Why Proof? | Our Services | Urban Pest Birds | In The News | Our Clients

In The News

As urban pest birds are increasingly becoming a problem, the amount of media coverage that they are receiving is also increasing. This page contains urban bird related stories found in the media.

Mother killed by pigeon disease
Source: Sunday Times

The first recorded death from pigeon lung, caused by proximity to feral pigeons, has raised fears that a sharp increase in the birds' population poses a previously unsuspected threat to health.

Doctors say a 37-year-old mother of five contracted the illness as a reaction to pigeons nesting outside her home. It is the first time that a death has been linked to feral rather than captive-bred pigeons and doctors are urging GPs to watch for asthma-like symptoms.

An estimated 2,000 people a year in Britain are catching infections from wild pigeons, which carry up to 60 diseases. In five years the number of pigeons in British towns and cities is estimated to have doubled. In Trafalgar Square alone there are 30,000 to 40,000. The case of the mother, from Rotterdam, Holland, was reported in the medical journal Pediatrics last week. Dr Gideon du Marchie Sarvaas, who treated the family, said: "The fire escape at the back would get pigeon debris on it and was cleaned regularly by the mother and one child at a time. That, we think, is why the mother had the most severe symptoms and died. The father, who did no cleaning, was unaffected." The children are being treated for the illness.

Dr Tim Wreghitt at the Public Health Laboratory Service said 60% of pigeons are infected with disease. "Inhaling dust from dried faeces can give you an infection," he said. He said that under-reporting made assessment difficult: "We made it notifiable in this area and tripled the number of cases. "Nationally we are only seeing the tip of an iceberg. Cases have increased steadily since the 1970s and the total is 300 a year, but I think those could be multiplied tenfold."

Tony Higginbotham, 32, who works for a pest control company, contracted a bacterial disease from pigeon droppings. "I was wearing full protective equipment but I still got it. I had flu-like symptoms and headaches, couldn't stand the light and was off my food," he said. "I was off work for almost a month, but it was six months before I was 100% again." There is no coherent government policy.

The environment department spends thousands of pounds to keep pigeons off the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, yet licenses vendors to sell food for the birds. Nearby, Railtrack fines people who feed pigeons at Charing Cross station.

Disease alert over pigeons after death
Source: Sunday Times

A coroner warned people to keep well away from pigeons in public places after an inquest heard yesterday that a man died from a rare ailment known as pigeon fancier's lung, even though he never kept the birds himself.

Arthur Oliver, 49, probably contracted the breathing disorder in his youth from dust in the lofts of pigeons owned by his father, although his only contact was helping him to release them on race days. Mr Oliver, who was due to marry in a few weeks, had suffered breathlessness earlier, but the first serious signs of the disorder, known as extrinsic allergic alveolitis, appeared only last month, ten years after his father died and the birds were taken away.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Stanley Hooper, the South Yorkshire Coroner, issued a warning against making contact with pigeons in places such as Trafalgar Square. "The threat is very real as these birds are everywhere and not just homing pigeons."