by Ryan Ponto | Mar 3, 2017 | Bird Netting
You can stand in the 1800 block of Marshall St. in South Baltimore, look north and see the two Baltimores we love. On the left there’s a new and cool industrial-chic apartment building called 2 East Wells. On the right there are well-kept rowhouses and a line of old alley garages with wooden doors and hanging flower pots.
Marshall Street at Wells Street, on the southern edge of South Baltimore, is a place where, you might say, two cities meet: Millennials on one side, long-timers on the other. You can stand right there, in Marshall Street, and see the two things Baltimore needs: fresh new blood and sturdy old bones; urban renewal alongside a traditional neighborhood. In balance, it’s all good.
There are bound to be conflicts, though, and so we have one today, and it involves pigeons. An unfortunate dispute has developed between the owner of 2 East Wells and a couple of local fellows who enjoy pigeons and seeing them fed.
It wasn’t until after 2 East Wells opened, in 2015, that anyone complained. The apartment building boasts “spectacular rooftop decks as well as apartment terraces.” The place has a rooftop fitness center, too. None of that sounds compatible with pigeons.
So now the Owings Mills company that owns 2 East Wells blames the men for encouraging hundreds of pigeons to gather near the apartment building. With pigeons come pigeon droppings, and the aerial bombardments have made it difficult for the concern to rent some of its apartments. So says the complaint filed by Wells CRP Building LLC against Charles “Rudy” Schreiner and Carl Smith.
“The sheer volume of pigeons attracted by Mr. Smith’s feeding activities creates substantial health risks and visual blight insofar as the pigeons leave and continue to leave copious amounts of droppings on the balconies,” the complaint alleges, adding that “prospective tenants have refused to lease the plaintiff’s apartments facing Marshall Street because of the copious pigeon dropping issue.”
The company says it has had to pay for the cleaning and painting of 24 balconies. (I also noticed plastic owl decoys, the kind intended to ward off pigeons, on five of the balconies yesterday.) Wells has asked the Baltimore Circuit Court to enjoin Schreiner and Smith from feeding the birds and for $75,000 in damages to the building.
Schreiner, a 59-year-old retired longshoreman, has owned the row of garages along Marshall Street for 25 years, and Smith, 63, a semi-retired contractor, has rented one of them for 15. Smith often parks his pickup truck in a vacant lot next to the garage and works inside. He’s been feeding pigeons for years.
“Sometimes,” says Smith, “the pigeons come to me and they’ll have wire on their feet, or fishing line, and I’ll remove it for them.” One of the pigeons had a mangled toe, requiring amputation; Smith conducted the minor surgery and treated the toe with Neosporin. As far as he knows, the bird survived.
“Carl is the pigeon whisperer,” says Jim Pumphrey, who lives nearby, on Light Street.
Pigeons, wild and domesticated, are part of city life, and in South Baltimore there is a long history of residents keeping pigeons, training them and racing them over long distances. The South Baltimore Pigeon Fanciers Social Club has been around for at least 50 years.
“These pigeons here now are descendants of the pigeons that people used to keep in coops up and down Marshall Street,” says Pumphrey, a 59-year-old longshoreman who has lived in South Baltimore all his life.
A cease-and-desist letter from Kimberly Manuelides, an attorney representing the owner of 2 East Wells, arrived at Smith’s apartment in South Baltimore last June. It blamed him for a nuisance by feeding and attracting pigeons to Marshall Street. The letter warned him of legal action if he did not stop.
Now legal action has come against both Schreiner and Smith, and they have retained Baltimore attorneys Barry Glazer and Jonathan Saltzman. They’ve challenged the claims against their clients, saying the owner of 2 East Wells had other remedies, such as registering a complaint with health authorities, before filing suit. They seek $75,000 from Wells LLC in a counter-suit that claims Schreiner and Smith have been subjected to an “improper, frivolous and baseless” legal action. They called the lawsuit “malicious,” too.
Too bad, all of it: litigation from the push-and-shove of the new Baltimore meeting the old one.
Smith still feeds the pigeons, but he does so now behind Schreiner’s garage, when no one’s looking. “I can’t help myself,” he says. And he’s not the only pigeon feeder in the neighborhood, he says. Four or five neighbors also put out food for the birds.
Which raises, I should think, a significant challenge for plaintiff: Tracing excrement from the pigeons Carl Smith feeds to the balconies on 2 East Wells. As Smith says, “I have no control over where the pigeons poop.”
