PIGEONS

People are being urged not to feed pigeons in an attempt to keep the population down. Council officials say cleaning up the mess from pigeon droppings costs £50,000 a year. Pigeons feeding on fast food rubbish left on the street are turning into overweight, "super-sized" birds, anti-litter campaigners say. Environmental group Encams said seven out of 10 pieces of litter on roads and pavements are food-related. The Wigan-based charity said the pigeon, rat, fox and gull populations are spiralling out of control. It said the creatures are becoming dependent on food scraps that are not good for them. Some councils want to bring in legislation to fine people who feed the birds in the street.

Many councils will have to cull thousands of the birds if something is not done to control them, Encams, which runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, says. It has welcomed the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, which makes it easier to hit those who drop litter with £50 on-the-spot fines. Alan Woods, chief executive at Encams, said, "People genuinely feed pigeons out of a sense of kindness but by leaving food around, they are not helping the birds at all. Pigeons become dependent on you for their diet and when flocks gather, this spreads disease and drives smaller birds away. Councils are left to control this pest problem and it is cruel to those animals who are scavenging in unnatural environments for food that isn't good for them."

Pigeons are considered to be dirty disease carriers and a threat to crops by some but by others as feathered friends with which to share a sandwich. Efforts to solve the pigeon problem range from shooting them to training human beings to control their litter and make city centres unwelcoming to pigeons. The 18 million wood pigeons in the UK pose a threat to farmers because each can eat 64 pounds of food a year. Despite the problems the birds can cause, shooting them has not been a popular solution with the public. Despite public disquiet at the method, at least one good shot has made a living removing pigeons from the landscape.

Modern day bounty hunter Geoff Garrod does not look for wanted criminals, he tracks and shoots pigeons. In an average year, Mr Garrod said, one person can shoot 2500 to 3000 pigeons and he says shooting them is "the only effective way we have of dealing with them". The dead pigeons bring a price of 10p each and most will end up in European restaurants. Another eradication method at work in the UK is the use of larger predatory birds. Pigeons which plague the Microsoft HQ in Cambridge are kept under control by the use of a three-year-old American Harris Hawk. (Source: BBC News)

Pensioner Beryl Withers, had just finished eating a sandwich during a lunchtime shopping trip outside Nottingham's Victoria shopping centre, when she emptied out the remaining crumbs for the birds. As she moved to put the empty packet in the bin she was stopped by two council wardens who told her she had broken the law. The wardens demanded her name and address and warned her she faced a maximum £2,000 fine. She received a £50 fixed penalty notice two days later, with a letter declaring she had been "seen emptying the contents of a bag to feed the pigeons".

Nottingham City Council defended the fine, saying the crumbs were classed as litter and littering was an offence met by a fine. Research compiled using police statistics showed that Nottingham had 115.5 crimes for every 1,000 residents, four times the level of the safest towns. Known as 'Gun City', Nottingham also had the highest number of murders per 100,000 population, with 5.21, and featured in the worst five towns or cities for robbery, burglary, assault, rape and gun crime. (Source: Mail on Sunday, Jul/06)