A German town called Limburg an der Lahn has voted to exterminate its entire pigeon population, sparking a battle between residents and animal rights activists. According to local media, residents voted in favour of killing the birds in a referendum held earlier this month.
The report revealed that the legal battle against pigeons was triggered by numerous complaints about bird droppings filed by residents, restaurant owners and market vendors around Limburg’s Neumarkt central square.
On 20 June, Limburg authorities said they were still considering whether to proceed based on the referendum results.
“There is no timetable for implementation. The proposal provides that a further comprehensive review will be carried out on a case-by-case basis before implementation,” the report quoted city spokesman Johannes Laubach as saying.
Residents and business owners claimed they have been bothered by the city’s pigeons for years.
The report said that in November last year the city council decided that a falconer should be employed to kill Limburg’s pigeons.
“The falconer traps the birds in a net, hits them on the head with a wooden stick to stun them and then breaks their necks,” it says.
The decision sparked strong protest from animal rights activists and a petition was presented for signatures, after which a referendum was initiated.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), DW said, “Animal rights activists are horrified that pigeon culling is on the rise, while critics say culling is not actually effective because the surviving birds will breed, increasing their population. Other German cities such as Frankfurt rely on a form of birth control and replace real eggs with plaster eggs to keep their pigeons in check, while the city of Hagen is testing a drug that makes the birds temporarily infertile.”
Flying rats, insect pests, winged mice – city pigeons have such a bad reputation that it’s hard to get rid of them.
However, in one German town pigeon-human relations have taken a sinister turn.
Limburg an der Lahn, in the western German state of Hesse, last week announced its… pic.twitter.com/CZ2IZoxzeo
— DW News (@dwnews) June 19, 2024
Following the referendum, Limburg Mayor Marius Hahn said citizens had decided that “the pigeon population should be reduced in the next two years by a falconer who stuns and kills the animals.” On Thursday, the mayor explained that a final review of the referendum’s implementation was still pending.
