Cruelty Free Living
Issue 6: December-February 1999/2000

Edinburgh pigeon quandary

There is currently pressure on the City of Edinburgh Council to cull pigeons and gulls in the Edinburgh area. If you would like to lobby the council to introduce humane control options instead, then please write to City of Edinburgh Council, City Chambers, High St, EH1 1YG.

Remind them that culling is cruel and does not work. Humane and much more effective alternatives exploit the relationship between feeding and the resultant overpopulation. One pioneering scheme developed in Basel, Switzerland in the late 1980s and implemented by Bedford Borough Council in 1997 involves public education about the link between pigeon-feeding and overpopulation of the species, the removal of pigeon eggs from artificial nesting sites and the restriction of pigeon-feeding to locations adjacent to these nesting sites. For more information on humane methods of pigeon control please contact:

Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PICAS)
50B Roff Avenue
Bedford
MK41 7TE
Tel: (01353) 667230 Email: enquiries@picas.org.