by johnnymarin | Sep 19, 2017 | Bird Deterrent Products
A man was forced to hand over his air rifle after he was caught shooting pigeons in Ernesettle.
Officers say they tracked the man down after locals raised the alarm over the incident, which is being investigated by wildlife officers.
One resident, who wished to stay anonymous, said the man had a “massive air rifle” and was “shooting the pigeons” in her street.
A police spokesman said: “Police were called to an address in Ernesettle Plymouth, following reports of a man attempting to shoot pigeons with an air rifle Monday morning, August 28.
“A suspect was identified and he handed over his rifle and ammunition when visited by local officers.
“Wildlife officers are investigating this incident under the wildlife and countryside act along with support from the RSPCA.”
An eyewitness suggested that the man with the rifle had lived on the street for years but that she was worried to approach him, unsure as to what he would do.
She added that “he was out there for ages shooting these birds for fun” and she was “worried about people’s pets in the area”.
Anyone with more details regarding the incident can call 101 and quote crime reference number CR/073493/17.
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 | Sep 18, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
TEHRAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Iran’s police confiscated 30 pigeons used for carrying illicit drugs in the western province of Kermanshah, semi-official ISNA news agency reported Tuesday.
The pigeons, with capsules carrying small amounts of drugs fixed on their feet, belong to a distributor of drugs, said Hossein Barari, police chief of Kermanshah Province.
They were selected from the pigeons used for carrying mails and knowing the addresses well, Barari added.
Iran, which shares a 900-km-long border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to Europe.
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 | Sep 17, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
When the woman who was to become my wife in later years – and eventually my ex-wife – took me the meet her parents for the first time, I failed to recognise the main warning signs of incompatibility.
These were homing pigeons circling the house, a Blue Bulls flag flying from the TV aerial, a Ricoffy tin tied to the fence for a post box and the chairs fashioned from of old car tyres on the stoep.
Another, more subtle indication that I was on the wrong side of the railway track, was an actual railway track across the road.
Once inside the house I should have noted other oddities – the block of a Datsun 1400 engine on the coffee table in the lounge, oil dripping onto the carpet; the JH Lynch print on the wall of a half-naked woman lying on top of a tree stump; their nine dogs’ barking which made it sound like I’m at the SPACA; and the missing guest toilet door…
Coca-Cola crates
That people who made The Simpsons on TV look boring had such a beautiful and well-mannered daughter was baffling.
She seemed to be the only normal member of a family of complete loones and during that first visit kept apologising for everything.
Such as when her mother got a bit overexcited with the wrestling on the ancient Barlow Vision TV and shouted at the top of her voice: ‘Grab him by the goolies, grab him hard and rip it off!’.
She also apologised profusely when I got oil on my trousers after not noticing the four pistons lying on the couch and suggested we rather go sit in the kitchen.
Once there I discovered why the toilet doesn’t have a door – it was moonlighting as a table on top of some Coca-Cola crates.
While sitting at the toilet door cum kitchen table the smell of tripe being cooked made my throat close into a spasm and I was desperately hoping for the visit to be concluded before lunch time.
Shopping trolleys
The back door was one of those farm-style jobs with a bottom part and a top part, and behind it the pack of nine dogs went rabid.
It might have been the smell of the tripe or perhaps it was me, but whichever, I stayed well clear of the door because a big black mongrel with a severe case of mange was propped up against the bottom door, chewing on the wood like he hasn’t had a meal for days.
The smaller mutts were attacking his legs and every now and again the black dog – Slash – would go down for a few moments during which an epic dog fight would take place.
For a second I pitied the poor burglar who falls into their jaws, but then realised there’s absolutely nothing worth stealing.
Even Checkers were clearly too afraid to ask for their trolleys back because I counted 12 lying in the backyard next to the pigeon house.
Open plan toilet
Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone back after that first visit, but I did and eventually learned to accept my in-laws for who they were, and while I never got used to the smell of tripe hanging in the air like death, I did end up using the open plan toilet.
You just had to time it right and as a precautionary measure, shout out loud that you are going to the toilet, so people know to give you a few minutes.
I eventually came to love my peculiar in-laws very much and stayed in touch even after the divorce, but won’t do it again and to this day I am extremely suspicious of people who keep homing pigeons.
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 | Sep 16, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
PHOENIX — When Arizona hunters take to the field Friday for the opening of the 2017 dove season, a few might be fortunate enough to harvest a bird that’s a bit different than the others.
