Business ruffles city feathers

For Nephi Oliva, the pigeons have come home to roost.

The 36-year-old business owner lately became embroiled in a bitter feud with North Las Vegas officials over his labor of love: a sanctuary for unwanted pigeons.

"They're trying to demonize what we're doing," Oliva said of those officials on Tuesday. "It's just ridiculous. They can't shut me down."

But the city says Oliva's business/sanctuary, in an industrial area near Cheyenne Avenue and Commerce Street, wasn't licensed accurately, doesn't comply with neighborhood zoning and poses a threat to public health.

"We're not the bad guys here," said Tim Bedwell, a North Las Vegas police spokesman. "We're trying to protect the public. He's got to get the pigeons out of there now."

Oliva got a business license late last year, envisioning a place where pigeons -- usually considered vermin -- could live out their lives in peace instead of being killed or simply released to create more problems for homeowners and businesses.

He also hoped to make a little money with his business, called Nevada Pigeon Control.

Since then, he has captured thousands of pigeons for apartment complexes, homeowners associations and businesses. Oliva admits exterminating many of them because they were injured, too hard to catch or were carrying diseases.

The rest he houses outside in a giant chain-link cage. That's what raised the city's hackles.

Oliva had described his operation as simply a "behavioral pigeon control" business. He mentioned nothing about a sanctuary, city officials said.

Oliva needs approval from both the city's planning and zoning department and animal control division to operate a sanctuary, said Lana Hammond, business license manager for North Las Vegas.

"He can't bring animals back to the location," Hammond said. "The site isn't zoned or approved for a sanctuary."

Animal control must verify animals at such a facility are safely and humanely stored, Bedwell said. "It isn't safe for animals or for humans up there," he said. "There is no sanitation at all. They hose the feces out the back door and shovel it into the Dumpster."

Oliva acknowledged his employees must "scoop up and vacuum" the pigeons' waste, because the drain located in the cage doesn't function.

"It's a fake drain," he said. "We were trying to use it and finally realized it was a bad drain. We brought it to the city's attention ourselves."

Pigeon droppings are acidic and can ruin paint, roofs and air-conditioning units. They also can carry salmonella and the fungus that causes histoplasmosis, a problem that primarily affects the lungs.

Bedwell said the city became concerned about Oliva's facility after a neighboring business complained that "suddenly there were pigeons in the area, and the fingers were pointed at" Oliva.

The matter came to a head last week when officials visited the sanctuary and gave Oliva seven days to get into compliance or get rid of the birds. Animal control officials extended the deadline to next week. But Hammond said Oliva could be cited as early as today if he isn't in compliance.

Oliva complained that the city has yet to clearly explain to him how to get into compliance. And he refuses to get rid of the birds.

"That would turn me into a hypocrite," he said.

The fracas could put a kink in Oliva's plans to eventually open a "big pigeon park" somewhere in the valley, where people who actually like pigeons could come to feed them.

He also would like to someday work for local municipalities, much like a public utility, to rid neighborhoods of pigeons.

In the meantime, he has vowed to take his fight with the city to court if necessary.

"They can't shut me down. They can just give me a lot of crap."

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.