Rego Center Mall Blasts Aggressive Bird Calls To Prevent Pigeons From Roosting In Rafters
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A mall in Queens has added some new music, but it's not for shoppers.
It's actually aimed at unwanted feathered friends roosting in the rafters. But some people say the shopping soundtrack has got to go.
As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported, some might think the most annoying part of shopping at Rego Center in Rego Park, Queens is the non-working escalators, and they might be wrong.
The new soundtrack may not be music to the ears of humans, but that's not the goal. The stores are banking on bird calls -- incessant recordings of aggressive sounding foul -- to deter hordes of pigeons that had been roosting in the rafters and, from high above, dropping their droppings on unsuspecting shoppers below.
"It sounds like a forest of birds," shopper Tiffany Jones said. "A jungle, there you go!"
The pigeons outside like to swoop inside for food, nibbling here and there.
"It's grating," Richard Ramirez said. "I have hearing aids and I still hear it!"
While CBS2 was there, benches for shoppers to relax remained relatively empty. Spikes on the directory, surveillance cameras, and electrical box added to the ambiance, and seemed to help.
CBS2 was told the cries are of macaws.
Mall management thinks its humane way of getting rid of the pigeons is working and hopes the blasting sounds won't alienate shoppers.
