Rats with wings

[STEED]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City lawmaker wants to declare war on the city's pigeons and says he will not be dissuaded by the difficulties faced by London and Venice in ridding themselves of the ubiquitous birds.

City Councilman Simcha Felder on Monday called on the city to levy a fine of as much as $1,000 (490 pounds) on people feeding pigeons, distribute bird contraceptives, and employ hawks to scare the birds away.
He also suggested appointing a "pigeon czar" to orchestrate the fight, a plan that has ruffled the feathers of animal lovers.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/200711...bfe916c_1.html

I say shoot the bloody things, pigeons carry more disease than a sewer rat. It's time for open season and cull these dirty creatures pass me a pump action shotgun.

[StdDev]

Dont pigeons support the labor party?

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by StdDev

Dont pigeons support the labor party?

They used to, but a sly change of logo attracted them to the Lib Dems

[STEED]

Pigeons got the vote.

[Konovalov]

Steed,

Would you like a job in Trafalgar Square?

Oh, I forgot. Mayor Ken (congestion charge loving) Livingstone wouldn't approve of gunning down hoardes of pigeons.

[Letum]

I tries to eat wood pigeon once.

Its "O.K." but a bitch to prepare.

[CCIP]

Last I heard, pigeons actually don't tend to carry any diseases dangerous to humans :hmm:

But as with any species, over-population can be a problem for keeping ecological balance.

[joea]

Tell that to my upstairs neighbour. Several pigeons have nested on her balcony and I get the refuse on my balcony. Plus that irritating "cooooo" makes me want to go ape****....with a slingshot or something. I usually grab a broom in the morning and wack the ledge above to scare them off....then I go to work and they come back.

Funny story, I was riding my bike in a park and saw several, going slowly behind them as they are so tame they usually fly off...one though had puffy feathers and I ummmm misjudged my speed expecting it to fly off and coooo *sound of wings flapping* *splat* one less pigeon. I guess it was sick or something. I felt bad for half an hour til I realised I am hoping to get my neighbour to call the pest control. Still it's not very nice...those damn things walk so close to people, bikes cars if one is old or sick it's a wonder I don't see more of em squashed.

[bookworm_020]

A study done here in Australia, found that if just a couple (2 or 3) of people feed pigeons on a regular basis, the population can increase by 50% in just a month. the study was done by a council (Melbourne, I think) who wanted to control the numbers, due to the cost of cleaning statues, seats and buildings increase due to rising numbers of rats with wings.

They used a varity of methods, which brought the numbers down, but when they stoped the program, the numbers increased (because people started feeding them again!)

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by joea

Tell that to my upstairs neighbour. Several pigeons have nested on her balcony and I get the refuse on my balcony. Plus that irritating "cooooo" makes me want to go ape****....with a slingshot or something. I usually grab a broom in the morning and wack the ledge above to scare them off....then I go to work and they come back.

I have a similar situation with a pair of starlings, except they don't coo, they scream in the morning sometimes

But actually I don't mind them much. I think my general compassion for birds outweighs the unwanted wakeup calls. I don't know why, but I always had a thing for birds. Even pigeons. I won't feed them myself, but I like seeing them in the city and hate to see them mistreated or injured by people. Yea, there's gotta be controls on the population, but I should prefer they be at least somewhat compassionate.

[antikristuseke]

We dont have a pidgeon problem here, more like a seagull invasion. Legaly we cant really do jack **** about it, but unoficially, just pop one with an air rifle and leave its corpse on the roof or some similar place, the bastards then stay away till the corpse has been allmost completely eaten or rotten away.

[joea]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I have a similar situation with a pair of starlings, except they don't coo, they scream in the morning sometimes

But actually I don't mind them much. I think my general compassion for birds outweighs the unwanted wakeup calls. I don't know why, but I always had a thing for birds. Even pigeons. I won't feed them myself, but I like seeing them in the city and hate to see them mistreated or injured by people. Yea, there's gotta be controls on the population, but I should prefer they be at least somewhat compassionate.

Well I do like birds too, especially roasted with potatoes. :rotfl:

Joke, pigeons have too little meat. :p

Naw I felt really bad about squishing the pigeon, but as you said there are ways to control them. I am thinking about getting a big plastic crow, or asking my neighbour if we get those spikes for the ledges I see on many public buildings so at least they roost elsewhere, like the trees or something. I wonder if those can be bought by the public? :hmm:

[TteFAboB]

Squish this!

An aunt used to take me to feed the pigeons when I was a kid. There was a ridiculous large mass of pigeons at the park and the best thing was running after them once feeding was done. The gluttons wouldn't fly away to the sky, in no less part because they were probably overfed, so this large mass of pigeons would just slowly fly in circles around the park square at ground level. When you got close to them you could hear a really bizzare sound of all the flapping combined. If only I had a flamethrower back then...

[STEED]

Lets get hunting people lock and load.

[joea]

Originally Posted by STEED

Lets get hunting people lock and load.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove

Several species of pigeon or dove are used as food, and probably any could be; the powerful breast muscles characteristic of the family make excellent meat. In Europe the Wood Pigeon is commonly shot as a game bird, while Rock Pigeons were originally domesticated as a food species, and many breeds were developed for their meat-bearing qualities. The extinction of the Passenger Pigeon was at least partly due to shooting for use as food.
Doves are Kosher, and they and Turtle Doves are the only birds that may be used for a Korban. Other kosher birds may be eaten, but not brought as a Korban.

Still...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Pigeon

Though feral pigeons are often associated with the threat of disease, this is actually a fairly recent idea. Pigeons have been associated with a variety of diseases, including histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis.
In addition, pigeons do not spread West Nile Virus; though they can contract it, they do not appear to be able to transmit it. In fact, they are no longer monitored as an indication of the presence of the virus in the area (as crows still are). Pigeons are also at potential risk for carrying and spreading avian flu.[1] [2]
Certainly pigeons, like any other wild animal, carry some risk of disease. They are known, in particular, to be susceptible to salmonellosis, tuberculosis, and ornithosis (None of these have been proven to be transmitted from pigeons to humans, however). It is wise, therefore, to use precautions when handling them.
Extreme fear of pigeons is known as peristerophobia.[1]

So I'm a peristeropobe?