PiCAS INTERNATIONAL

This week, Sky News reported that one of the theories put forward for the collapse of a 40-year old bridge in Minnesota, USA, was accelerated corrosion due to pigeon guano!  This has to be one of the most ludicrous theories ever put forward for a disaster of this type and on this scale, particularly when 13 people lost their lives and over 100 people were injured. 

River/road bridges and rail/road bridges are one of the most common and well used roosting/breeding sites for feral pigeons worldwide and it is not uncommon to find literally thousands of pigeons roosting and breeding under larger bridges.  The issue of pigeon occupancy under bridges is not lost on Bridge Inspectors whose job it is to undertake annual inspections of bridges to confirm that they are safe.  So why, if engineers are now saying that corrosion of steelwork was accelerated due to the acid present in pigeon guano, was this issue not raised and dealt with prior to the bridge becoming so badly corroded that it collapsed?

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This week PiCAS International made the difficult decision to bring its longstanding working relationship with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA USA) to a close as a result of differences in approach to the issue of pigeon control.  For a number of years PiCAS International has supported the work of PeTA in the USA where the provision of non-lethal and humane pigeon control systems are concerned and PeTA has, in turn, recommended the PiCAS approach widely. 

Recently, PeTA made the decision to back a new oral contraceptive drug, OvoControl P, designed for use with pigeons and produced by an American pharmaceutical company called Innolytics (please see posts dated August 4th and August 6th 2007).  PiCAS International made it clear to PeTA that it could not and would not back the use of a pharmaceutical drug when tried and tested and completely safe methods of birth control already exist in the form of PiCAS’ own egg removal/replacement programme.  Other, more worrying issues have been raised in respect of the long-term use of OvoControl P where resistance to one of the most common causes of pigeon mortality is concerned - coccidiosis (please see comments posted on the August 4th post).

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PiCAS UK (the Pigeon Control Advisory Service, UK Division) has today condemned Argyle Civic Association, based in Hollywood, USA for agreeing to undertake a pilot programme to put resident feral pigeon flocks on the contraceptive pill. Pigeon flock size is currently maintained by the huge volumes of food provided by some residents who are feeding the birds every day; Argyle Civic Association hopes to reduce the artificially high number of pigeons in the neighbourhood by taking this action.

To read the full story please visit PiCAS UKs PRESS RELEASE [PDF, 104KB]. 

This week sees the start of a trial for a new oral contraceptive drug called OvoControl P, specifically designed for use with pigeons.  This new pharmaceutical, produced by an American company called Innolytics, is being trialed in Hollywood, USA by the Argyle Civic Association.  The trial is being supported by two leading US animal welfare organisations, People for the Ethical treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).  Although residents in Hollywood had apparently shown interest in PiCAS International’s tried and tested system of breeding control (involving the use of artificial breeding facilities combined with egg removal/replacement), they were persuaded to  use OvoControl P rather than the egg removal/replacement programme. 

There are many reasons why PiCAS International is not backing this new oral contraceptive drug, but the main reason for this stance is that PiCAS International does not feel that it is appropriate to feed pharmaceuticals to wild birds when there is a perfectly acceptable and risk-free alternative in the form of PiCAS International’s own breeding control programme. 

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