The Belgian city has too much colonies and local authorities are to authorize the use of hawks
by Emanuele Bonini
Stop that pigeon! Who does not remember the popular Hanna&Barbera's cartoon? In it Dick Dastardly and his canine sidekick Muttley made efforts to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon, a carrier pigeon carrying secret messages. In Brussels there are no secret message to carry, but like in the cartoon pigeons have to be stopped. The city is invaded by these birds, and nobody still has a plan in order to assess the problem. Because it is a problem. Pigeons are traditionally an invasive species, and above all they are disease transmitters. It has been proved this bird can transmit around sixty different kind of diseases, many of them can hit the human being. When pigeon colonies became too big health and sanitary reletead problems can rise. In fact associated to colonies of birds there is always the presence of their ectoparasites, especially fleas, bedbugs, ticks and mites, which cause infestations in the attics of buildings. Furthermore guano and carcasses dangerously contaminate the environment. Salmonella is the main dangerous sickness that a pigeon can transmit to humans: it is an intestinal infection with diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes fever. Salmonella breed in faeces, and generally cities are plenty of pigeons faeces. On the other hand, in dried excrements lies microscopic fungi that attack the respiratory system, causing pneumonia. So pigeons are really a problem.
It has to be said these birds are extremely stubborn: while all the animal species never came back to an unsafe places pigeons do. After having destroyed their nest once (by the way: pigeon nests are often infested with) it could be thought pigeons would never came back to a place where their life and that of their baby birds are at risk. But it is not the case. They continue to came back and star again, time by time.
On March the Brussels Town hall council decided to use hawks in order to kill as many pigeons as possible. In other words, the local administration put into the food chain pigeon predator. «Pigeons are sky rats, and we have too much», said Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène, Councilor for town planning in Brussels town hall council. «If we don't act we'll have a situation out of control, like in Paris». Hawks are still not flying into Belgian skies because of legal reason. In order to make the decision operative Brussels Region must modify a regional law forbidding the detention of birds of prey. Once modified it will be possible to use "nature" to tackle pigeons invasion. In Brussels the disposition is "stop the pigeon". Waiting for solution by the authorities Dick Dastardly and his troop would be required.
Stop that pigeon! Who does not remember the popular Hanna&Barbera's cartoon? In it Dick Dastardly and his canine sidekick Muttley made efforts to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon, a carrier pigeon carrying secret messages. In Brussels there are no secret message to carry, but like in the cartoon pigeons have to be stopped. The city is invaded by these birds, and nobody still has a plan in order to assess the problem. Because it is a problem. Pigeons are traditionally an invasive species, and above all they are disease transmitters. It has been proved this bird can transmit around sixty different kind of diseases, many of them can hit the human being. When pigeon colonies became too big health and sanitary reletead problems can rise. In fact associated to colonies of birds there is always the presence of their ectoparasites, especially fleas, bedbugs, ticks and mites, which cause infestations in the attics of buildings. Furthermore guano and carcasses dangerously contaminate the environment. Salmonella is the main dangerous sickness that a pigeon can transmit to humans: it is an intestinal infection with diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes fever. Salmonella breed in faeces, and generally cities are plenty of pigeons faeces. On the other hand, in dried excrements lies microscopic fungi that attack the respiratory system, causing pneumonia. So pigeons are really a problem.
It has to be said these birds are extremely stubborn: while all the animal species never came back to an unsafe places pigeons do. After having destroyed their nest once (by the way: pigeon nests are often infested with) it could be thought pigeons would never came back to a place where their life and that of their baby birds are at risk. But it is not the case. They continue to came back and star again, time by time.
On March the Brussels Town hall council decided to use hawks in order to kill as many pigeons as possible. In other words, the local administration put into the food chain pigeon predator. «Pigeons are sky rats, and we have too much», said Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène, Councilor for town planning in Brussels town hall council. «If we don't act we'll have a situation out of control, like in Paris». Hawks are still not flying into Belgian skies because of legal reason. In order to make the decision operative Brussels Region must modify a regional law forbidding the detention of birds of prey. Once modified it will be possible to use "nature" to tackle pigeons invasion. In Brussels the disposition is "stop the pigeon". Waiting for solution by the authorities Dick Dastardly and his troop would be required.
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