A city hall in Spain is preparing to relocate thousands of pigeons in a rare humane attempt to deal with nuisance birds harassing tourists and locals dining on its plazas.

Cádiz will catch and move 5,000 urban pigeons 500 miles away to a province of Valencia in a departure from more traditional techniques used by councils across the world, including shooting and poisoning.

In their new country dovecote the birds will rediscover the rural delights of foraging for seeds as opposed to fighting over breadcrumbs and city rubbish.

While Madrid has recently outlined a plan for marksmen to cull its invasive populations of parakeets and councils across Britain deploy hawks and electric shock systems, Cádiz has chosen “the most respectful and sustainable method” to control the population, according to the city’s environment chief, Álvaro de la Fuente.

Prompted by complaints about the number of rock doves in Cádiz’s historical centre from restaurateurs, Cadíz’s council run by the Left-wing Podemos party commissioned a pigeon census.