by johnnymarin | Jul 10, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
FALLING roof tiles in SK Seri Kepong in Kuala Lumpur are putting pupils and staff at risk.
The school’s roof is in a such a bad state that the top floor, which has 10 classrooms, has not been used for the past two years because of leakage problem.
A check by StarMetro found the ceiling at the top floor had water marks and gaping holes where pigeons could be seen taking shelter.
The floor was dirty and filled with dust as well as bird droppings.
The library that was there has been relocated to a lower floor.
Parts of the school’s ground floor were also cordoned off to avoid accidents involving falling tiles, especially when it was windy or raining.
SK Seri Kepong headmaster Rosman Matnoor said school prefects were stationed near the prohibited sites during recess to ensure no pupils crossed into the dangerous area.
“I was posted to this school in June last year, which is when I came to know about the problem. “I raised the matter verbally with Kuala Lumpur Education Department and formally lodged a complaint in May after a thunderstorm.
“There are 214 pupils in this school that comprises preschool, primary and special education classes.
“We have enough classrooms despite the top floor being cordoned off, but this problem is a hazard and waste of space.
“The extra classrooms can be used by uniformed clubs for co-curricular activities,” he said during a meeting with Education officers and Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng to address the issue.
The department’s civil engineer Wan Norzaimi Mat said the Kuala Lumpur Education Department received a complaint on May 25 and had applied for an allocation to carry out repair works.
“We have been doing periodic maintenance on the roof over the years but because the building is in an area prone to crosswinds, the roof tiles are susceptible to being ripped off by strong winds.
“We have to find a better solution,” he said.
Lim said he would send a contractor to assess what immediate repair works could be done to avoid an unfortunate incident.
“I will apply for the RM20,000 emergency allocation granted to MPs to fund these repairs while waiting for the Education Ministry to act upon the complaint,” he said.
Parent-Teacher Association chairman Tan Chong Meng said he hoped the repair works would be carried out as soon as possible and the problem would be settled for good.
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 | Jul 9, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
It may sound like the product of an over-imaginative mind, but Operation Columba, a clandestine British bid to gain intelligence from occupied areas, was very real.
Between 1941 and 1944, around 16,000 avian agents, hidden in canisters with little parachutes attached, fell to the ground in rural France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The plucky pigeons sparked hundreds of tiny acts of resistance: villagers sending back messages, tied to the legs of the birds.
One group of villagers, led by a local priest, provided intelligence so valuable it was shown to Winston Churchill — but their brave defiance ultimately led them to a gruesome death.
Gordon Corera, an author and the BBC’s security correspondent, has pieced together details of that group, known by the codename Leopold Vindictive.
“I never thought I’d be writing about pigeons,” he laughs.
He began his research a few years ago after coming across a news story about the discovery of a dead pigeon’s leg in a chimney in Surrey, in South East England.
“I kid you not,” he says.
“The dead pigeon’s leg had a message attached to it which appeared to come from World War II. I found it bizarre and fascinating.”
The message was a series of random letters — a code not even the country’s best minds could crack.
So, Corera began a quest to unravel the mysterious message himself.
It took him to the National Archives, where he found many files on the little-known Secret Pigeon Service.
They were mostly boring — like where to store bird feed — but one, which had only just been declassified, stood out.
“It was called Columba. It was a War Office file from a [section] of military intelligence I’d never heard of — MI14(d). I mean we’ve all heard of MI5, but MI14(d)?” he says.
“Even more bizarrely, it had a picture of a pigeon, and then a cartoon of Hitler lying on his back, as if the pigeon had just done its business on Hitler, causing him to fall over.
“I’d never seen a wartime file with such an almost absurdly comic cover to it.”
Message 37
Inside the file was a rich trove of messages sent from occupied Europe via homing pigeon.
“They were from ordinary people, who’d picked up a pigeon in a field [and responded to] a questionnaire: ‘What do you see in your local area? Are there any Nazi troop movements? What’s morale like?'” Corera says.
Around 1,000 messages came back, but one was different.
Message 37 looked like a work of art, with detailed, colourful maps and writing too small to read with the naked eye.
It had been rolled up tightly into the size of a postage stamp so it could fit back into the cannister — and it produced 12 pages of raw intelligence.
“You can see in the files the British admiralty saying, ‘We weren’t sure about these pigeons, but this is real intelligence’,” Corera says.
“They showed it to Churchill, [I think because] it embodied the spirit of resistance… the idea that there were people out there in occupied Europe who wanted to resist, who wanted to work with Britain, who were willing to take huge risks.”
The Leopold Vindictive
Corera began to wonder about the people behind the message.
“The file had this codename, Leopold Vindictive, but it didn’t have their real names. I became slightly obsessed with trying to find out who they were,” he says.
“I knew they were Belgian villagers, so I started searching Belgian historical records and archives.”
The trail eventually led to Jozef Raskin, a Catholic priest who lived near the city of Bruges and was the leader of the resistance group.
That then led him to Raskin’s niece, Brigitte, and together they began to piece together his life story.
