Fly away home
Pictou council mulls over methods of dealing with growing pigeon population
Pictou’s pigeon population continues to be a problem.
Council urged residents during a committee meeting this week not to feed pigeons or any vermin in hopes that they leave the area on their own and possibly save the town some money.
The old post office building in the centre of downtown, which is now vacant, is one area of concern since many pigeons can be seen flying in and out of the windows and roof, but residents are also concerned about the growing population coming closer to their homes.
“The best thing we can do is not feed them,” said Pictou Mayor Jim Ryan. “The droppings are on people’s roofs. Neighbours and other people start feeding them and then they start roosting on roofs and private buildings.”
In 2014, the town’s pigeon problem came to the forefront when a resident complained about falling glass from the stone post office building. Town staff had boarded up a few windows to make them more secure, but soon people started becoming concerned about the birds’ welfare.
Staff cut holes in the wooden windows a few days later so the birds could still fly in and out of the building.
Ryan said town was recently in touch with the owner of the old post office, who has the building up for sale.
It was given permission by the owner to secure the stone building if needed, but in regard to the pigeons, they have to be removed before the windows are boarded up.
“It is only fair to look at humane ways to deal with them,” Ryan said.
Town staff contacted a person who traps the birds, but it is a lengthy process that will take more than a few visits.
Staff told council that a company was contacted and it suggested making a visit to the area twice a week at $500 per visit for the first month followed by oncea-week visits for the following months. The company has traps that hold about 30 pigeons per trap and once the population is reduced there would need to be some maintenance control put in place so it would not grow again.
Staff was told pigeons can reproduce up to seven times a year. Council estimated it could cost it up to $25,000 over the year to rid the town of its pigeon problem.
He said council will include talks on pigeon reduction in its upcoming budget deliberations because if such an amount of money is needed to be spent, it will require a request for proposals from interested in companies.
“The most humane things people can do is to stop feeding them,” Ryan said.