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Bird Removal in Public Spaces: How to Handle Questions and Maintain Your Business’s Reputation

With more exposure to the public, will dealing with birds put you on the naughty or the nice list?

In 2024, everyone has a camera and an audience. That makes almost everything that happens in your building a public event. That goes double if you serve customers and triple during the holidays.

As your food safety and bird removal partner, Meridian knows we contribute to your public image. Our bird removal technicians use our fast, patented process to remove birds any time of day—including normal business hours. That means we often capture birds in full view of the public. Our technicians are trained to answer questions from curious onlookers. Here are the most often-asked questions we field:

Do you kill the birds?

Meridian has changed the game on interior bird removal. Before we came along, exterminators often used air rifles to shoot birds. The downsides of this method are numerous: it could only be done when the store was closed, pellets caused potential property damage, and dead or injured birds would fall or hide behind shelves or equipment.

Some pest control companies still use precision shooting exclusively. Meridian specializes in live bird capture and removal inside buildings. This method does not harm the bird.

Do the nets hurt the bird?

We get this question a lot! We use ornithological nets designed to capture but not injure birds. A bird may struggle once caught in a net, but we endeavor to untangle the bird and remove it from the net within 30 seconds.

And no, our nets are not electrified!

Why remove the bird? Let it be!

Birds belong outside, not inside buildings. Having ready access to human food will ultimately make birds unable to survive in the wild. The building is full of tight spaces and electrified equipment that can harm them. We’ve even seen birds that have lived inside too long grow deformed feet from perching on hard, flat surfaces instead of tree branches.

Birds also cause serious health problems for humans. They carry more than 60 diseases and parasites, which they transmit to food they touch. State and local health departments will close a store with persistent bird incursions. Would you eat or buy merchandise covered with bird droppings?

What happens to the bird?

We release protected birds right outside the building. This includes all predatory birds.

For common nuisance species (such as sparrows, grackles, and starlings), standard practice is to take them in a ventilated container far away from the capture site (up to 10 miles) and then release them into the wild.

If a bird is injured, we take it to a wildlife rehab center. We maintain close relations with local wildlife and conservation groups, and several technicians are volunteers themselves.

We have a crisis plan for our customers.

You have enough to worry about during the holidays. Meridian not only takes care of your bird problems—we also have developed a proves to address negative PR surrounding bird captures. These incidents are vanishingly rare, but every once in a while, that person with a camera and an audience decides that bird in the net will become his crusade.

Usually, the situation never reaches this point. Our technicians enjoy showing bystanders the benefits of Meridian’s live capture system and educating people on why birds are better off outside. This transparency helps assuage concerns, and we are very proud of our ability to turn skeptics into fans. [link to case sudy from October.] However, should negative publicity or a social media hit job come your way, rest assured Meridian has a plan to respond.

That leaves you more time to attend to holiday business and ensure you stay on everyone’s “nice” list!