Birds & Associated Problems
Pest birds cause millions of dollars in damage each year to structures and residences. With our population increasing and “urban-sprawl” encroaching on their habitat, dislocated birds learn to utilize structures as their homes, creating more frequent conflicts between “us” and “them”. If allowed to remain at a location, they can create numerous problems:
- Nesting materials in and around electrical equipment can cause fires. On roofs nesting material can clog drains and gutters causing heavy overflow onto roof tops and cause them to leak. Nesting in ventilation systems can increase the spread of disease within the building.
- Bird droppings on walkways become slippery causing potential accidents.
- A negative image is presented to your customers when buildings or walkways become littered with nesting debris and bird droppings.
The following are the most common diseases that affect humans as a result of pest birds:
- Histoplasmosis- A fatal respiratory disease resulting from fungus growing on dried bird droppings.
- Candidiasis- A yeast or fungus infection resulting from pigeons. This disease affects the skin, the mouth, the respiratory system, the intestines and the urogenital tract. This is a growing problem for women causing great pain and discomfort.
- Cryptococcosis – This illness usually begins as a pulmonary disease and later affects the central nervous system, caused by yeast found in the intestinal tract of pigeons. Buildings where many pigeons are found roosting are the source of infection when the dust of their droppings is stirred up.
- Salmonellas- This often occurs as “food poisoning” and can be traced to pigeons, starlings and sparrows. The disease bacteria is found in bird droppings; dust from the droppings can be sucked trough ventilators and air conditioners, thereby, contaminating food, and cooking and eating surfaces.