Home
Overpopulation and nuisance noise levels - Chaddleworth parish council is considering birth control
BIRDS in Chaddleworth could soon be forced to take a contraceptive pill.
One of many West Berkshire areas plagued by overpopulation and high nuisance levels, the village is now considering introducing a birth control pill to stop pigeons reproducing.
Fed-up residents plagued by noise and the mess left by the birds raised the issue at the parish council’s open forum last month, and councillors agreed to look into the issue.
This week, parish councillor Grahame Murphy said: “After some research it seems the birds in question are wood pigeons, not the feral ones. I’ve been looking into different ways of dealing with the problem before I report back to the council.”
Mr Murphy said that shooting clubs could be brought in, but before he would consider hiring such a hit squad, he would check the availability of a pigeon pill as a more humane method of population control than killing them.
The French town Brignoles recently began feeding contraceptives hidden in grain to pigeons in an effort to rid itself of the pests which it said were scaring tourists away.
Other areas across the district have experienced similar problems with escalating pigeon populations, and are also considering taking matters into their own hands.
Hungerford town centre businesses and town and district councillors have expressed concern that the mess left by the birds roosting under the railway bridge in Hungerford High Street is unsightly and dangerously slippy in wet weather.
Hungerford town mayor Anthony Buckwell said that he had been told by Network Rail that it was waiting for a forthcoming report from the council’s environmental health department before it took any action.
The district council has previously said that it cannot get rid of the pigeons as they are not classed as vermin.
Spokesman for West Berkshire Council, Keith Ulyatt, said the council had carried out extensive investigations on the issue of pigeons in Hungerford, and liaised closely and at length with the town council and Network Rail.
“As with pest control in general, the Council offers expert advice, but the bottom line is that the issue needs to be sorted by employing pest control experts and there would obviously be a cost to that.
“So West Berkshire Council carries out the duties it has in terms of investigation, but it is up to the people of the town - local businesses, domestic property or landowners, or whoever is being affected by the problem including parish or town councils - to take up that advice and engage pest control companies who can deal with the situation.”
He added that the council would only get involved in a clean up once mess became a health and safety issue.
The RSPB say that shooting the birds is allowed, but a special licence must be obtained first.
Spokeswoman Sophie McCallum said: “A general licence, issued by the Government, allows 'authorised persons' to kill or take feral pigeons in England but only if it can be shown that action was necessary for the purpose of preserving public health. An 'authorised person' is the owner or tenant of the land or property, or someone acting with the owner’s permission."
BIRDS in Chaddleworth could soon be forced to take a contraceptive pill.
One of many West Berkshire areas plagued by overpopulation and high nuisance levels, the village is now considering introducing a birth control pill to stop pigeons reproducing.
Fed-up residents plagued by noise and the mess left by the birds raised the issue at the parish council’s open forum last month, and councillors agreed to look into the issue.
This week, parish councillor Grahame Murphy said: “After some research it seems the birds in question are wood pigeons, not the feral ones. I’ve been looking into different ways of dealing with the problem before I report back to the council.”
Mr Murphy said that shooting clubs could be brought in, but before he would consider hiring such a hit squad, he would check the availability of a pigeon pill as a more humane method of population control than killing them.
The French town Brignoles recently began feeding contraceptives hidden in grain to pigeons in an effort to rid itself of the pests which it said were scaring tourists away.
Other areas across the district have experienced similar problems with escalating pigeon populations, and are also considering taking matters into their own hands.
Hungerford town centre businesses and town and district councillors have expressed concern that the mess left by the birds roosting under the railway bridge in Hungerford High Street is unsightly and dangerously slippy in wet weather.
Hungerford town mayor Anthony Buckwell said that he had been told by Network Rail that it was waiting for a forthcoming report from the council’s environmental health department before it took any action.
The district council has previously said that it cannot get rid of the pigeons as they are not classed as vermin.
Spokesman for West Berkshire Council, Keith Ulyatt, said the council had carried out extensive investigations on the issue of pigeons in Hungerford, and liaised closely and at length with the town council and Network Rail.
“As with pest control in general, the Council offers expert advice, but the bottom line is that the issue needs to be sorted by employing pest control experts and there would obviously be a cost to that.
“So West Berkshire Council carries out the duties it has in terms of investigation, but it is up to the people of the town - local businesses, domestic property or landowners, or whoever is being affected by the problem including parish or town councils - to take up that advice and engage pest control companies who can deal with the situation.”
He added that the council would only get involved in a clean up once mess became a health and safety issue.
The RSPB say that shooting the birds is allowed, but a special licence must be obtained first.
Spokeswoman Sophie McCallum said: “A general licence, issued by the Government, allows 'authorised persons' to kill or take feral pigeons in England but only if it can be shown that action was necessary for the purpose of preserving public health. An 'authorised person' is the owner or tenant of the land or property, or someone acting with the owner’s permission."
