Pest Control: High On Victory

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It takes a special, dedicated kind of pest control expert to climb a 150-foot-high light tower in the interest of helping a high school solve one big, messy problem. Owned and operated by the Fulps family, each year Arrow helps thousands of individual and commercial customers deal with a myriad of pest problems, including birds. Although the offending bird species are often the same, “each case is unique,” says Tom Chism of Arrow Exterminators. “We approach each with an open mind.”

Chism refers to Bird-X as a partner.

“It really is a partnership, as they consult with me and advise on each project specifically.”  In each case, Chism attests, he’s already done his homework ahead of time ñ staking out the birds and their habits.  Then together he and the Bird-X technical rep devise a project plan.

Open minds and intestinal fortitude were definitely in the playbook when Putnam City High School called upon Arrow to convince a nuisance-causing flock to vacate the 150-foot-high light towers at the school’s football stadium.

“The stadium was used three times a week in season,” Chism says. “Cleaning up after the birds was very expensive.”

Plus, no one really wanted to climb up the light towers to do a thorough job. Yet the birds’ fouling of the light towers posed not only a health issue for fans attending night games, their droppings could potentially corrode the expensive equipment, eventually leaving Putnam High boosters sitting in the dark.

Finding the right deterrent cocktail was doubly important given that the location was one frequented by the public and especially high school students, Chism says. The Arrow team knew Bird-X’s old reliable BirdXPeller PRO could do the trick, with its programmable species-specific sounds. The device disquiets birds by projecting actual distress or predator calls, convincing them a location is no longer safe. There was just one catch: “There was no power source up there on the light towers to plug the devices into,” Chism says.

Their solution? First, a few lucky Arrow employees got to climb out on the towers and apply the manufacturer’s bird proof gel that makes roosting uncomfortable for the birds. Then, they rigged solar-panel-powered battery packs to the weather-proof sonic devices. With the devices installed in summer, by the time fall football season started, the stadium was bird-free. But after a violent storm moved through the area with wind and hail, Chism’s team got a call that the birds were back ñ just two weeks before the region’s high school football playoffs were to begin. Back up the light poles the Arrow team went, only to discover that the storm had apparently knocked out two of the units. Now, the company conducts routine maintenance on the devices and the Putnam High School stadium lights remain bright and bird-free year round.

By Evelyn Hall, business writer