Let’s take pigeon control seriously [Editorial]

[webfact]

Let’s take pigeon control seriously

By The Nation

 

 

The environmental and health risks posed by avian overpopulation cannot be overlooked

 

The government and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration are addressing the long-standing urban problem of pigeon overpopulation. The ban that the city has imposed on feeding wild pigeons is well overdue, but then, better late than never. The birds’ numbers in our cities have skyrocketed, in turn multiplying health and environmental concerns.

 

Such threats are taken very seriously indeed in some foreign cities, where the story all began the same way – the charming sight of flocks of friendly, near-tame pigeons fluttering around landmarks and monuments, enlivening tourist snapshots and providing cheer to residents with breadcrumbs to share. The overall relaxing experience was soon replaced by annoyance and even alarm as the populations exploded, however, and their existence became regarded as nothing more than a nuisance and a health menace.

 

So nets of all sizes are set out to catch them, professional pest removers are hired and, in some cases, the birds are poisoned. But, once ensconced in a location and inured to human habits, pigeons hold fast and keep on breeding. These cousins of the rock dove, which dwells on seaside cliffs, might still be feral, but they’re every bit as urbanised and adaptive as their human neighbours. As human admiration for them fades, they come to be seen as flying rats.

 

Their coastal cliffs are now tall city buildings, their diet the abundant residual scraps of human existence. And where natural predators and limitations in the food supply once controlled flock sizes, the tolerance, generosity – and apathy – of humankind has allowed them to flourish endlessly amid the bricks and concrete.

 

If incensed people install deterrent spikes in the birds’ chosen breeding and nesting sites, they simply fly elsewhere. More lethal measures against them have been known to fail spectacularly, merely triggering further adaptive evolution and backfiring on their enemies.

 

What the Bangkok administration is trying to do now is discourage citizens from feeding the pigeons. Harsh penalties for doing so have been prescribed and a large-scale public-awareness campaign is underway. It’s an assuredly light-handed approach – and it has not worked in several overseas cities similarly plagued. City Hall will meanwhile have to brace for objections likely to come from animal-rights activists, of which Thailand has many loud and well-organised examples.

 

One tactic in the age-old battle between man and pigeon that seemed ingenious at first was luring the birds to nice-looking artificial breeding facilities, then replacing their eggs with infertile facsimiles. A pigeon hen is ready to lay more eggs immediately after a brood is hatched, but this trickery kept her sitting on fake eggs in vain for days. It has worked in some cases – but the investment required in human cost, time and effort is daunting.

 

The pigeon issue is a real problem, like drug abuse, poor education standards, inequality in the judicial process, and rampant traffic law violations, which have received far less public and media attention than the more abstract issues. Real problems creep in slowly and fester. They don’t show up all of a sudden, as the general public is led to believe.

 

The campaign against the birds must be carried out systematically and with long-lasting resolve. The problem must not be overshadowed by political rivalry once a new administration is in place. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/today_editorial/30355518

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-10-01

[ezzra]

An article that is way too long for an issue that can be solved easily by not realising the birds after catching them, this is not one of those moments of 'catch and release' sentiment, and if you catch and don't release enough of them, the problem will go away...

[Samui Bodoh]

"...The pigeon issue is a real problem, like drug abuse, poor education standards, inequality in the judicial process, and rampant traffic law violations, which have received far less public and media attention than the more abstract issues. Real problems creep in slowly and fester. They don’t show up all of a sudden, as the general public is led to believe..."

 

The pigeon issue is equivalent to drug abuse, poor education standards, inequality in the judicial process and rampant traffic violations?

 

Are you kidding me? Dude, you desperately need to gain some perspective.

 

Sure, pigeons are a problem and there are several common-sense measures that can be taken to combat it. And, for the record, jailing people who feed pigeons is NOT a solution. Learn what other cities have done, and copy anyone who has been successful; it ain't rocket science.

 

When Thailand's youth are falling behind due to lack of proper education, when people are tossed into jail because they are not politically connected to the "Good" people, and when a capital city wastes hundreds of thousands of man-hours a day due to terrible traffic management, pigeons do not belong at the top of the list of priorities.

 

This lack of perspective and moronic editorial are a clear demonstration of the education problem...

 

[bartender100]

Shame they are not more tasty, then there would not be a problem

[Cadbury]

43 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

Shame they are not more tasty, then there would not be a problem

Nothing more delicious than a well cooked pigeon. The prospect of money and riches is a great motivator in Thailand so a bounty on a dead pigeon might be the answer. 

