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methods of culling involve cruelty and are a misuse of funds because
all they achieve are a temporary gap asking to be filled by other
pigeons moving in from surrounding areas. After a cull, more food is
available to those remaining; hence more pigeons are fit to breed and
less succumb to infant mortality. With these advantages they can
replenish their numbers at an astonishing degree, to again be the
scapegoats for inefficiency, and victims of misguided priorities and
wasted resources.
A
given pigeon population will level off to a density rate that the food
availability can sustain. When that point is reached, less robust pairs
will not reproduce and natural losses tend to stabilize flock numbers.
So basically, if left alone the flock will not grow ad infinitum, but
regulate itself without the unnecessary savagery of drugs, falconry,
traps and guns.
If
their presence is justifiably unwanted, the only sure (and most humane)
way to deter feathered opportunists is to reduce the amount of refuse
we produce and net off roost sites. As long as mesh is maintained no
pigeon should suffer, and the flock will be stronger and more resistant
to disease. This solution is cheaper, permanent and does not employ
armies of mercenaries who poison the public's mind with ill-informed
scare-mongering propaganda merely to ensure an easy salary.
Too
many people accept this ridiculous disregard for life and money,
because they choose to believe 'experts' who have a vested financial
interest in promoting deplorable myths about these birds.
What
any honest vet will tell you is that feral pigeons are no more a risk
to human health than any other bird or animal species and it is doubtful
than any outbreak of ill-health has ever been traced to pigeons.
Another common myth is that pigeon's droppings corrode buildings, but
these droppings are neither acidic nor alkaline and cannot corrode
building materials. But pigeons are a convenient visible target for
anyone who would rather pin the blame on them rather than the sulphur
dioxide of car exhausts and acid rain.
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