It all started Wednesday evening last week when our office received an email after hours stating that right in our backyard, so to speak, a desperate situation was unfolding. In an attempt to prevent pigeon droppings from landing on cars travelling though the covered driveway, the Honda of Marin dealership had hired a company to put up exclusionary wiring over the skylights, which is usually a humane and safe way of dealing with unwanted avian tenants.

Unfortunately, one skylight had a nest with baby birds, and the company had wired over the nest. The pigeon parents were desperate to care for their babies, but were prevented from reaching them because of the wiring. The concerned person who made us aware of the situation had luckily also contacted the Marin Humane Society, which was the best course of action in this case, as it has the authority and expertise to stand up for, legally intervene, and act on behalf of individual wild and domestic animals in trouble.

One of its skilled officers was at the dealership first thing in the morning. Since the dealership had no ladders to reach the birds themselves, managers were asked to contact the exclusion wiring company immediately to get a representative out to take down the wiring.

We were not immediately aware the situation had been resolved, and our staff member, Anita Carswell, made a couple calls each to the Honda dealership and the Marin Humane Society before learning the situation had been resolved happily.

Honda of Marin General Manager, Brook Mugraves, invited Anita to see the nest for herself, and as the dealership is close by, she decided to take him up on the offer. She was met by Shawn Haghighi, General Sales Manager, who showed her the nest, as well as one of the parents on a nearby lamp post. Babies could be heard chirping, and a parent was with them. Shawn confessed he had been very worried the parents would give up, and said he was very relieved they were reunited.

We’re thrilled with the outcome, and hope you’ll be empowered to take action if you see incorrectly placed exclusionary wiring or netting endangering birds or other animals. If you live in a community with good ethics and policies toward animals, your local Animal Control can hopefully help.

You can let Honda of Marin staff know how much you appreciate their responsiveness to birds in distress here.