09.19.2007 - I did a pigeon removal project at this residential house. The homeowner heard noises in the attic. At first he thought that he was hearing
rodents, such as rats or squirrels. However, one look at the evidence shown above, and I knew that I was dealing with a pigeon infestation. Pigeons love to
live in attics, just like other wild animals such as raccoons or mice. And just like any animal that lives in an attic, they leave their waste behind. In the
above photo, we see some of the remnants of the pigeon presence - the pigeon poop.
As with any wildlife job, first I removed all of the animals - in this case,
I excluded the pigeons and got them all out with one-way removal devices. Once I got them all out, I sealed off all of the open holes in the architecture that
allowed the pigeons to get inside in the first place. The final step was to clean out the pigeon poo. However, the homeowner was a cheap man, and did not want
to pay for professional attic cleaning and decontamination. He declined, despite my warnings about the dangers of pigeon related
diseases.
However, when he and his wife later became ill with a mysterious lung infection, diagnosed as histoplasmosis, he called me back for a professional
attic cleaning. I'd wore a respirator that can filter particles as small as 0.3
microns and wear a disposable biohazard suit with gloves. During the cleanup, I sealed heating and cooling air ducts and shut the system down. I
vacuumed out the main bulk of droppings, but first I moistened the droppings with a disinfectant to keep spores from becoming airborne and keep them wet. I kept
the vacuum outside, and ran a house out of the attic and to the contractor vacuum. All
the poop and nesting material was stored in sealed plastic garbage bags 3 mil thick, and when finished and while still wearing the respirator, I removed
the biohazard suit and placed it in the plastic bag. Before I was done, I fogged the entire attic with a special enzyme-based decontaminant that killed off any
remaining biohazards, such as fungus or bacteria, and made sure the attic was 100% decontaminated.
If you have pigeon waste, such as nesting material, pigeon urine, or pigeon excrement in your attic, it's important that you have the area thoroughly cleaned.
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