The PM can put his money where his mouth is for this funding if he is serious about getting rid of these pests.

[Lupatria]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Let’s take pigeon control seriously

Like they do in even more important issues?

Edited October 1, 2018 by Lupatria

[metisdead]

A derogatory troll post has been removed. 

[SammyT]

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

The pigeon issue is equivalent to drug abuse, poor education standards, inequality in the judicial process and rampant traffic violations?

 

Are you kidding me? Dude, you desperately need to gain some perspective.

Bang on. The pigeons are an issue but not in the same category as the other things the editorial listed. It's like saying a stubbed toe is the medical equivalent to getting cancer. 

 

It makes me laugh how they have the signs up in Tha Pae in Chiang Mai saying not to feed the pigeons yet half a dozen bird food sellers wander around nearby openly selling food to feed them with. Stopping those people from selling would be a pretty good place to start if you're looking to address the issue.

[mikebell]

Meanwhile the rabid soi dog problem proliferates.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, bartender100 said:

Shame they are not more tasty, then there would not be a problem

They are tasty... that's the thing

20 years ago on the south coast of England I regularly shot pigeon using a .22 rifle so's not to damage the body. The plucked birds were then loaded onto the Poole/Cherbourg  ferry and shipped across to France where a local restaurant would buy every one of them !!

 

[wotsdermatter]

As noted on a recent previous narrative about this very topic, another person, with whom I agreed, made the point that pigeons from within urban districts, such as Bangkok, are not the same as the wild wood pigeons found in the rural areas.  Hotchilli, above, made the same point.  My grandfather in Yorkshire used to take me pigeon shooting to supplement our wartime rations and my uncle used to shoot them from his upper bedroom window because they kept eating his garden crops.  We enjoyed the extra feeds they provided us, and I still relish a pigeon pie whenever I can lay my hands on the "good" wild ones.  Most modern methods do not deter them from occupying places in cities, but also as noted, just tend to move them along to another location.  Obviously, the people in the government in Thailand are not great at carrying out research to determine if what they are saying is viable and/or realistic.

 

'nuf sed.

[Guitar God]

55 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

They are tasty... that's the thing

20 years ago on the south coast of England I regularly shot pigeon using a .22 rifle so's not to damage the body. The plucked birds were then loaded onto the Poole/Cherbourg  ferry and shipped across to France where a local restaurant would buy every one of them !!

 

Just call them “squab” instead of pigeons, run a campaign about how tasty and nutritious they are and drive them to extinction. 

 

The people who don’t eat them because they think they’re dirty are some of  the same people who have no problem shoving a stick up a rats ass and out the other end and and cook it over a fire with the intestines still inside. 

 

 

[anon467367354]

why not a catch and eat program?

has a pigeon ever caused a human death due to population?

The dog problem is way more serious IMHO.

[PETERTHEEATER]

........by not realising the birds after catching them

 

Yet hey must have realised they were pigeons before they caught them.

[lambchops]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

They are tasty...  taurant would buy every one of them !!

 

 

Had a sort of Pidgeon pie like thing in Morocco 1990 or so.

Not a gourmet, but no real fond memories.

[connda]

Hate to rain on the parade, especially being a Buddhist, but there comes a time when you need to cull the flock.  They can dance around the subject all they want, but at the end of the day it's the only measure that will be effective.  When pigeons no longer have natural predators to cull the flock, then humans need to step in and fill the role.

[Thailand]

Thousands of Chinese now coming here and pigeon is a delicacy in China,Chinese Fried Pigeon (Zha Ge Zi, 炸鸽子), an ever growing market for some bright entrepreneurs

[thequietman]

One way would be to catch every pigeon and take a dump on its head.

 

See how it f@@kin likes it. 

[DrTuner]

Make it a national sport to shoot them, BB guns are around 500 baht.

[SammyT]

The TVF targeted advertising is working a treat today...

[garyk]

Only one solution. Daleks

 

Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate.

Edited October 2, 2018 by garyk

[zzaa09]

And yet, we conveniently gloss over real criminal and corrupt activity.

 

The esteemed Thai authorities have taken a page from the text that siwilai Western countries use to apply to trivial matters, instead of addressing real issues. 

 

Priorities. 

 

Well done.