Robop

"Robop" is short for robotic bird of prey and is the name for a mechanical peregrine falcon that squawks and flaps its wings. The purpose of the Robop is to scare away pigeons.

In April of 2007 the Liverpool city council purchased 10 Robops in an attempt to rid the town center of unsightly pigeons. The cost per Robop is 2,000 pounds (4,000 USD). The results of this effort are pending but a smaller scale effort at Swansea University has been effective. However, according to Director of PiCAS UK, the leading independent advisory body on the issue of bird control in Britain said her organization had done studies with mechanical deterrents and had found them to be completely ineffective. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in the UK have applauded the initiative as a means to get away from attempts to poison and starve pigeons, citing the eradication program in London under Mayor Ken Livingston.

References

• UK Home page
• AP News
• Swansea Estate News
• Reuters News
• [1]

Further reading

• De Lara, Eyal; Ebling, Maria (2007), "New Products / A scarecrow for the 21st century", IEEE Pervasive Computing, 6 (3): 15–17, doi:10.1109/MPRV.2007.62