New Glasgow has a pigeon problem it hopes to resolve over the next two years.
After the recent demolition of the Maritime Steel buildings, the birds – which are not so fondly referred to as “rats with wings” – were displaced. The place they chose to roost was Town Hall and the buildings around it.
The pigeons new neighbours aren’t so thrilled about their decision.
“Their droppings are toxic," said Bonnie Coulter, director of corporate services for the Town of New Glasgow. “We just can’t have that in the downtown core.”
Information from the Government of Canada appears to add legitimacy to the town’s fears.
“The build-up of pigeon feces on buildings and other structures is visually unappealing and is made worse by the fact that pigeon droppings are acidic and erode metal and stonework,” states a government website on the topic.
Pigeon droppings are also considered a health hazard and have been associated with a variety of diseases including histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis.
Coulter said the town had a similar pigeon overpopulation problem when the Maritime Building was demolished several years ago and said it took a while to get the pigeon population under control. A major problem they have to fight against is the fact pigeons tend to roost from one generation to the next in the area that they were born, so if something is not done, the problem will only get worse.
To deal with the matter, New Glasgow town council has voted to hire someone to help reduce the population. The name of the business has not been released, but Coulter said they are experts and will be using every tool necessary to deal with the problem.
The town expects it to be a two-year process. One method of population reduction will involve setting up high tech feeders that only release feed a certain time each day. Once the pigeons become accustomed to coming to the feeder at that time, traps would be set to capture them alive. Afterward they could be relocated.
Another option that’s being investigated is using a type of feed that’s used in some places in the United States that works as a birth control for the pigeons. Coulter said the pest control expert they hired had to do some research to see if it was approved for use in Canada or not.
In the meantime, the town has set up plexiglass to prevent the pigeons from perching on some ledges.