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 Ryan Ponto | Mar 2, 2017 | Bird Netting
The passenger pigeon was once the most abundant bird in North America, so numerous that they “darkened the sun with their flights.” In 1915, the passenger pigeon officially became extinct as the last bird died in Chicago. How could this have happened? In the early 19th century, massive deforestation and overhunting led to the passenger pigeon’s ultimate demise. Efforts to conserve the species were too little and too late. Read more about it!
Important Dates:
- November 28, 1889: Passenger pigeons, once populous, have now become a “rarity”; however, they are still actively hunted.
- May 4, 1908: An article calls for the protection of passenger pigeons from overhunting, listing facts about the species.
- December 8, 1910: There is only one passenger pigeon left, spending its days in the Zoological garden in Cincinnati.
- April 15, 1911: An article documents the disappearance of the passenger pigeons, and how there is a $400 cash reward for anyone who finds the nest of a passenger pigeon.
- February 1913: The last passenger pigeon in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens falls ill.
- May 1915: The last passenger pigeon dies in Chicago at the age of twenty-seven years.
- June 1915: There is an unfounded rumor that the US Department of Agriculture is offering a $10,000 reward for the person who finds a passenger pigeon nest.
- June 22, 1916: An article claims that the passenger pigeon is not extinct, and that the bird will once again become numerous.
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 Ryan Ponto | Mar 1, 2017 | Bird Netting
After a profitable time of things last weekend, our Catching Pigeons column returns with the word from the training centres.
Noel Fehily forsakes the delights of Newbury and Donny on Saturday for a flight North to Kelso and an interesting tilt at the featured totescoop6 Premier Novices’ Hurdle with the highly-rated Chalonnial.
A winner on his hurdling debut at Bangor, he was asked a very stiff task by Harry Fry in the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown on his only subsequent start. Although no match for the impressive winner, he ran a sound race to finish a respectable third, and is expected to be even more effective after enjoying a Winter break.
This is a long haul from his trainer’s base in the dark depths of Dorset, but he looks the sort to improve, and can take revenge on the Sandown runner-up Capitaine, who was well beaten a week ago and is now 3lb worse off.
Tom Symonds can land the most important race of his young career with Hollywoodien in the William Hill High Five Supporting Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury.
The former Nicky Henderson assistant has not enjoyed the best of luck since he first took out a licence, but this lightly raced seven-year-old has always looked capable of winning a valuable event, and there has been plenty to like about the last two of his three outings this term.
Having come home a decisive five lengths clear of the useful Astracad at Wetherby on Boxing Day, he finished a very sound third behind Garde La Victoire in a good class event at Sandown. The two miles looked a tad on the sharp side that day and he should appreciate a return to this longer trip.
Hello George has not been the easiest horse to train over the past couple of seasons, but he still retains ability and should go well for Philip Hobbs in the Seniors Handicap Hurdle. He shaped well on his comeback at Exeter, and has been given a chance by the handicapper in an interesting race.
Bloody Mary has yet to see action this term, but the fact she is a fresh horse should play to her advantage in the William Hill “High 5” Supporting Greatwood Handicap Hurdle.
A smart mare in her native France, she did well in a light campaign for Nicky Henderson last season, ending with an excellent third to the very high class Limini in the Mares Novices Hurdle at the Festival. She will come on for this run, but has been working nicely and will give her mail counterparts plenty to think about.
Kim Bailey’s Harry Topper is a class performer of old and he can notch his first win since a lengthy lay-off Betway Supporting Greatwood Veterans Handicap Chase.
A former winner of both the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and the Denman on this course, his training problems have meant he has barely completed the course let alone win since that 25-length thrashing of Al Ferof here just over three years ago.
However, he showed distinct signs that a return to something like his old form was possible with an eye-catching effort at Exeter last time, and he looks to have found a good opportunity to land what would be a popular success.
Sgroppino is well regarded by the Hobbs’ camp and should step up on his promising third at Newton Abbot in the Moore Of Devizes Ltd Supporting Greatwood Open National Hunt Flat Race. The form of that debut effort in Devon looks solid.
The Last Samuri, another top class Bailey-trained fencer won the BetBright Grimthorpe Handicap Chase 12 months ago on his way to a brilliant second in the Grand National, and he should go close again to landing the perfect warm up success for Aintree, despite his inevitable lumpy rise in his ratings.
However, he may just find the concession of 23lb to old rival Sego Success just beyond him. Although disappointing at Warwick last time, Sego loves this course and is on great terms with himself at the moment. He is also fitted with a visor for the first time and has a 20lb pull with The Last Samuri from last year.
The Organist has proved very disappointing since her switch to fences at the start of the season and it is no surprise to see her revert to the smaller obstacles in the BetBright Casino Handicap Hurdle.
