It’s a well-known fact in the bird control industry that droppings of feral pigeons not only cause damage to commercial and residential properties, as well as machinery and cars, they also pose a serious health risk to anyone who comes into contact with it. But for those of us not in the know, it may come as a surprise the damage that can be caused by these pests.
Damage occurs because pigeon droppings contain ammonia and are very acidic. If allowed to accumulate, they eat away into roofing materials, steel joists, gutters, drains, windowsills, basically anywhere that pigeons roost and build their nests. If dropped onto cars it will eat into the paint, and dried droppings can carry diseases that are dangerous to humans if breathed in.
A few years ago now, pigeon droppings were also blamed as being a contributing factor to an entire bridge collapsing in the US city of Minneapolis. Bridges make a perfect habitat for feral rock pigeons who once nested in cliffs. As well as offering shelter high up away from predators, they provide flat surfaces for roosting and building nests.
It hadn’t gone unnoticed that the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River had a pigeon problem. In fact ‘a coating of pigeon dung on steel with nest and heavy buildup’ was documented in a report in the late 80s. Some measures, such as screens over the openings in the bridge’s beams, were taken to prevent the pigeons from nesting in the bridge.
But it didn’t fully rectify the issue, and droppings were deposited all over the framework. Although the Interstate 35W bridge had other problems, namely missing bolts and cracking steel, it was the corrosion from pigeon droppings that experts believe helped the steel beams to rust at a greater rate, causing it to eventually collapse on 1 August 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 100 more.
Neal Langerman from the American Chemical Society said that if pigeon droppings were not washed away, they dried and eventually turned into a type of concentrated salt. “Every time you get a little bit of moisture there, you wind up having electrochemistry occurring, and you end up with corrosion,” said Langerman. “Over a long period, it might in fact cause structural weaknesses.”
Keeping pigeons off bridges, or even buildings and homes is a full time job, requiring cleaning and maintenance to repair defacement from droppings and nesting materials. Cure All approaches the issue with a tailored strategy to prevent pigeons causing damage to your residential or commercial property.
Don’t let pigeons rule the roost, give us a call today and we’ll talk you through the options.
