Pigeon problem piles up for schools

Wax floors. Check.

Wash windows. Check.

Clean up pigeon poop. Check, check.

As schools work to spiff up things before students return, the Central Valley district is battling a problem of pigeon poop at University and Central Valley high schools.

The linear design and vast number of ledges on the two high schools make a perfect perch for pigeon communities to roost. Although the schools are identical, the problem is greater at U-Hi.

“It’s been a real challenge for us, and we’ve tried to deal with it the best we can,” said Ken VanSickle, assistant principal at U-Hi, who oversees the facility and the school’s custodians. “They like to hang out in our drain off the roof. It’s like a natural nest for them.”

VanSickle said custodians clean up an area and the next week it’s covered again.

Spokane Public Schools has had to deal with pigeon problems, too, though it’s not as persistent as U-Hi’s plague.

“We use a variety of methods,” said John Mannix, executive director of facilities and planning. “We try to prevent them from getting up into the roof structure or the vents. We use screens; we even have some fake owls in a few locations.

“They’re stubborn little critters.”

The district might get rid of them in one location only to have them pop up somewhere else, Mannix said.

The Coeur d’Alene School District hasn’t had to deal with pigeons, said Bryan Martin, district maintenance director.

“We have had woodpeckers that try to work over the buildings, but eventually they give up and move on,” Martin said. “Tell Spokane to keep their pigeons over there.”

Earlier this year the Ice Palace at Riverfront Park had a pigeon poop problem, The Spokesman-Review previously reported. Birds had been nesting in the open-air rink’s low-level roof, leaving droppings on the ice. The park’s staff tried rubber snakes, stuffed owls, avian-aversion electronic sounds, chemical repellents and wire screens. They trapped and relocated the birds, which Central Valley also has tried without success. Finally the park staff discovered a mesh netting that prevented the birds from nesting there.

Madonna Luers, spokeswoman for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, said that these pigeons aren’t considered wildlife.

“They’re feral domestic, which means they aren’t protected. People can trap them or destroy them. They can be tough to trap if you don’t know what you’re doing,” she said.

Luers said that most people end up using pest control companies or licensed nuisance wildlife control operators to get rid of pigeons.

The CV district has had people come out to look at the situation. District officials plan to cover the drains with a grate and are considering installing spiked strips to prevent the pigeons from sitting on the ledges.

“It is getting expensive because we’re using all our custodian time and effort cleaning up pigeon poop,” VanSickle said. “We’re looking at ways we can keep the pigeons off the building, but we don’t want to injure them or anything like that.”