Tally ho.

[davywavy]

After my pigeon-related shenanigans the other day, something which was quite important to do was find a way to prevent the building we'd cleared promptly filling up with crap-producing birds again.
The best way to do this is with bird netting, just to stop them getting back in again and so I looked on the internet and asked someone to come down, take a look, and give me a quote. When he arrived, it turned out that he not only did bird netting but lots of other avian pest control work including what's known as 'natural pest control'; that is, using birds of prey to hunt down and scare away pigeons and he had several in the back of his van.
Which I how come I got this handsome chap and several of his friends sitting round in the garden getting some sun whilst the contractor went and measured for the netting:



Birds of prey are astonishingly cool and I was filled with glee to have a man with a Harris Hawk on his arm wandering about the yard; I was very impressed with his degree of trust in the bird as well, letting it go off for a fly and a bit of a crack at the pigeons whilst he worked and just knowing it'd come back to him when called (which it did, first time).
Humanity has used animals for this 'natural pest control' since the dawn of civilisation; getting cats in to keep rats and mice away from early granaries helped cities first begin to grow, 9000 years ago. Since then, terriers have been used on rats, ladybirds have been bred and released to stem aphid populations and so on and these are often paid for by government agencies. The ecological and environmenal benefits of such methods are indisputable; poisons are indiscriminate and shooting is random and demonstrably more likely to injure and main rather than to kill. An eagle dropping on a pigeon is about as effective a method known, and you can sell tickets as well as everyone loves watching big raptors.

This got me thinking about an article I read lately about how the UK fox population has risen sharply in recent years and they're becoming an active pest in many areas, especially suburban ones. It stuck me that the government should look into natural pest control methods to tackle this. Obviously some sort of publically-finded commission should be set up to find the best animal to predate upon foxes (probably dogs, but it's best to be sure), and the agency charged with pursuing this pest control would be subject to strict health and safety legislation - required to wear protective headgear and possibly brightly-coloured jackets to identify them. They'd also need some way to keep up with fast-moving animals. Probably horses or 4x4s would be best.
Do any of my readers have any suggestions on the format such an organisation might take?

Comments

[kittensandsteam.livejournal.com]

They should just export the foxes to Belgium, we've got too few of them!
See: problem solved :)

And birds of prey are damned cool, that owl is gorgeous!
I wish I could keep one but with the trigger happy poachers on my street it would be very unwise :(

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Well, if the netting doesn't work to get the pigeons to go away, I was thinking of getting this chap to come back and set his birds on them - and make it into an event, selling tickets and so on :)

[(Anonymous)]

Rather than using dogs, a pest-control agency could use boa-constrictors, which could be fed in loops down into the fox's earth, giving the chance for onlookers to remark, "Dieu, que le son du boa est triste au fond du corps."

H

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

But, as we all know, the use of snakes is cruel. After all, didn't Hissing Sid keep woodland folk awake at night, in case he gave someone a bite?

[(Anonymous)]

But a boa would be a good snake. He'd be like Noah the Boa in Busy Busy World.

H

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Convince the kennel club that foxes are the boost they need to get back the respect of the RSPCA; Foxes would become sought after everywhere and taken by breeders to raise for poncy shows and sponsored by Glacier Mints.

Then they'd cease to exist in the wild as everyone would have them as pets instead and end up too inter-bred to chase anything other than a bowl.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I am currently wallowing in the glorious image of a hunt running through South East London, chasing skanky suburban foxes. It is making me actively giggle at my desk now.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think that the Battersea & Chelsea Foxhounds has a nice ring to it. And it's eco-friendly, too!

[commlal.livejournal.com]

Would need small quad bikes to get round funny little corners.

And what about the tree rats aka Squirels. Hundreds of the furry little gits up our way, and my cats are still locked in. I may sell tickets for the Jools vs Squirel fight!

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I wonder if hawks go for squirrels? I expect they would.

Want to go halves?

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.benelliusa.com/firearms/cordoba.tpl

Re: Want to go halves?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've had one of my funny turns just looking at that.

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

that is one fine-looking bird

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Says you! Ding-dong!

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

as well as everyone loves watching big raptors.

I had an image pop up in my brain just then of velociraptors stalking the pigeons :D

Actually if you used dinosaurs you could get rid of chavs too! Multi purpose pest control...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think the training might be harder and the attendant risks to handler higher!

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

That business with the Harris Hawk is what my brother-in-law does for his latest career (started when over 50). Wonderful combination of medieval and modern!

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I missed this.
If his birds get hungry ever, we've got simply dozens of plump, juicy pigeons just clamouring to be eaten.

[mrmmarc.livejournal.com]

I know the perfect organisation to curtail the number of foxes in the UK.
Great chaps.

They have their own distinctive uniform- bright red jackets; it has wide community support (aro9und my way anyway), and allows us have lots of dogs and horses...

AND they have had years of practice in doing it.

See, old English traditional ways of killing vermin!
Its always good!

They should allow these groups set up in cities- i swear you would have LOADS of folks crying out for the chance to ride full pelt down Clapham High Street, horns blaring, 200 dogs racing down through the traffic...

Reclaim the streets comrade, I say!

Oh, I've Got A Suggestion!

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

Oh, how about those chaps who used to hunt with houds?

Hang on a second...

I see what you did there you cunning... fox.

While I personally think that the 165 hours spent picking on a minority was pretty much a waste of our parlments time, and all these people who talk about the evils of fox hunting but then go and buy a chicken for £2.99 rerally do piss me off, I would point out that only 1 in 5 chases actually end in a kill, so really, it's not a very effective method of dealing with what is a pest to many farmers.

As someone who thinks cars kill more foxes than toffs, and at least hunting with hounds is done in season, I would also like to point out that pretending it's an efficient method of keeping foxs numbers down and painting it as anything other than a blood sport isn't really any more endearing than all those people who gained all their knowledge about foxes from Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton. (Gawd bless 'em both)

Re: Oh, I've Got A Suggestion!

[(Anonymous)]

That would be the 165 hours whilst winding up to invade Iraq? Got to hand it to Blair, he was slick.

Re: Oh, I've Got A Suggestion!

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

I think that by teh time of the invasion they had spent about 135 hours debating it in the one year, the same amount of time they had spent on Iraq. That 165 now also includes time spent in the Lords.

Just to put records 'straight'.

Re: Oh, I've Got A Suggestion!

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Not entirely true in saying it's not an effective way of dealing with a pest; many local hunts would pay farmers not to kill foxes (or compensate them for damage caused by faxes), so ultimately the farmer didn't lose anything from the pest activity.

Re: Oh, I've Got A Suggestion!

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that that actually strengthens my agrument that fox hunting is a blood sport, not an effective form of pest control.

But yeah, I'm awear of that kind of thing, and like I said, if that's how a small minority of the population want to spend their time fair enough. Personally I find it a pretty disgusting hobby that is barbaric and sadistic, but I also don't understand people who tune into Big Brother or enjoy watching Football. I think that legslating how teh livestock in this country is kept is FAR more important, and might have an actual effect on animal welfair. But that would you know, be an actual law that mattered, as opposed to tokenism.

[veridian-sylph.livejournal.com]

They could train Condors to take out specific targets - perhaps fit them with some kind of head-up display which could then be remotely monitored.

Of course, if that kind of technology got into the wrong hands....