by johnnymarin | Apr 2, 2018 | Pigeons in the News
Have you ever been to Patan Durbar Square during morning hours? If you have, you must have noticed huge flocks of pigeons enjoying seeds offered by denizens of Patan and visitors. There are several positive aspects to it but more recently it is increasingly becoming an issue of public health, a nuisance and something that seriously warrants our attention. In this article I’m going to analyze pigeon feeding from different aspects. Analyzing something that is closely related to human behavior and recommending changes to such behaviors could be controversial but it is always rational to analyze and come up with a conclusion to contribute to wellbeing of the city, its landscape and people.
Cultural sides
Feeding birds has become a routine practice to many people in Nepal, especially in Kathmandu Valley. This behavior is inspired by culture and religion, mostly Hinduism and Buddhism that has altruism at its center and driven by the notion that human beings are most superior and hence caretaker of planet and its beings. Thus the practice is connected with different customs in Nepali culture. It is a dedicated routine of visitors in different temples like Krishna temple, Sankata, Mahankal, Indrayani, Kal Bharav and several other holy places.
Feeding birds has great psychological advantage. You feel connected to nature and it makes you feel happy. It is like a psychotherapy session for feeder and it helps them relieve stress. There is no specific data to quantify this, but it has definitely helped in maintaining a healthy psychological demeanor in people.
Health hazards
There are several public health related issues that need to be carefully analyzed. The droppings of pigeon are connected to several zoonosis that mostly affect people with weak immunity and patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer and pneumonia. Three major diseases are associated with pigeon feces: histoplasmosis (an illness caused by fungus that grows on pigeon droppings), psittacosiss (caused by bacteria found in droppings of pigeon and other birds) and cryptococcosis (a respiratory ailment caused by a fungus that grows and is found in pigeon droppings). Since most of these diseases afflict a small fraction of people (the ones with very weak immunity), it remains overlooked. Although there are no researches on number of pigeons in Kathmandu Valley, there has been noticeable increment in their population in the recent times.
In many countries pigeons in urban settings are considered as feral and source of health hazards. Several cities have banned bird feeding. Singapore, for example, fines whooping 500$ if you are found guilty of feeding birds. One of the major reasons for taking legal action against bird feeders is that it is very difficult to control birds since they are air borne the only way we can control their movements is by modifying our behavior.
Kathmandu valley is known for its ancient architectures but they are not well taken care of. Apart from earthquakes that caused severe damage to historical structures and buildings, the feces of pigeons are reducing the beauty of these artifacts. Pigeon droppings are acidic in nature and our ancient monuments that are mostly built of stones are subject to some serious and irreversible damage from this. It is also accelerating process of soiling (accumulation of soil) in the very complex artistic stone carvings, which in turn support vegetation on the top of the monuments. All this will cause severe damage to these monuments.
Feed them less
It is our duty to help make city more habitable. Limiting bird population is in hands of people of Kathmandu valley. We should start feeding them less often and feed lesser amount. Let them search their food on their own. Mother Nature has given them skills to do so. The abundance of food and shelter are major reason behind increment in their number. They can breed year round and hence their population keeps increasing.
While designing house we should not leave enough platforms and spaces where these birds can reside and breed. We can also use spikes or other means to avoid them in certain areas. Reducing the amount of food and removing shelter ground for these birds can help limit their population. Durbar Square management committees and temple management committees can also play an important role. Feeding pigeons is part of our culture but it warrants serious attention from people of Kathmandu Valley.
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 johnnymarin | Apr 1, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) once numbered between 3 and 5 billion and may have formed up to 40 % of North America’s total bird population. In fact, in the mid to late 19th century, passenger pigeons were so numerous that explorers and settlers of the time wrote of infinite multitudes taking hours to fly overhead. But by 1914, there wasn’t a single bird left. How did this species go from being one of the world’s most abundant birds to extinction in just 50 years?
It’s all in the genes
It had been generally accepted, based on earlier studies, that widely fluctuating population numbers led to low genetic diversity in the passenger pigeon and played a role in its rapid extinction. However, a recent paper published in the journal ‘Science’ contradicts these findings.
A team of researchers, one of whom drew on work carried out under the EU-funded GENETIME project, have analysed 41 mitochondrial genomes and 4 nuclear genomes from passenger pigeons. Data obtained from the species’ mitochondrial genome confirmed that the bird’s genetic diversity was indeed low given its population size. But a closer look at the entire genome yielded surprising results. Genetic variations didn’t occur evenly all along the chromosomes as the scientists had expected to find. Instead, the middle regions had low diversity and the edges higher levels. This is likely because of strong genetic selection throughout the bird’s history.
Further analyses also ruled out demographic fluctuations and showed that population numbers had actually been stable for the past 20 000 years. Having eliminated population instability as a possible reason for the species’ overall low genetic diversity, the scientists turned to natural selection. To investigate the impact of natural selection on the passenger pigeon, the team compared the bird’s genome with that of its close relative, the band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata). Given that the latter’s only true difference from the passenger pigeon is its significantly smaller population size, the scientists could use these comparisons to determine the evolutionary consequences of a big population.
