Humane pigeon population management using avian contraceptive OvoControl® P at TransLink SkyTrain stations in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada
department or school: Land and Food Systems, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Xenakis, Nadia
issued: 2021-06-23T21:34:27Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Pigeon abundance in urban environments can result in human-wildlife conflicts in the form of excrement, disease, and nuisance behaviour. Managing human-wildlife conflicts using humane, sustainable and safe methods can help mitigate conflicts and ethically address the humane treatment of animals and the environment. Traditional methods of pigeon control include netting open areas, applying spikes to prevent perching, delivering low electric shock to birds on resting surfaces, lethal control through capture and culling, and flying raptors at chosen sites. These methods rely on principles of exclusion and removal which are not effective long-term, as pigeons typically find alternative spaces to evade exclusion attempts and populations slowly increase to pre-treatment size when culled. A relatively new method of management, OvoControl® P is an avian contraceptive developed by Innolytics and is patented for pigeon control in Canada. The active compound in OvoControl® P is nicarbazin 0.5%, which disrupts the egg laying mechanisms in avian species, preventing the formation of a viable embryo. To test its efficacy as a pigeon management method for a major public transit network, eight TransLink SkyTrain stations in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada were chosen as study sites between March 2020 and March 2021. Four control site stations dispensed cracked corn and four experimental site stations dispensed OvoControl® P. Trail cameras actively recorded video clips at each station to provide population estimates and confirm pigeons were ingesting OvoControl® P. Measures of success monitored were daily population estimates and track alarm trigger data. Results found that stations dispensing cracked corn increased pigeon populations before and after treatment, while pigeon populations at stations dispensing OvoControl® P did not change before and after treatment. Further, an unexpected result was that higher numbers of pigeons inversely correlated to track ala…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/78768
note: HUMANE PIGEON POPULATION MANAGEMENT USING AVIAN CONTRACEPTIVE OVOCONTROL® P AT TRANSLINK SKYTRAIN STATIONS IN THE LOWER MAINLAND OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA by Nadia Xenakis B.Sc. (Honors), The University of British Columbia, 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Applied Animal Biology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2021 © Nadia Xenakis, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Humane Pigeon Population Management Using Avian Contraceptive OvoControl® P at TransLink SkyTrain Stations in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada submitted by Nadia Xenakis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Applied Animal Biology Examining Committee: Dr. Ronaldo Cerri, Professor, Applied Animal Biology, UBC Supervisor Dr. Sara Dubois, Adjunct Professor, Applied Animal Biology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Kristen Walker, Professor, Applied Animal Biology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Sabina Magliocco, Professor, Anthropology, UBC Additional Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Dr. Alexandra Protopopova, Assistant Professor, Applied Animal Biology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Pigeon abundance in urban environments can result in human-wildlife conflicts in the form of excrement, disease, and nuisance behaviour. Managing human-wildlife conflicts using humane, sustainable and safe methods can help mitigate conflicts and ethically address the humane treatment of animals and the environment. Traditional methods of pigeon control include netting open areas, applying spikes to prevent perching, delivering low electric shock to birds on resting surfaces, lethal control through capture and culling, and flying raptors at chosen sites. These…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0398509
language: eng
degree discipline: Applied Animal Biology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Cerri, Ronaldo
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78768