also part of the Alva Community Action Group, said: ‘This has infuriated many residents of Alva who are worst affected, in particular residents of the flattened dwellings in The Wynd.
‘The residents there have to put up with many of the pigeons roosting on their balconies overnight and part of the day, making them unusable to the residents, some of them have resorted to fitting strawberry netting across the front of their balconies to prevent the pigeons from gaining access.
‘One older lady constantly complains that they roost on her window ledges and wonders why no action has been taken.’
Residents have complained that persistent problems include pigeons taking to balconies and that roofs of buildings are being covered in feathers and droppings
The derelict former hotel was bought and flattened by construction firm Murdoch Smith last year after it was branded an eyesore, due to its state of disrepair and problems surrounding the maintenance of the building date as far back as 2006.
Local MP Gordon Banks agrees the pigeon issue is causing distress for many people, and believes the situation has been a long time coming.
He said: ‘There can be no doubt that there are hundreds of pigeons displaced from the old Alva Glen Hotel and such populations are an obvious result of buildings lying empty and falling into disrepair, so the problem has been a long time in the making.
‘Now that their roost has been destroyed these birds are in the open and can often be seen swarming in their hundreds in the area.
‘The council’s hope that they will naturally disperse does not seem to have much support and I hope there is some way that the council will rethink their position and investigate methods for dispersal.
‘This is a problem where buildings are allowed to fall into disrepair and impacts other areas of the county as well, so I look forward to the council being more proactive on empty buildings in the future.’
Another resident said: ‘As soon as they took the roof of the Alva Glen Hotel, the town was hit by a plague of pigeons flying around wondering where their home had gone. They had all been roosting in the attic.’
The birds had been roosting in the Alva Glen Hotel (pictured) before it was recently demolished after residents complained it was an ‘eyesore’
The small town of Alva in Clackmannanshire has been inundated with the pigeons and the local council has organised extra street cleaning
Clackmannanshire Council said it had been concerned about the potential for problems from pests from the site and, in advance of the demolition, had investigated options for culling the birds.
A spokeswoman for the council said: ‘Due to animal welfare legislation we were unable to net the buildings as it would have trapped the birds inside and due to the poor state of the building we were unable to gain access to poison the birds.
‘It was expected that the pigeon population of Alva would decrease as the air temperature dropped and the pigeons are forced to find new sheltered spots for roosting at night.
‘The persistence of birds during daytime is indicative of food being put out for the birds during the day.
‘The council has investigated a number of reports and spoken to those responsible.
‘To reduce the impact off the pigeon droppings on the pavements of Alva, the council has organised extra street cleansing and also arranged for high powered jet washing of the worst affected areas.
‘Council officers will continue to monitor the situation, and consider further action should the issue persist.’
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, 2014 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News
– Pigeons can inbreed exactly up to 21 times before the effects become detrimental
– Pigeons can navigate via the earth’s magnetic fields
– Pigeons always lay at least 2 eggs with each one being a male and a female
– Pigeons have been known to live over 30 years
– Pigeons are also known as the ‘Rats of the Sky’
Awful!
– Pigeons are an invasive species, shrinking the population of smaller birds when theirs increases
– Diseases are transferable from pigeon to humans– such include tuberculosis, ornithosis, and salmonellosis
– Bird Fancier’s Lung, also called Pigeon-Breeder’s lung is a condition caused by bird poop. It causes the lungs to become inflamed with a granuloma formation
– A full grown pigeon has 10,000 feathers
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, 2014 | Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News
A PIGEON coop went up in flames on Sunday night after an electrical fault.
It is not known how many pigeons were harmed in the blaze.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service received a call just after 10pm for an unknown fire in the town’s Burns Terrace and one appliance from Ardrossan Fire Station was dispatched to find a garden shed well alight.
A single high pressure jet was used to extinguish the flames before it came to light that it was home for pigeons.
Police were then requested from the fire crew as this could have been wilfull fireraising but a spokesperson from Police Scotland said that this a suspected electrical fault and it was not being treated as suspicious.
The fire was brought under control just after 11.30pm by the fire service but it is unclear how many pigeons were harmed in the blaze.
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 | Sep 5, 2014 | Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Piano wire, made for use in piano strings, has found a new, unexpected use in chasing pigeons away so that buildings and structures could avoid premature corrosion as well as bad odor and noise. The Seoul metropolitan city government said on September 4 that it has come up with a novel solution to keep birds away using piano wire by experimentally installing the line on Seongsan No. 1 Bridge and the Seoul Station Overpass.
The solution is based on a simple idea that the birds wouldn’t be able to land on the extremely thin line and would fly away after trying many times. Until now, most bridges and elevated roads have been infested with pigeons, causing bad smell, often unbearable noise, and urban squalor. In some problem spots, the city government tried to install bird blocking nets but found it ineffective as most pigeon habitats were narrow holes or small cracks.
The idea of using piano wire came when a bike rider passing underneath Seongsan No. 1 Bridge petitioned the city government to do something about the pigeon problem and a city officer named Lee Jong-wook at the West Seoul Road Maintenance Corp. under the city government invented the idea after weeks of experiment. He applied for a patent for the idea with the Korea Intellectual Property Office.
Pigeon droppings may cause corrosion of steel parts in the structure as they contain ammonia and acid when they are mixed with rainwater. The droppings are major nuisance to pedestrians walking under bridges and overpasses. The piano wire-based bird chasing device is more cost effective than any other solutions such as the spike needle, bird blocking net, chemical-based bird repellent and ultrasonic bird repeller, which are expensive and often limited in applicable range.
Its installation is also simple, with no need to replace often through the tightness adjustment lever and elastic spring that tightens the line even when the temperature is high. As the wire is made from tempered high-carbon steel, it is durable and can maintain elasticity for a long time.
Lee of the West Seoul Road Maintenance Corp. said, “I thought hard and long about how to address the problem and came up with the idea of piano wire. When I developed the idea, it was winter time, which made it hard to apply any other easily available solutions. I am glad that my simple idea could relieve the problem and make our citizens happy.”
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 | Sep 4, 2014 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
The Wimbledon tennis championships started today, and if you pay close attention, you might notice an unexpected employee keeping the riff-raff of the courts: a hawk named Rufus.
Every morning, from 5-9am, Rufus patrols the skies above Wimbledon and scares away any pigeons. And he’s been at it for fourteen years.
Lucky for the pigeons, its a humane process. They’re not killed, only scared away. At Nerdist, Kyle Hill explains:
Raptors like Rufus—large predatory birds that include eagles, hawks, and falcons—are nothing to mess with. Whether it is scaring pigeons or throwing goats from cliffs, raptors have the speed, vision, and strength to contend with all but the largest game (look at this eagle’s claw for goodness’ sake). All raptors also have ratchet tendons, which allow the birds to effectively lock their claws shut and maintain enormous grip pressures with bone notches and interlocking tendons.
None of that is good news for the pigeons that Rufus keeps out of Wimbledon, but Rufus isn’t a killer. According to a recent Reddit AMA with Rufus’ handler, “Rufus is a non-lethal deterrent which is based on the fact that pigeons have an innate sense of fight or flight, and they don’t hang around very long to fight when they see his talons!”
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)
Thousands of pigeons have invaded a small town in Scotland – coating roofs, streets and pavements in droppings and feathers.