It just might be wearing jewelry.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department recently completed its annual dove-banding efforts for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, capturing thousands of mourning, white-winged and invasive Eurasian collared-doves throughout Arizona and affixing a tiny metal band around one of their legs.
A band provides data used for statistically estimating harvest rates, distribution, annual survival rates and movements of the birds throughout the various migratory flyways. Since 2003, Arizona has participated in the nationwide effort (which now includes more than two dozen states) to better manage mourning doves, arguably the most popular game bird in North America.
About 850,000 dove hunters harvested an estimated 14.5 million doves nationwide as recently as 2013. Arizona’s hunters never lack for birds. In any given year, an estimated 20 million to 30 million mourning doves – and another 2 million to 3 million of the larger white-winged doves – are residing here on opening day.
Dustin Darveau, terrestrial wildlife specialist, said the ongoing banding effort began when it was determined that dove call count surveys — while useful and still used in many areas of the state — weren’t the best method to monitor population and harvest trends. A call count survey involves driving a predetermined route and charting the number of calls heard at stops along the way.
“It (banding) just gives us a lot more data and information to better manage doves,” Darveau said. “Without that information, harvest rates can be very conservative. This provides better information, so we can increase harvest limits and provide more opportunity for hunters, or scale back just a little bit to make sure the species is sustainable for future generations.”
Darveau, along with department wildlife managers and other staff members, spent several days last month banding doves near the department’s regional office in Mesa. The banding locations include a local feedlot, a year-round haven for thousands of doves, pigeons, songbirds and even ducks that dine on the feed provided for cattle.
While the owner loses upward of $50,000 in the cost of feed that the birds consume on an annual basis, he supports the department’s banding efforts to more effectively study and manage doves, saying “It’s all about the birds. We’re proving that they’re not resident birds. They do move on, and we’ve proven it over the years by finding them in Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico. . . . That’s what I’m interested in knowing.”
The banding process isn’t complicated. The doves are lured into either funnel traps or larger outdoor pet kennels that have been baited with bird seed or cracked corn. Darveau was able to capture more birds using the kennel, complete with shade cloth and a waterer. Once enough doves found their way inside the kennel through a small impression dug under the frame, they were netted, fitted with an appropriate band, and their characteristics recorded on a data sheet for entry into a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service database.
“Each band has a dedicated number,” said Darveau, whose team banded more than 1,000 mourning and 500 white-winged doves over a 10-day period. “We record on the data sheet whether or not it’s a hatch-year bird (juvenile or adult), its sex, and determine the molt of the primary flight feathers, which on the juveniles tells us how old the bird is.”
On average, the department bands more than 3,000 mourning and 500 white-winged doves statewide annually, Darveau said.
Doves do get around. In a 2014 departmental report, mourning doves banded in Arizona have been recovered in seven other states (California, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma) and Mexico. Meanwhile, mourning doves banded in California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming have been recovered in Arizona.
With the start of the season only days away, the department reminds hunters that if they harvest a banded dove they can keep the band as a souvenir. They are asked, however, to visit www.reportband.gov to report it. In return, details – like where and when the bird was banded – will be sent to the person who reports the band number.
“If you harvest one, it’s a pretty big deal,” Darveau said. “It’s unique, and it greatly assists state wildlife management agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
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 | Sep 15, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Sliema’s mayor has stood firm in the face of angry Facebook comments over the town’s regular pigeon cull, arguing shooting down the birds is the only solution for a major problem in his locality.
“Many residents are concerned about pigeon droppings and that pigeons could cause lung diseases,” Anthony Chircop said. “This morning alone, three people approached me in the street to urge the council to clamp down on the problem. We don’t enjoy shooting down pigeons, but we’ve exhausted all other options and this is the only method which works. It’s a necessary evil.”
“When the government and the Birgu local council agreed to abandon a planned pigeon cull a few months ago so as to study alternative methods, we told them we would agree to try out any solution we haven’t tried and tested before,” he said. “So far we haven’t heard anything from their end.”
He said the cull is carried out with utmost care, with police officers and sweepers accompanying the shooters, the latter to pick up dead birds from the street. Indeed, he said dead pigeons seen on the streets of Sliema are unlikely to be leftovers from the culls but rather pigeons who would have died from natural causes or who would have consumed poison left by residents on their rooftops.
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)
