James Blythe wrote:
> I can't imagine the endless bureaucratic decision making process it would take to decide to feed the pigeons red-dyed corn. Wouldn't the birds fly away at some point anyways, thereby staining everyone else's buildings red? And how would you electroshock a pigeon's roost on a building? Do you push some kind of rod towards them, or is it more a case of electrifying the entire building surface, no easy feat I imagine?
James,

Well, loose running red stain has been documented but not with urban 
pigeons. Clinical tests on the red corn have only proven themselves out 
in caged environments. A lot of that going on at taxpayer cost at 
Brookhaven Labs. There have not been the field tests as yet. Though 
pigeons tend to roost in the same place as long as the wind is not 
blowing too hard. So the crux of the problem is making sure to select 
out the pigeons that roost over brick walls as opposed to say the 
pigeons that roost over limestone walls. Nobody has quite figured out 
yet what to do about the ones that roost over glass walls.

The electroshock works by running two bare wires in parallel and when 
the pigeon sits down it gets a little tingly burning sensation. I 
suppose if you want to climb around on buildings and push little rods 
towards pigeon behinds we cannot exactly stop you. Though I would 
suggest that firecrackers would be more effective.

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