Business's rooftop bird cull elicits outrage

Sandra McCulloch
Times Colonist
June 10, 2005

Employees at a Central Saanich high-tech firm were shocked and outraged to see a contractor on the roof of a neighbouring business snapping the necks of pigeons to kill them.

Staff of Power Measurement Inc. noticed a cage full of birds on the roof of Harbour City Kitchens on Tuesday.

"I saw a gentleman on the roof reach into the cage, grab a pigeon, do something I could not tell and stuff the pigeon into a bag," said Trevor Blair.

This process was repeated, and it was clear the pigeons were being killed, he said.

"It's pretty obvious when you're grabbing a flapping pigeon and it's trying to get away from your grasp and then it stops flapping and gets shoved into a bag and the bag is dead still."

Blair said killing birds in front of a bank of office windows prompted an emotional response from observers.

Staff at Power Measurement were "absolutely horrified. Most people were stunned and tried to rationalize what was happening in front of their eyes. After it happened, the shock wore off and the anger began to rise.

"You would think that there is a more intelligent way to keep the pigeons out of the building, like covering up the holes."

Blair colleague Andrew Oriet contacted the Times Colonist because he is opposed to the killing of animals.

"You can put up nets or a fake owl ... you don't have to kill them," said Oriet of the pigeons.

Harbour City Kitchens has a big and messy problem with pigeons, said manager Dave Deeks.

"They've come inside the building. One time last week we had some important people in our boardroom and I saw we had pigeon poop all over the floor.

"You could see where they perch and there's a big line of bird poop all the way to the floor."

In addition, the birds were setting off the burglar alarms. Central Saanich police have been called to the premises because of pigeons eight times in the last 12 months, said Const. Jack McClintock.

So Deeks looked in the phone book for someone who could solve the problem.

"I opened up the Yellow Pages up to page 753 for a listing that did 'bird exclusions.'"

He hired Old Island Pest Control to deal with the pigeons, then heard Thursday that workers at the neighbouring business were horrified at what they witnessed.

"They were all lined up the windows, watching," said Deeks. "The technician has been made aware that there are a whole bunch of people watching him work."

Deeks e-mailed the staff of Power Measurement explaining the situation and apologizing for upsetting them.

"I understand that some of your workers observed the technician dealing with the pigeons in a distasteful manner and we apologize if it may have upset some people," wrote Deeks.

He added that the technician has been spoken to "and will be more sensitive as to how he deals with the problem in future."

A man who answered the phone for Old Island Pest Control refused to comment on the matter.

A provincial government spokesman said pigeons are not protected -- it's not illegal to kill them and no licence is required