What to do with pigeons no one wanted

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

By DAVE PINK

In the weeks following the June 2008 bankruptcy of Pigeon King International the poultry specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food spent most of his time overseeing the slaughter of thousands of pigeons that no one wanted.

“That was my life for six weeks,” Al Dam testified in Kitchener Superior Court Monday at the trial of Arlan Galbraith, the sole owner of Pigeon King.

Galbraith is charged with defrauding investors in his pigeon business of millions of dollars. Galbraith would sell breeding pairs of pigeons to farmers and agree to buy back the offspring at a set price, but those farmers who signed on to the program in the final months of the company’s life never did see a return on their investment.

Dam said that after the bankruptcy the ministry allocated $100,000 to deal with the care, and eventually the disposal, of the birds that were kept in holding barns throughout the province. In all, Dam said there were 14 of these holding barns housing about 40,000 pigeons – and that’s not counting all of the breeders in Ontario and elsewhere that were stuck with these birds.

Across Ontario, Dam estimated that about 175,000 pigeons were destroyed.

Initially, Dam said, ministry staff had to take steps to ensure that the birds were fed and cared for until it was determined who owned them. “That became a really big issue because as a custodian you are responsible for that animal. You can’t just walk away from them,” he said. “It had quickly turned into an animal welfare concern.”

Sending the pigeons to provincially accredited abattoirs to be processed into meat was quickly ruled out. In every batch of pigeon carcasses tested by the ministry, a significant number of the birds tested positive for the residues of the medications they had been fed – medications that

Pigeon King International had recommended to the growers to treat an assortment of ailments and diseases. Medicated animal are not allowed to be sold for human consumption, said Dam.

The growers’ only option became clear. “They had to cut their losses, destroy them, and move on,” said Dam.

Simply releasing the birds might have been an option, he said, but there was concern that any diseases the pigeons were carrying could affect other poultry operations.

And in some cases where the pigeons were released they would often not leave the barn.

Typically, Dam said most of the unwanted birds were gassed – either by sealing their barns and pumping in carbon dioxide, or in a mobile gas chamber that was operated by the province.

And once dead, provincial officials along with the farmers who had taken heavy losses on the birds, had to decide what to do with the carcasses. Rendering plants would not accept them because “the feathers and the flesh gum up the machinery,” and incineration created a foul odour. In most cases, burial was deemed to be the best option.

Dam said he can’t blame the farmers who invested heavily in pigeons hoping to reap the rewards. “When times are tough people do what they can to keep the business going,” he said.

Galbraith, who has chosen not hire a lawyer and is representing himself, defended the use of the medications because -- in his questioning of Dam -- he said these birds were never meant for human consumption; that they were to become the breeding stock for the pigeons that would be processed into meat. He asked Dam if the ministry was aware of his pigeon breeding success, and of the quantity and quality of the pigeons that were being raised by the breeders affiliated with Pigeon King.

“I was not aware of the quantity, but I was aware of the quality, and we had a problem with quality,” Dam responded.

Brian Tapscott, the ministry’s specialist in alternative livestock, testified that the pigeons he saw in one of the breeder’s barns did not seem suitable for processing, and they did not appear to be suitable for marketing as squabs.

He said squabs are slaughtered and processed at 28 days, “before it starts to put on flight feathers.”

Court has been told that Galbraith would buy back the birds at anywhere between 16 and 20 weeks.

As well, “they weren’t as big as some of the squab pigeons I’d seen in traditional squab production operations,” said Tapscott.

Tapscott said that immediately after the bankruptcy the ministry approached the province’s mink growers to ask if they’d be interested in feeding the surplus pigeons to their animals. The mink farmers declined the offer, he said.

The trial resumes Tuesday before Justice G. E. Taylor and could continue for another three to five weeks. BF