5,000 pigeons to be exiled by Cadiz in Spain

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

After the local hotel owners claimed that pigeons were “menacing” tourists and putting people off visiting Cadiz in Spain, the city has pledged to remove 5,000 pigeons.

The issue was brought up two years ago by Horeca, a federation of hoteliers in the Spanish city  stating that  Cathedral Square was prevalent with the birds.

Antonio De María Ceballos, a restaurant owner and president of Horeca mentioned that it was becoming intolerable and around 20 per cent of the business was lost due to the birds.

The city centre has been turned into a private habitat for the pigeons who left behind excrement on the ground, built facades,  restaurant and café terraces and their customers.

It was also seen that when the pigeons were hungry, they went forceful and did not wait for the tourist to leave their table.

Due to the complaints a pigeon census was commissioned by the Cadiz council which decided that the population of  8,000 was three to four times too many for the city to hold.Instead of culling the bird the council will be relocating them.

Near the town of Riba-Roja de Túria, 13 miles from Valencia and 375 miles from Cádiz, around  5,000 birds are expected to be trapped, given health checks and released by next year.

As per the local council it was a “more respectful and sustainable” solution.

Álvaro de la Fuente, councilor said that managing the population of existing pigeons does not imply the eradication of them within the urban area. Further the council is also distributing 3,000 leaflets for stopping pigeons from flocking to the city.

The councilor said that he will not be fining the residents for overindulging the pigeons.

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