She won three of her five starts for the Million In Mind syndicate before being sold to JP McManus, and won the Listed event for mares on this corresponding day 12 months ago. If she can repeat that form, another big run looks assured.
Miss Mirabeau can strike for Sir Mark Prescott – who celebrated a birthday this week – in the Betway Maiden Stakes at Lingfield.
By Oasis Dream out of the Listed winner Miss Corniche, she did not exactly tackle the best sprint maiden the country can offer on her debut over the minimum trip here two weeks ago, but ran a race full of promise nonetheless and gave every indication she will both learn from the outing and appreciate the step up in trip.
Earlier on the same card Red Flute looks worth an each-way interest in the opening Betway Sprint Handicap.
He’s one of two runners in the race for Denis Quinn and although not exactly firing on all cylinders so far in 2017, the chestnut has been eased in the weights and has some useful course form at this kind of level last summer.
My Target looks worth following until no longer able to contest handicaps and he can bring up the four-timer in the Sunbets.co.uk Handicap.
It’s a warm enough race and Michael Wigham also sends out the returning Mansfield on his first run for 458 days under Josephine Gordon, while Third Time Lucky and Lunar Deity shouldn’t be too far away, but My Target holds most of these on recent form and a mark of 102 shouldn’t be beyond the classy son of Cape Cross.
The best bet at Newcastle comes in the opening race as Marzouq bids to regain the winning thread in the 32Red.com Handicap.
Jeremy Noseda was full of emotion after Atalante won at Chelmsford on Thursday evening in the name of Walter Swinburn as a bit of a farewell to the great man and Marzouq has been going nicely alongside that one in his recent homework.
Noseda sends Marzouq north on a solo raid and it’s encouraging to see John Egan back in the saddle after he rode him to win his maiden at Chelmsford back in September. Last month’s third at Kempton was needed and it’s hoped the step up to a mile can bring about further improvement in the son of Spring At Last.
Veena is a thriving filly right now and is well worth keeping on side in the £10 Free Bet At 32Red.com Fillies’ Handicap.
He is David Simcock’s only runner on the Saturday card but he’s sent a few up to Newcastle in what has been a busy week for the track and the yard’s runners have not been performing badly.
The one to look out for early next week is Perfect Moment, who is going to take plenty of beating if taking up her engagement in Lingfield’s Free Horse Racing Tips At Tipsterreviews.co.uk Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.
She was heavily punted first time out but just ran out of gas at Wetherby after racing up with the pace. She’s pleased Don Cantillon in her work since and the yard are hopeful the Milan filly can swiftly recoup those losses.
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 Ryan Ponto | Feb 28, 2017 | Bird Netting
From the cannabis party to candidates dressed as naked cowboys on election posters, election time in Denmark is always a source of much amusement and endless debate for the locals.
But to many outsiders, it’s a time of trivialities and of little consequence. Sure, it’s impossible to miss the tsunami of election posters going up all over the country, and who doesn’t crack a smile at a naked sheriff, but there is little effort to include the growing number of internationals living and working in Denmark.
But here ye, here ye! All that changes now. It’s time for the European voice to make itself heard. With the local elections swiftly approaching later this year, Keith Gray – a publisher by day and political petitioner by night – has stepped into the breach.
European voices
A native of the Shetland Islands, Gray will be on the ballot as a candidate for Socialdemokratiet on election night on November 21, and having lived in Denmark for more than a decade, Gray is acutely aware that the thousands of non-Danish EU citizens calling Copenhagen their home are yearning for representation.
“I could see there was a narrative in Denmark as a whole that people from the EU were being portrayed as positive stories – particularly the western Europeans. They came and got jobs, but that wasn’t my experience.”
“I met unemployed Europeans and unemployed Nordic citizens, people with problems who needed help. We are as diverse as the Danish population and nobody is representing US at the city municipality.”
The issue was compounded by the Brexit vote last summer as 3,500 British citizens, according to Gray, who face losing the right to live in Copenhagen.
Attacking apathy
But he’ll have his work cut our for him, because despite local elections being the only time non-Danes can vote in Denmark, aside from EU elections, most EU citizens don’t bother voting.
During the last local elections in 2013, only around 30 percent of EU citizens in Copenhagen voted, compared to about 70 percent of Danes. Gray aims to galvanise the European voters, and that’s no easy feat, considering many are only in Denmark temporarily.
But Gray hopes to convince people that voting is essential as the municipal decisions impact daily lives – from kids in daycare and the rubbish being emptied to keeping the public transport running smoothly.
“They might not be that interested in long-term projects if they know they’ll be leaving in two to three years, but you never know what the future will bring,” said Gray.
