Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
November 1976
Abstract
The Av-Alarm is a device for producing loud intermittent sounds which are sometimes effective in repelling pest birds or mammals. (Av-Alarm is manufactured by Av-Alarm Corp, P.O. Box 2488, Santa Maria, California 93454.) The sound is intended to irritate or cause anxiety in animals, perhaps by interfering with normal sound communication sufficiently to repel them from the area. Boudreau(1972) and Stewart (1974) report factors relating to alarm stimuli in bird control. Stewart (1974), HcCracken (1972) and Palmer (1976) reported the use of Av-Alarm in repelling pests under several different situations. However, Jeffrey Jackson (pers. comm.) has reported the use of Av-Alarm in a Red-billed Dioch (Qualea qaelea) breeding colony with no apparent success in interfering with reproduction. In Somalia there are several bird pest species that attack grain crops. The greatest pests to rice are Quelea and the Red Bishop (Euplectes orix). In experimenting with various methods of protecting rice in Somalia, I used one Av-Alarm unit to determine the effectiveness in repelling Quelea in the long rainy season of 1975 and repeated the experiment in 1976.