LONDON

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Badia del Valles

Pramod Patil

birdwatcher and advocacy officer

Bombay Natural History Society

falcon

Mulund homemaker

windows

Civil Guard

Pune Municipal Corporation

PMB

: A Spanish town, which like Pune and other cities of India, suffers from an exploding population of pigeons is planning to feed the birds birth control pills totheir multiplying numbers.The Catalan town ofwill use three automatic dispensers to scatter the required dosage to the pigeon population every morning. Each pigeon will be fed 10 gm of Ovistop, a product made of corn seeds covered in Nicarbazin, which acts as a contraceptive for the birds.Said Dr, an amateurat the(BNHS), “Basically, urbanisation is the main reason behind this increase. Buildings provide safe environments and nesting sites for blue rock pigeons. Their natural predator, the, is absent. People feed them because of religious sentiments.”He added that pigeon droppings have parasites and bacteria of different kinds, many of which cause diseases. “Their droppings contain uric acid, which affects buildings. Micro hair from their body can cause allergies. In short, the excessive increase has many socio-economic implications,” he said.He suggested changes in architecture to minimise nesting spots and remedy the population explosion.Our sister publication Mumbai Mirror had reported in April 2014 on how pigeons have rapidly multiplied in the city, and due to their droppings, so have respiratory problems for citizens. The report mentioned how aspent Rs 15,000 to cover her apartmentwith netting to block pigeons that had become a health hazard, dropping huge quantity of “infection-spreading” excrement on windowsills, but even that did not solve the problem.Authorities in Badia del Valles installed the first dispenser on Monday near the town’sHeadquarters, while two more are to be installed next week on the town’s school roofs. The pigeons will be put on the birth control pill until December, the high season for pigeon breeding, The Local reported.Will the(PMC) take a leaf out of their Spanish counterpart’s book?