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Old 08-17-2010, 12:39 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Killing pigeons in cities


Quote:

Spain Declares War on Pigeons With Net Catapult | Wired Science | Wired.com

Spain has a pigeon problem, and some cities are recruiting private pigeon catchers to trap the rats-with-wings using special net catapult devices.

The technique involves two people and a catapult-sprung net device. One person feeds the pigeons to make sure that they are gathered neatly into a small space, while the other angles the net catapult. Once the birds are in place, the net is released over the birds to trap them before they can fly away.

Barcelona city council has declared pigeons to be a “plague” and has issued a tender to catch and cull 65,000 of them over the next 18 months — 25 percent of the pigeon population. This represents a significant markup from last year’s already-impressive cull of 40,000 pigeons.

The birds have been singled out for spreading diseases and for causing damage to buildings thanks to their highly corrosive droppings which can damage stone architecture. Most culling methods involve nets and cage traps in the busiest areas and then asphyxiation with carbon dioxide.
How do you feel about killing pigeons?

I find them to be problematic. I think they are flying rats and people seem to like feeding them. They are all over the place where they have tried many passive things like fake owls, spike strips to prevent landing, encouraging falcons to nest and breed. Yet there still seems to be so many pigeons.

In my neighborhood we're even trapping and killing squirrels. They have become a total nuisance gnawing on wires, scaling sides of buildings and entering apartments as high as the 6th floor.
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Old 08-17-2010, 12:57 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Squirrels where I live have reached the 11th floor just climbing up the side of the building. I also feel that they are flying rats. That being said I am pro-culling them down I just think it has to be done as humanely and painless as possible.
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Old 08-17-2010, 01:02 PM   #3 (permalink)
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I'm not passionate about saving them but I do hope they're being killed humanely.

Can they be eaten? Squab is available on many a fine menu after all.

I suppose they wouldn't meet the equivalent FDA standards but I wonder what could be done to bring them up to standard. You could feed the homeless etc, etc...
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Old 08-17-2010, 02:24 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Pigeons belong in Venice. Otherwise, their population should be controlled.
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Old 08-17-2010, 02:36 PM   #5 (permalink)
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We dissected pigeons (rock doves) in high school in advanced biology, so I have no problem with culling their numbers, as the birds can be useful even after death.

I also have no problem with the fact that the city of Bend, Oregon recently decided to cull some Canada geese that were giving them trouble. They had the geese butchered and served to local needy. Critics condemn feeding euthanized geese to needy | kgw.com | KGW News | Portland, Oregon Personally, having visited/used the park where these geese congregate, I was GLAD that they culled the geese because they had established a unnatural population there that wasn't migrating, and the poop generated by the geese was disgusting. The park's Mirror Pond is a popular spot to end a float of the Deschutes River, and it's gross to have to try and pick your way through the goose poop around the pond to get out of the river.

I also think that in addition to culling, we should consider a public service campaign to remind people that they should not feed wildlife. Feeding wildlife is one of the main things that contributes to these kinds of problems. Here's an article about a wild turkey shoot in a town near mine: Philomath goes for the kill on turkeys Why did these wild turkeys become a nuisance? Yeah, that's right: people fed them.
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Old 08-17-2010, 04:18 PM   #6 (permalink)
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I'm all for population control of any species. I don't live in an area with an over-population of pigeons, but I've never heard anyone say "I like pigeons." Take 'em down.

I'm confused about how they kill the pigeons. They're obviously trapped in the net, by the way it looks super efficient, but how are they actually killed off?
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Old 08-17-2010, 04:44 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Okay, but... Watching that video, my thought is, what next? You've got a huge net of flapping, writhing, struggling birds... And then...?
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Old 08-17-2010, 05:29 PM   #8 (permalink)
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and then there's maybe this recipe....
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Old 08-17-2010, 05:45 PM   #9 (permalink)
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I work with Pigeons in my field of work... I do electrical service work on billboards in Calgary... to me they are a huge problem and if I could, I would be all over those rats-with-wings.... they dive bomb you if you're near their nest and I have come close to going beserk on their flying asses because they scare the shit out of me, but I digress... I am a drama queen. I wouldn't be against it but then again, could we compare the explosion of Pigeons to human populations? Pigeons thrive in the environment their given, my Dad has them in his barn and they explode into urban centres, who are we to decide that they're such a problem when mother nature would say we're invading on the way things have been done for millions of years?

Streak....

ps... thread jack
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Old 08-17-2010, 06:59 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Old 08-18-2010, 02:16 AM   #11 (permalink)
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It had to be done....
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Old 08-18-2010, 03:00 AM   #12 (permalink)
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Messy and noisy creatures. iIn the late 1950s Don Martin did a great cartoon about killing them.
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Old 08-18-2010, 08:19 AM   #13 (permalink)
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Thanks freeload. Love that song.
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Old 08-18-2010, 12:55 PM   #14 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by fresnelly View Post
I'm not passionate about saving them but I do hope they're being killed humanely.

Can they be eaten? Squab is available on many a fine menu after all.

I suppose they wouldn't meet the equivalent FDA standards but I wonder what could be done to bring them up to standard. You could feed the homeless etc, etc...
THAT!
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Old 08-18-2010, 03:18 PM   #16 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by ratbastid View Post
Okay, but... Watching that video, my thought is, what next? You've got a huge net of flapping, writhing, struggling birds... And then...?
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Old 08-18-2010, 03:40 PM   #17 (permalink)
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then asphyxiation with carbon dioxide.
as it says in the article.
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Old 08-18-2010, 04:54 PM   #18 (permalink)
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Just the other day I saved a pigeon and now you want to undo all of my work?!?!?
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Old 08-18-2010, 05:11 PM   #19 (permalink)
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Promote the return of the delicacy.