“He was a dedicated patriot. He wasn’t a normal priest, I think it’s worth saying,” Corera says.
“In the First World War, because he was quite an artist, he’d been involved in drawing maps of German positions in the trenches. So he already had a bit of a feel for military intelligence.
“He’d gone to China in between the wars as a missionary, and he’d learnt calligraphy, and how to write, that gave him the ability to write those tiny letters.
“And he also had a real network of friends across the country, because he went as a travelling preacher raising funds for the missionary organisation he worked for.”
The Leopold Vindictive was named for two of Raskin’s contacts: Belgium’s King Leopold, for whom Raskin had served as a chaplain, and a British admiral named Roger Keyes, whose ship was the Vindictive.
“He actually uses the admiral as a reference in the pigeon [message], and says ‘if you want to know who I am, contact the admiral. I was with him in 1940’.
“That’s one of the reasons they took the information so seriously.”
The group provided intelligence about troop movements, the results of bombing raids and specific information about a particular chateau the Germans were using as a base for their marine forces.
The two sides desperately tried to stay in touch and keep the information flowing.
“They tried to drop more pigeons, but the pigeons are hard to drop in a precise location, and they kept missing,” Corera says.
‘A gruesome, awful end’
Eventually Britain sent two MI6 agents to Belgium. Their mission included making contact with the Leopold Vindictive.
But by this stage Nazis had infiltrated parts of the resistance network, and they were closing in fast.
“I’m afraid that was the reality of wartime — the risks for these resistance groups, most would not survive,” Corera says.
“Surviving even for a year or two would be the exception, rather than the rule.”
Raskin was arrested and taken to Germany, where he was beheaded at a prison site. Two other members of his group were also killed.
“I’m afraid it was only discovered by their families after the war that they were executed there. It’s a gruesome, awful end,” Corera says.
“You want a happy ending to these stories, and you want to be able to say that it all worked. In this case the intelligence operation succeeded for a while, but it had its limits.”
But he thinks Raskin and others like him earned themselves everlasting respect.
“They do embody a spirit of taking those risks… for what they believed — their patriotism for their country, their desire to resist tyranny, in Raskin’s case his faith in God,” Corera says.
“That was a risk they understood and they paid a terrible price for it.”
And for the hundreds of other ordinary villagers who wrote a message on rice paper and sent it via pigeon, there was a powerful symbolism at play.
“They would watch them fly away, hopefully back to Britain,” Corera says.
“For them it was a symbol of hope and liberation. To liberate that pigeon was also emotionally very powerful for them, this idea of flying away and the hope that eventually their country could be free.”
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 | Jul 8, 2018 | Pigeons in the News
A mall in California hired Remmy — a Harris’ hawk — two years ago to hunt down uninvited pigeons.
The renovation of the Broadway Plaza mall in Walnut Creek, Calif., attracted dozens of pigeons.
“We had a major pigeon problem and were unsure of the best way to get it under control,” said Shelly Dress, senior manager of property management at the mall.
So Dress turned to Hawk Pros, a company that uses falcons to get rid of pest birds.
The practice helps avoid using chemicals and only scares away the targets, letting them live.
“A scared pigeon is an educated pigeon,” said Remmy’s handler, Bridget Maguire-Colton. “That pigeon will return to its flock and let the other birds know there’s a hawk here who means business. Pigeons are smart birds — they will remember where the hawk is and will seek out another venue for shelter, water and food.”
Separately, a flight attendant for a Chinese airline pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle almost two dozen spotted and box turtles from Los Angeles to China.
Hauqian Qu entered his guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy yesterday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
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 | Jul 7, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Does a show that consists of LED-lit flocks of pigeons flying through the sky over a dilapidated former golf course in Thamesmead technically count as theatre? Dunno, don’t care, but I’m very happy I saw US artist Duke Riley’s beyond-sublime ‘Fly By Night’ (co-produced by LIFT, GDIF and 14-18 NOW).
At a signal from Riley and his assistants, the approximately 1,500 pigeons surge out of their illuminated coop, and wheel about the skies in tight, agile formations. As night descends, the birds cease to be discernible, with only the clear LEDs they wear around their legs visible. They look like clouds of shooting stars, like swarming constellations, like some sort of strange and wondrous celestial portent. It is really, really fucking cool.
‘Fly By Night’ is also notionally a commemoration of the messenger pigeons that were key to the British war effort a century ago. This doesn’t necessarily come across particularly obviously, but it’s not an unwelcome idea – it’s perhaps more accurate to call this a suggested train of thought rather than an actual message.
For me, the greater depth to the show was in how it functions as a commune with nature and the stark, hard landscape of Thamesmead. Not the hippest district in London by a long shot, on a perfectly clear solstice night it felt genuinely magical: a perfect, fading primrose-and-pale-cornflower sky chased with the crisp silhouettes of flying birds, the only noise the beat of wings and the odd, mournful whistle from Ellis and his team. In an unfamiliar, industrialised landscape that is, conversely, far closer to the countryside than most Londoners tend to get, it all just felt pretty transcendent, like the glowing birds were somehow a natural manifestation of the landscape, rather than outsiders here to perform a show.
