SAN CLEMENTE : Pier Pigeon Horde Facing Birth Control

Birth control may be for the birds at the San Clemente Pier if the City Council approves a $3,600 appropriation to control the pigeon population by slipping them the Pill.

Fed up with the mess caused by droppings from about 250 pigeons that nest among the pilings of the 1,200-foot pier, city officials say they hope to gradually reduce their numbers to about 50 birds within two years.

“They’re hitting bull’s-eyes on our railings, decks, it’s all over the place,” said Capt. Lynn Hughes of the city Marine Safety Division. “Their droppings are also a significant health and safety hazard.”

If approved by the council, the city would hire a pest control firm to slip a chemosterilant known as Ornithol into raw corn kernels, Hughes said. The baited grain would be mixed with plain corn and placed onto areas of the pier only accessible to birds.

The drug acts on the female’s reproductive system, temporarily blocking the bird’s ability to conceive.

Hughes said several other plans, such as extermination or trapping the pigeons, were rejected as being too harsh.

Birth control “appears to be the most humane way of dealing with the situation, with the most public acceptance,” he said.

Birth control for birds is a seldom-tried method of controlling pigeon population, pest control experts said.

The city of San Diego used the birth control drug successfully about four years ago in Balboa Park, reducing the number of pigeons there from about 8,000 to 1,000, said Bob Tallaksen, assistant manager of Lloyd Pest Control in Santa Ana.

“Otherwise, I can’t think of it being used anywhere else on the West Coast,” said Tallaksen, who was with Lloyd Pest Control when it was hired by San Diego to implement the birth control program.

“I think it’s the best way to reduce their numbers. The public doesn’t want to see them killed, just controlled.”

Don Stanley of Pier Tackle, who sells about 200 pounds of pigeon feed per week during the summer from his bait and tackle shop on the pier, said that pigeon feeding has been a tradition here since the pier was built in 1929.

“It’s like feeding the seals at the zoo,” he said. “People love to feed the animals. But the pigeons get kind of overwhelming.