“Just look at me. I’ve ended up staying despite not thinking I would. I came originally because there was no job for me in the UK, and I’ve ended up staying for ten years.”
The magic 800
Gray believes he’ll need to reach 800 personal votes to make it in. That may prove more difficult than it sounds, given the non-Danes’ lack of
participation.
The good news for Gray is that there are more and more internationals in the country. Recent figures revealed that a record 336,840 international people worked in Denmark in 2016 – a 45 percent increase from 2008.
“EU citizens don’t vote in local elections even though it’s the only time we can vote. EU and council elections are the only time we can decide anything. We’ve never fielded a EU candidate before, so we don’t know what’s going to happen. I need to get the message out
there.”
According to figures from Danmarks Statistik, there are some 44,000 EU citizens living in Copenhagen Municipality – so that’s not including Frederiksberg, Gentofte etc – out of a total of 600,000 people in Copenhagen.
Kicking up local dust
But Gray is more than a one-trick Shetland pony bent on bucking for EU issues. In fact he’s on the gallop for plenty of other more local-orientated issues.
He is a keen supporter of reducing pollution in the city and facilitating that by improving public transport and working to ensure that the municipality uses electric cars and buses to lead the way.
Another issue that lies close to Gray’s heart are the continuous cuts in municipal funding for public libraries.
“It’s fundamental from an education perspective. When I came here as a new immigrant and couldn’t speak Danish, it was in the libraries that I borrowed books in Danish, read Danish newspapers, applied for jobs and learned the language. So it’s also essential to integration.”
Another key issue is ensuring that Copenhagen remains a city that everyone can afford to live in. Figures from 2013 showed that the number of city dwellers in the capital who earn over 400,000 kroner a year has almost tripled from 7 percent in 2000 to 20 percent in 2011.
Political animal
Gray first got involved in politics as a member of the Labour Party in the UK at the age of 17, and he kept that drive going when he settled in Copenhagen all those years ago.
When the Østerbro chapter of the Socialdemokratiet party were looking to field seven candidates ahead of the 2017 local elections, Gray found himself standing up to be counted.
“They wanted our list to represent Copenhagen, so there should be 50 percent women and people of non-Western background, and while no-one said anything about European immigrants, the first thing I thought at the time was that Copenhagen had never had an EU immigrant on the municipality,” he said.
You won’t be seeing any posters of Gray dressed up as a naked cowboy as the election campaign gathers momentum this autumn, but there’s a good chance you’ll run into him around town as he goes door to door trying to get the word out.
Internationals are an integral part of this city and they have a voice, he will say. Now is the time to put it to good use.
“European citizens are everywhere: from the local baker and the municipal worker to the publisher in Holte,” said Gray.
“Some 7-8 percent of our neighbours have a European background. I don’t want them to feel like second-class citizens.”
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 Ryan Ponto | Feb 27, 2017 | Bird Netting
Flying rats spreading filth and disease or just wild birds as deserving of our concern as any others?
Views about pigeons have always been divided, but does anyone really understand the law when it comes to controlling them?
This week I witnessed an old fellow brazenly flouting the law. Even after I pointed out what he was doing he simply ignored me and carried on.
Openly feeding pigeons on the street from two huge bags of grain, he refused point-blank to accept what he was doing was wrong.
The trouble is, when I pointed out his actions to a passing police officer he simply advised me to mind my own business and not to get involved.
If we’re not prepared to enforce our laws you have to ask what is the point in having them?
Surely controlling pigeons benefits everyone and by not taking action against these anti-social, irresponsible people who feed these birds we are condoning their actions, justifying what they are doing and encouraging the spread of disease.
Pigeons are recognised as pests right across the country, but the UK doesn’t have any law forbidding the feeding of wild birds. Instead, we rely upon a hotchpotch of bylaws drawn up and overseen by borough councils which adopt wildly different approaches to the issue.
Some don’t even recognise the problem while others not only make it clear it is illegal to feed them but actually offer advice on how to kill them as humanely as possible.
I think it is high time all councils in our area published their policy and their bylaws very clearly on their websites so everyone knows where they stand.
A lonely woman who said she fed pigeons in her garden because they were the only company she could get was fined £2,300 after her neighbours complained and she refused to stop feeding them.
Meanwhile, Beryl Withers, 81, who’d just finished a sandwich, emptied out the remaining crumbs for the birds. Council wardens told her she was breaking the law and could face a £2,000 fine – in the end she had to pay £50.
So, in theory anyone who leave titbits out on a bird table could end up being fined.
All this while, the guy I saw in the town centre goes on unquestioned.
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)