You could argue over whether it ‘means anything’ that the pigeons come home. But you’re almost certainly never going to see a spectacle quite like it again. There are two performances left, and I would seriously urge you to try and make one.
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 | Jul 6, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — With his auburn feathers, white tail and three-foot wingspan, Remmy, a Harris’s hawk, makes for an impressive — and incongruous — sight at an upscale outdoor shopping mall anchored by Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.
But he’s supposed to be there. He has a job to do.
Remmy was hired two years ago by Broadway Plaza after an extensive renovation that added 20 new stores, restaurants, revamped walkways and a two-story parking garage. Unfortunately, the transformed mall attracted not only new customers but also dozens of pigeons, which nested in garage rafters, scavenged for food and splattered the walkways with corrosive and bacteria-infused droppings.
“We had a major pigeon problem and were unsure of the best way to get it under control,” says Shelly Dress, senior manager of property management at the mall.
That’s where Remmy came in. After rejecting other options, such as fabric netting that would prevent pigeon nesting in certain spots, Dress turned to the Hawk Pros, a company based in Southern California that uses falconry to eradicate pest birds. At any given time, the firm has five to 10 birds of prey on assignment at sites such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the U.S. Bank Tower, also in L.A.
Remmy and his colleagues are part of a growing trend of using raptors to intimidate nuisance birds such as pigeons and seagulls, a practice that avoids the use of chemicals and — unlike in the ancient hunting sport of falconry — scares targets but lets them live. Some U.S. farmers deploy them to protect crops. Harris’s hawks patrol the grass courts at Wimbledon and Trafalgar Square in London. Falcons haze pigeons and crows at resorts in Dubai.
Since Remmy and his owner and handler, Bridget Maguire-Colton, have been coming to Broadway Plaza on a regular basis, the pigeon population has dropped from a few dozen to just a few, most of them in pockets of the garage. Dress initially hired the Hawk Pros for 12 days a month, Dress said, but Remmy was so effective that he now needs to stop by the mall only eight days a month, for three hours at a time, to ensure that the pigeons stay away.
With super-keen eyesight and the ability to rotate his head for 200-degree vision, Remmy surveys the shopping center for signs of pigeons. And when the pigeons at Broadway Plaza see Remmy, they take notice.
On a recent day, Maguire-Colton released the 2-year-old hawk from her gloved hand. He flew to the top of a cosmetics store, Lush, and scanned the outdoor eating area. Not seeing any pigeons, he swooped back down to his trainer’s hand.
The parking garage, however, was a different story. Up in the rafters was a pigeon that apparently hadn’t received the memo announcing Remmy’s hire as the mall’s official bird bouncer. Taking flight, Remmy darted toward the blacklisted bird. After several ensuing squawks, the smaller bird retreated, flying out of the open-air garage to parts unknown. Seemingly satisfied with a job well done, Remmy returned to Maguire-Colton and received a small piece of meat for his efforts.
“A scared pigeon is an educated pigeon,” Maguire-Colton says. “That pigeon will return to its flock and let the other birds know there’s a hawk here who means business. Pigeons are smart birds — they will remember where the hawk is and will seek out another venue for shelter, water and food.”
Maguire-Colton, a lifelong bird lover who is a licensed falconer, purchased Remmy from a California breeder when he was 5 months old. When she began training him at around 7 months old, she taught him to focus on pigeons. When he’s not working, he hangs out in a large enclosure at her home with her other Harris’s hawk, TK, or goes hunting with her for rabbits and pheasants.
“Harris’s hawks have a natural instinct to hunt,” said Maguire-Colton, who keeps Remmy on a long leash, letting him off only when he searches for prey. To call him back, she uses whistles and commands and rewards him for following directions.
Although Remmy appears fearless, he does shiver when a pet dog passes by. Maguire-Colton said she thinks he sees dogs as coyotes, one of the hawk’s predators in the wild. (He has an especially strong dislike for dogs in sweaters.)
Remmy’s an all-weather bird, in California at least. But when temperatures hit triple digits, Maguire-Colton brings a water bottle for him and keeps Remmy in shaded areas to prevent overheating. Sometimes, she said, she dips her finger into the mall fountains, and if it doesn’t taste too strongly of chlorine, she lets the hawk take a quick dip.
Since Remmy began patrolling the mall two years ago, most of its pigeons have departed, but the garage is a popular nesting spot for the stragglers that remain. (Nik Childers)
Unsurprisingly, Remmy has established a fan following at Broadway Plaza. On this day, a man with two small children stopped to inquire about the bird’s species and job description. Later, two tourists from Japan approached to ask whether they could pose for a photo with Remmy.
“Hiring Remmy was the best money we’ve spent,” Dress said. “He not only keeps the mall free of pigeons, he’s also become something of a local celebrity.”
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)
