Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons

London : While Paris Hilton was recently threatened with a fine for feeding pigeons in the famous Trafalgar Square (see link http://www.savethepigeons.org/) London "Councillors" continue their war on pigeons...recent internet posting...

May 26, 2005
new law proposed

A BY-LAW could be introduced stopping people from feeding wild birdsas Bridlington looks to tackle its pigeon problem.Councillors are also being asked to consider a cull of pigeons by poisoning them in a bid to clean up the town centre.

A pest control company has approached Bridlington Town Counciloffering to catch the pigeons using a bait which contains a sedativeand a fatal dose of poison.If the plan gets the go-ahead, the scheme will cost £500 for a year,which will be split between the council and the BridlingtonRegeneration Partnership.

Denise Cowling, town centre manager, said: "We got many complaintsin the One Stop Shop from people saying something needs to be done,and most of these complaints have been from residents rather thanvisitors."Pigeons are a public nuisance and they are a health problem. They are not particularly clean creatures and carry diseases."

You are never going to eradicate the problem completely and you arenever going to please everybody, but you can lessen the problem andit is better that we do something, rather than let the problem spiral out of control.

"I'm sure this is the most humane way."

A report was due to be presented to council's finance and generalpurposes committee at its meeting last night. It recommended that the council approaches property owners in the town centre to see if they would be willing to have a purpose-builtcage put on their roofs.

One of the traders who has been plagued by the pigeons is PeterSutton, owner of Just 4 Rooms in Chapel Street. He has bagged up around a quarter-of-a-ton of droppings from his roof and spent more than £1,000 clearing the mess. He believed a cull was the only way to get rid of the birds, but said too many people would ignore the proposed by-law banning people from feeding the birds.

He said: "People are still feeding them now."Someone is throwing them a large amount of grain on a regular basis. "I am an animal lover, but there is only one way around this problem."

A ban would be impossible, it's futile because there's no way you can stop people and day-trippers maybe wouldn't know about it. "It is affecting people's lives and busineses. "We pay rates and expect it to be taken seriously.

"If they had rats running about they would soon do something about it.

"The council has got to face up to its obligation to people like me."

Several other authorities have looked at different ways of reducing their pigeon population. The problem in Trafalgar Square in London has been tackled by hiringa hawk to scare off the birds, but this is believed to have costaround £130,000. The new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh has also been plagued by pigeons roosting on the rooftops.

Last month Leicester City Council introduced £50 fines to people who persistently feed pigeons in parks.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND A NOTE OF SUPPORT TO THE PEOPLE IN LONDON WHO ARE TRYING TO FIND HUMANE SOLUTIONS TO LIVING WITH THESE WONDERFUL BIRDS, JUST GO TO http://www.savethepigeons.org/ WHERE YOU CAN FIND THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION AND OTHER WONDERFUL LINKS, INCLUDING A PIGEON SLIDESHOW....