This last April, the City of Melbourne asked people to stop feeding the city’s growing population of pigeons. A recent press release reads: “Signs urging people not to feed the birds have been erected in Melbourne’s city centre as one of the first and most important steps to addressing the growing pigeon numbers in a humane way.”

It seems so-far that that plan is not really working. Last Saturday, my eyes were caught by an enormous flock of pigeons flying in the City Square behind St Paul’s Cathedral. It was a truly amazing sight to see such a huge flock of pigeons slowly descending!

It turns out that a person was purposefully dumping generous quantities of food (and I am speaking literally of kilos) to feed what some people call “rats with wings”. There were in excess of 300 birds all gobbling up the man’s offerings. And it seems this is not the first time this has happened either. In fact, it seems to be quite a common practice with some folk.

A man feeds pigeons in the City Square

In 2004 the City of Melbourne spent $3600* for an airfare, accommodation and expenses for ‘professional advice’ from Guy Merchant of the UK’s Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS) about the issue. (Apparently no Australian was adequately qualified to assist in devising a remedy for this problem). In any case, the report found persistent overfeeding by the public was a key reason for the increasing pigeon population, and it was suggested that reducing this practice was a crucial step in reducing the size of the population.

Council spends $30,000 a year trying to control pigeons. Many heritage buildings such as the State Library of Victoria have ugly ‘bird nets’ on their capitals to prevent them being turned into pigeon nesting places. Even the statue of Sir Redmond Barry wears two antennae to keep the “rodents” at bay. Many city buildings have suffered damage from the acidic excrement that pigeons produce.

The statue of Sir Redmond Barry in front of the State Library

Perhaps the City of Melbourne could learn from the City of Glen Eira and take a stronger stand against people who decide to continue feeding pigeons by prosecuting them. Glen Eira council recently took legal action against a woman they alleged fed pigeons to the detrement of public health**. The enactment of stronger bi-laws and the threat of fines may better reduce the temptation for some people to feed the city’s pigeons? Clearly signs don’t work.

References:
* Hudson, F. (2004) ‘City flap over pigeon plague; Overseas expert to drive out overfed birds’ Herald-Sun 17 May p.3
** Howard, J. (2005) ‘So bird-brained: $10,000 fine threat for feeding pigeons’ Sunday Mail 27 February p.40