Pigeons continue to get the best of municipal staff at the Canada Summit Centre. They say they’ve just about tried everything to rid the facility of the feathered creatures but are coming up empty.
They are now proposing that a company be contracted to trap and relocate the pigeons at a cost of $850 per month – an approach, they say, like the one the Town of Bracebridge is taking to address its nuisance pigeons.
“This has been an ongoing issue primarily at the front entrance of the Summit Centre since reconstruction in 2010,” Brian Crozier, Property Manager for the Canada Summit Centre told the Town’s General Committee on February 24.
We did spend quite a bit of time in terms of low cost measures previously with owls, snakes and sonic toys and water. Unfortunately, they really haven’t worked out for us brian crozier, property Manager at Canada Summit Centre
Crozier said spikes were also placed underneath the overhang of the entrance to the Canada Summit Centre in order to stop the birds from perching and nesting there “but these birds seem to adapt fairly well and have continued to spend a lot of time underneath the overhang, still roosting in those areas.”
He said staff has spent a considerable amount of labour cleaning up feces and taking down nests.
“Are they homing pigeons?” quipped Councillor Brian Thompson of the possibility that they might return once trapped and relocated.
“I actually haven’t asked them Councillor Thompson,” replied Crozier.
Councillor Bob Stone also questioned whether the pigeons might return if relocated elsewhere.
If these were rats we wouldn’t have any trouble killing them. These are rats with wings, although there may be some push back from some of the public over that but it seems like a reasonable solution as opposed to spending over $10,000 a year on this. Councillor Bob Stone
Stone said the spikes are the perfect passive way to go and said he did not think the spikes have been tried enough. Stone presented photos of the spikes he had taken to Committee, noting that perhaps not enough spikes had been put in place to ward off the pigeons and in some instances the spikes had slipped off. “They need to be absolutely on every surface,” he said.
Crozier said they’ve been adjusted, they’ve been secured with twist ties but the pigeons keep pushing them off the ledge. “We’ve done a lot of things in order to ensure that the spikes that we invested in, which was almost $10,000… have been kept in place and they’ve been there for four years.”
Crozier said staff is hoping that by trapping and relocating the pigeons it will alleviate the problem quickly, noting there are currently 30 to 50 pigeons in the area right now. He said the company which would be used is located south of Gravenhurst and in speaking with them they don’t believe any of the birds will return.
In the end, committee agreed to hire a company to trap and relocate the pigeons with one caveat proposed by Councillor Karin Terziano: that it be tried for a period of three months and revisited at that time.
Bill Beatty says
It is a mess at the Summit Centre entrance. Don’t look up as you are passing……Take them to The U.S. They can add to the poop that is the Republican search for a saviour!
Sharyn Zonneveld says
I was wondering if in addition to the spikes, that perhaps netting of some kind would make a difference? If one thing doesnt work often a combination of things will do the job.
Terry Clarke says
We have used a string of wire for many years around our property and the geese, crows and sea gulls never land. This technique is used by the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club and many properties. Might be worth a try!!! Very inexpensive!!!
Lea Barker says
The city of London had a similar problem with birds nesting under bridges & dropping onto cars below. Their solution was a fine mesh nylon screen which when attached to the structure prevented the birds from getting to their preferred resting areas. Might work & be a permanent solution.
Bill Paterson says
Many years ago, I was on the health and safety committee at a division of Stelco in Hamilton. We had a very large open-ended warehouse on property near the harbour in Hamilton. We had a problem with pigeons nesting and breeding and doing what else they are good at all over our large coils of steel rod that were our raw material. Our hourly and some salaried employees had to climb over and around these bundles of coils and that involved a lot of contact physically (with gloves of course) plus breathing dust, etc. Poisons, owls (there were even owls living in this building) and traps did not work. The solution was (and I raised pigeons as a kid so it hurt to agree) to hire a sharpshooter with a high-powered pellet gun to take them out. He was good, and efficient, and in most cases was able to clear them out in a couple of visits. While this may sound somewhat cruel, pigeon poop can contain disease, viruses etc. and our visitors to the Summit Centre, arenas etc. should not be subjected to the possibility of exposure. This works. I’m sure you could find a sharpshooter in the area. The location would have to be closed off temporarily while he or she works but it would be done and I bet cheaper than what is currently being paid.