Yeah... as in eat them.

Really, that's what they were brought to this continent for.

They're pretty good, much like quail.
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Old 08-18-2010, 07:36 PM   #20 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by freeload View Post
Thanks. Posting that was the only reason I visited this thread. :-)
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Old 08-18-2010, 08:41 PM   #21 (permalink)
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they were eaten in the U.S., they are still raised and eaten in many places, and as said before, they were often a delicacy- they ought to be again....
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Old 08-19-2010, 09:06 AM   #22 (permalink)
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I ate one in Thailand. I've moved on.
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Old 08-19-2010, 09:31 AM   #23 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Fire View Post
they were eaten in the U.S., they are still raised and eaten in many places, and as said before, they were often a delicacy- they ought to be again....
I don't want to consume anything that eats moldy bread thrown by insane people in the park. I'm sure some less fortunate people would, but not I.
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Old 08-19-2010, 07:22 PM   #24 (permalink)
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I don't want to consume anything that eats moldy bread thrown by insane people in the park. I'm sure some less fortunate people would, but not I.

Read more: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/general...#ixzz0x72v3q7L
So you never eat lobster, crawdads, crab, shrimp, pork, etc?

They eat MUCH worse shit.
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Old 08-19-2010, 07:59 PM   #25 (permalink)
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It so happens that I do eat some scavengers of the animal world. Lobster, crawfish, crab, shrimp, pork, and I'll raise you one: catfish, classic bottom feeders. The difference between pigeons and the food you listed is that some of it is farm raised, so in theory it should be cleaner than wild caught (pigeons). I realize this argument is extremely weak on my part, because if it tastes good, I'll eat it. Looking at pigeons the way I do, dirty creatures, I wouldn't want to eat one, but I'm sure if I had a more open mind I wouldn't be opposed to trying it out.

It's probably of the "don't knock it until you try it" variety.
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Old 08-20-2010, 12:19 AM   #26 (permalink)
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You can actually hunt them in my state (albeit in the hunting regulations they are referred to as "Rock Dove".) I have a buddy who was, among other business ventures, involved in varmint/pest control. His personal mission was to eradicate the pigeon population in the area. There are still a few around, as is to be expected with the amount of grain elevators we have around, but a few years ago they started actually using a form of pigeon specific birth control (I shit you not) in local feed sites and the population has dropped substantially. Otherwise, I say trap them, grain feed them for a few weeks, and feed them to the homeless/support your local food banks/high end restaurants. Dressed out, they are larger than quail, and are about the same size as a cornish game hen...just sayin' is all....
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Old 08-20-2010, 08:10 AM   #27 (permalink)
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when i was a kid we bred pigeons. we had so many at one stage that we needed to cull them.

they inevitably ended up on the dinner table. we had them in a stew for dinner that night. a little boney, but just like chicken.
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Old 08-20-2010, 12:32 PM   #28 (permalink)
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Just like I am thee, & why I hope they're eating their captured.
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Old 08-20-2010, 04:12 PM   #29 (permalink)
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The only problem I see with capturing them for food is the cost. It's probably much less expensive to kill them than it is to give them out for food or make them for food. That would be a ton of money being poured directly into the homeless population, something the government (at least around here) is not known for.
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Old 08-20-2010, 04:15 PM   #30 (permalink)
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What we need is a friendly-looking chipper-shredder with a hunk of bread hanging in front of its toothy grin.
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Old 08-20-2010, 04:25 PM   #31 (permalink)
 
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Old 08-20-2010, 08:48 PM   #32 (permalink)
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PULL!

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Old 08-24-2010, 05:07 PM   #33 (permalink)
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Offering a bounty and letting some of the city's unemployed go after them (in a safe manner) could be much cheaper than hiring professionals.
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Old 08-29-2010, 11:15 AM   #34 (permalink)
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Whenever I hear people say that there are too many pigeons, seals, Canada Geese, wolves, bears, deer, you name it.....I alway wonder about the 7 billion people on this planet.

The secret to pigeon control is quite simple - don't give them food and don't allow them to roost in structures.
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Old 08-29-2010, 12:31 PM   #35 (permalink)
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...The secret to pigeon control is quite simple - don't give them food and don't allow them to roost in structures.
Not as simple as you make it sound to be. Otherwise we'd have gotten rid of all rodents known to man. Rodents roost in structures and acquire food through other means.
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Old 08-29-2010, 01:46 PM   #36 (permalink)
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If we could engage the squirrels & the pigeons in eating each other we'd have less familiars.
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Old 08-29-2010, 03:20 PM   #37 (permalink)
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It makes sense to cull the pigeon population. I lived in Europe for a number of years and saw a lot of their handiwork, specifically the city mentioned in the article as well as Madrid.

I like the thought of using them for something else rather than just killing them and throwing them away.
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Old 08-29-2010, 03:53 PM   #38 (permalink)
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Massive pigeon compost pile, anyone?
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Old 09-05-2010, 06:49 AM   #39 (permalink)
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Don't we have an agreement with the pidgins they move out of the way of cars and we look the other way when it comes to statues? Did they violate the treaty and we now have to kill them?
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