PiCAS INTERNATIONAL

Norwich Cathedral has been in the news recently after a pigeon that had become trapped in the Cathedral’s restaurant was shot by a pest control contractor brought in by the Cathedral’s management.  A decision was quickly taken to call in a pest controller to slaughter the bird rather than try to remove the bird alive and in a humane and compassionate manner.  Incredibly, the pest control contractor entered the restaurant and simply shot the bird in front of horrified diners. One witness said that the pigeon was shot but only wounded and fell to the ground flapping around in agony before the pest controller caught the bird and despatched it.  There was blood and feathers everywhere.

Ely Cathedral was also found to be killing pigeons and many other species of birds on the cathedral roof in the late 1990’s, but when questioned about the type of controls that were being employed the Bursar of Ely Cathedral vehemently denied that any type of  bird control was being undertaken.  After weeks of denying that they were slaughtering pigeons the Cathedral was forced to admit that it had been lying and had indeed been cage trapping and killing pigeons for years. 

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PiCAS is to take legal action against a Dutch/German group, calling themselves Landelijke Werkgroep Duivenoverlast, as a result of a libellous statement sent out to multiple international recipients via email.  The information contained in the email was untrue and highly damaging to the good reputation of the PiCAS Group.  PiCAS has attempted to contact this group following distribution of this libellous email statement but the group has failed to respond. 

This group, who are supposedly working to provide advice on non-lethal and humane pigeon control systems in Holland and Germany, have based their recommended controls on the PiCAS model and the only possible reason for this extraordinary attack on PiCAS must be because the group wishes to take credit for these systems themselves.  

The group suggested in their statement that the PiCAS system of dovecotes combined with public feeding areas cannot be effective as a method of pigeon control.  The group further suggest that their loft-based systems are the only effective means of reducing pigeon flock size by egg removal and replacement.  What the group did not say in their damaging email, however, is that PiCAS has always recommended loft-based systems to work in tandem with dovecote-based systems.  In fact some of the most effective systems recommended by PiCAS have involved both lofts and public feeding areas combined with artificial breeding facilities.  The group claim that they recommend loft-based systems only and that these systems are successful because eggs are removed and replaced with dummy eggs in order to reduce flock size.  This is PiCAS model and their system is exactly what PiCAS has been recommending to its client base for decades.

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