The fate of the passenger pigeon
Through natural selection, the passenger pigeon evolved genetic traits that would help it survive as a species as long as its population was large. In fact, the bird’s considerable numbers seem to have helped it to remove harmful mutations from its genetic make-up much more quickly. This led to a significant loss of genetic diversity.
Had the changes to its environment been gradual, the passenger pigeon would have been able to adapt. However, low genetic diversity made survival more difficult with the mass slaughter that ensued when the European colonists began to hunt it for commercial reasons. So, ultimately, it was humankind’s unchecked hunting practices that tolled the death knell for this now extinct bird.
The GENETIME (GENETIME: An interdisciplinary training site in Ancient Biomolecules) project studied the molecules of ancient organisms in order to provide insight into the histories of both extinct and living species. The work done during the project’s lifetime is still shining a light on the processes of extinction, revealing that a sudden environmental change may bring about the extinction even of species with large and stable population sizes.
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 johnnymarin | Mar 31, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
The historic pavilion housed at the Gawler Sport and Community Centre is temporarily closed to enable the ceiling to be replaced and repair work to be undertaken in the roof cavity.
This unplanned repair work is a result of a recommendation from a contractor engaged by Gawler council to inspect the roof cavity after council staff noticed pigeons causing damage to the pavilion’s ceiling.
“Council’s contractor undertook a detailed site assessment, including cutting entrance holes into the roof cavity and entering via an elevated work platform,” Mayor Redman said.
“This assessment uncovered a high level of contamination due to pigeons roosting in the roof cavity that needs to be appropriately treated.”
The contractor’s recommendation calls for the removal of the suspended ceiling, closing all points of pigeon entry, stabilisation of the roof and ceiling structure generally and reinstatement of a false ceiling.
The pavilion, which was built in 1881, is one of council’s oldest buildings and is a local heritage listed building.
The removal of the ceiling sheets will require specialist treatment associated with the age and condition of the ceiling materials.
“Although this closure will be frustrating for users of the pavilion, the Gawler Central Sporting Association and Council Staff, it is necessary to ensure a safe environment for patrons of the Gawler Sport and Community Centre and our community,” Mrs Redman said.
Council is currently working with the various community groups who have had access to the hall for their many varied activities.
Of the nine groups impacted by this temporary closure, five have already been provided alternate accommodation options.
Council will continue to work with the remaining four groups to find alternate options to minimise the impacts of this temporary closure.
The work is expected to take about six weeks and is funded from within council’s existing facility maintenance budgets.
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 johnnymarin | Mar 30, 2018 | Pigeons in the News
The first time I gave any thought to the term was when I watched some of the great old film noir movies about gangsters. It seemed like almost every gang was victimized by one.
I am referring here to that old nemesis of crime, the “stool pigeon.”
The first “stool pigeons” were literally that. In the early days of colonization here and prior to that in England, pigeons were a source of meat (tastes like chicken).
Pigeons by nature are not very large birds. If you shoot one anywhere but in the head, you’ve spoiled the good eating portions — trust me on this one, I know from experience on the farms.
Hunters noted that pigeons are not the sharpest birds going and that they would tend to fly down and check out another of their species. Thus, the clever hunter would use a captured pigeon, usually tethered to a stool or perch as a decoy to lure his wild cousins into range of a net or snare.
This technique came into prominence in the early 1800s when a form of it, “stool-crow,” was used in 1811 as a version of “decoy.”
This came into common usage as “stool pigeon” (crows were not tasty, scratch the “four-and-twenty blackbirds” pie thing) so “stool pigeon” replaced that term.
By 1830, “stool pigeon” had entered the slanguage as a means to describe a criminal who was used as a decoy or informant by the police to capture other criminals.
The term is considered an Americanism although it may have been originally derived from the Old English word “stale,” meaning “a living bird used to catch others of the same species.”
Unfortunately, the use of “stool pigeons” may have led to the extinction of species like the passenger pigeon due to “flock shooting” with large fowling pieces.
Setting all that aside, I derived a certain amount of pleasure from seeing a tough guy gangster played by someone such as James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson snarl about a “stool pigeon” in the gang.
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 johnnymarin | Mar 29, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
According to El Nuevo Herald, living conditions at the Vista Hermosa prison in Bolivar – a Venezuela state – are so poor, some inmates are falling sick from eating raw rat meat. 41-year-old Alejandro Manuel Mago Coraspe was taken to hospital last week after eating dead rats he found in the rubbish.
“We cooked them, but they were still raw,” Mago told NGO Window to Liberty. “We at them anyway. I think they were poisonous and that’s why I fell ill. I normally kill them myself.”
He revealed to the non-government organisation that he regularly eats rodents out of “need and hunger”. Mago is serving eight months in the prison after attempting to steal a car. Doctors said he is suffering from malnutrition and inflammation in his legs.
He underwent surgery to remove an obstruction from his intenstines at the Ruiz y Paez Hospital in Ciudad Bolivar. The bones and cartilage of the rats had “obstructed his intestines”.
Mago’s family has in the past brought him food to survive on however they live five hours away by car and cannot visit regularly.
In May last year, a Venezuelan NGO accused the Venezuelan government of feeding inmates raw pasta with feces. Reported by Breitbart.com, “at least 15 prisoners said they were forced to eat raw pasta with human excrement (the agents had applied power used to make tear gas on their noses, forcing them to open their mouths to ingest”.
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)
