Bird Pests

Birds won’t just up and leave.  They can be deterred away from certain points of your building to stop them from gathering, defecating and building nests on your property.  Birds are a more common pest than you’d imagine, and we’ve been dealing with them effectively for more than 20 years.

Reasons For Controlling Pigeon Pests

Roosting pigeons need to be controlled for a variety of reasons.  Their nesting material may block gutters and cause drainage problems, and their nests may harbour ‘bedbugs’ (probably the martin bug (Oeciacus hirudinis) and mites which will crawl into nearby human habitation and feed on humans.  Feral pigeons may also act as passive carriers of a wide range of stored product and public health insect pests. Bird faeces will contaminate food (causing an offence under the Food and Drugs Act, 1976) and will attract flies.  The secretions from fungus growing on the droppings will erode buildings.  The bird faeces will soil the buildings, necessitating expensive cleaning, and will cause a danger to the public when they create slippery and dirty surfaces.

Feral pigeons may act as carriers of pathogenic organisms which will contaminate food and utensils.  It is known that pigeon faeces will contain organisms such as salmonella typhimurium (one-third of the pigeons in Venice have been shown to be infected): the birds themselves are often reservoirs of ornithosis.

Health Risks Associated With Pigeon Waste

Clearing accumulations of nests and guano from well-used roosting and nesting areas is unpleasant work at the best of times. These areas are usually infested with insects, often blood-feeding ones, they are dirty and smelly and it often takes hard physical work to remove all the rubbish. It is also potentially dangerous work, for the pco involved with the clearance and anyone else they may come into contact with during or after the job. These areas can harbour microorganisms, which can lead to human diseases. In some cases, these diseases can prove fatal, so must not be underestimated.

The principal hazard with this type of work is that associated with the potential for disease transmission or allergic reactions. These problems include:

• Pneumonia, as a result of infection with Chlamydia psittaci (Ornithosis)
• Pneumonia, as a result of infection with Histplasma capsulatum (Histoplasmosis)
• Meningitis, as a result of infection with Cryptococcus neoformans
• Lung Damage, as a result of allergic responses to bird proteins (Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis – or “Bird Fancier’s Lung”)

Whilst most people will react fairly mildly if affected by the above – an attack of “flu” is the most usual description – and then recover, for a small number the situation can become more serious, with hospitalisation, permanent damage and even death.

Before this becomes a health and safety issue at work, under your duty of care, please get in touch with our office where we shall arrange for a site visit at the earliest opportunity to make the necessary arrangements to sanitize and remove the imminent health hazard.  Call us on now 01630 652958.