Pest birds cost individuals and businesses millions of dollars each year in clean-up expenses, repairs, and damaged equipment. Some large industrial facilities spend as much as six figures to combat pest bird problems. Facility managers must understand the important of implementing a preventative bird control program as means of reducing these costs. Here are some of the serious issues associated with pest birds:
Corrosive Droppings
The corrosive effects of bird droppings can cause irreversible damage – defacing rooftops, walkways, walls, vehicles and equipment. Bird droppings quickly turn to salt and ammonia; after rain, electrochemical reactions speed up the rusting process. These acidic droppings eat away at paint, concrete and metal, and can eventually cause structural failure.
Property Damage
Birds are destructive to property, equipment, and products. They interfere with operations in many ways, endangering themselves and workers – pest birds entangle themselves in machinery, block ventilation ducts, cause fires, peck holes in roofing and utility poles, bring down power lines, and cause hazardous and even fatal aircraft bird strikes.
Liability
Bird droppings are unsanitary and can render walking surfaces slippery and dangerous, creating unnecessary liabilities. Pollution from bird droppings can enter the human food chain through improper sanitation. Government organizations and health boards such as OSHA and the USDA regularly give citations and fines for bird mess problems. Businesses that fail to correct these situations in a timely manner can face even harsher penalties and may be forced to shut down completely.
Spread Of Disease
Birds are known to carry over sixty transmissible diseases – some potentially fatal. Bird droppings help to spread disease when fecal dust enters living areas or when someone enters contaminated spaces and starts breathing in fungal spores.
Some serious diseases associated with pest bird include Histoplasmosis, West Nile Virus, Salmonellosis, Candidiasis, Encephalitis, as well as over 50 kinds of ectoparasites such as bedbugs, chicken mites and more.
To learn more about preventing pest bird infestation and keeping pest birds away from your facility, visit www.bird-x.com.
