Millions of dollars are spent annually to clear the mess caused by pest birds like pigeons. The population has been increasing over the last hundred years, and nothing seems to change. While various methods are used to control the pigeon population, it is also important to know why such measures are necessary. You will likely find a flock of pigeons in grain elevators, farmyards, parks, feed mills, and buildings.
Health hazards
If businesses don’t keep pigeons off the roof, their employees and customers are at risk of contracting a series of life-threatening illnesses. To enhance good health in the place of work, businesses should make use of OvoControl to get rid of pigeons. It is a perfect bait formulated to interfere with the egg fertilization of pigeons. When they are unable to hatch, their population also goes down. This helps to reduce health hazards caused by pigeon activities.
Research has found that pigeon droppings contain over 50 ectoparasites and diseases that can easily be transmitted to human beings. Restaurants and food processing plants are major locations susceptible to such health hazards if the pigeon population is not controlled.
Increase the cost of clean up
A flock of pigeons brings plenty of droppings and scatters things recklessly, leading to increased untidiness in neighborhoods and business premises. The owners are forced to clean the surfaces now and then, leading to a high cost of doing business. Resources used for cleaning up dirty surfaces cost businesses millions of dollars each year.
This also includes the cost of paying for damages and hospital fees for their employees who face the risk of being sick working in such an environment. Businesses have to spend thousands of dollars incorporating bird-controlling systems that may not be cost-friendly.
Damage to property
Pigeons are massively messy and can cause property damage, leading to increased repair costs. Every year millions of dollars of losses are reported due to the damage caused by pigeon droppings. Surfaces such as awnings, painted surfaces, or signs are vulnerable to rust. There are thousands of reported cases of damaged surfaces of premises as a result of corrosion. One famous situation occurred in Minnesota where a bridge metal support broke because of pigeon droppings that had led to corrosion.
Pigeon nests are also known to cause property damage when pigeons build their nests on roof corners of buildings or gutters. This causes massive drainage to gutters resulting in damages that cause huge losses to businesses. There have been reports of buildings and warehouses undergoing roof damage and end up collapsing. Other damages caused by bird nests include blocking ventilation systems that may cause harm due to irregular gas emissions.
Causes clog on drainage
Bird nesting and dropping are known for causing clogs on drainage and gutters along the walkways and buildings. This may lead to flooding because the droppings and nesting materials cause clogging on waterways. Nesting materials and droppings easily clog roof corners, rain gutters in addition to drains which leads to leakages that may be expensive. Note that pigeon droppings are acidic and can be corrosive over time. This may flake on many tar-based slates substrates and gutters, making it vulnerable to leakages.
Health and safety compliance
The government and its agencies like the Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have strict bird control policies on businesses. These rules can be punitive because businesses that don’t comply with them face harsh penalties like fines, citations, and even possibilities of losing operation licenses.
It is also prudent for certain businesses that face direct consequences of these regulations to establish in-house occupational and health compliance safety policies to enhance employee and customer safety. Good practice suggests that such policies enhance compliance with the law and improve customer certification, which may help a business build a good rapport with all the stakeholders.
Slip and falls
Another safety concern involves the risk of falling and slipping due to pigeons’ droppings. They end up piling up when no clean-up activity is conducted along the pathways near their nesting sites hence being slippery. Slips and falls also give rise to civil liability to individuals who vicariously allow pigeons’ dropping to pile up and cause such accidents.
As businesses are bound by law to guarantee safety to their employees and customers, any slips and falls resulting from pigeon-dropping may give rise to such legal penalties. Thousands of lawsuits are reported every year, amounting to millions of dollars against businesses resulting from such accidents.
The bottom line
Pigeons have been there for millions of years, which may not change any time soon. The only option is for humans to use a control mechanism to tame the risks associated with an overpopulation of pigeons. While they pose a health hazard, the uncontrolled population of pigeons also cost the federal government millions of dollars in cleaning up the mess caused by the birds. Businesses also have to comply with health and safety regulations related to birds, which means a waste of time and resources.
