Glendale OKs Plan to Trap and Kill Pigeons

In an effort to stem a burgeoning pigeon population in Glendale’s downtown business district, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to trap and kill hundreds of the pesky fowl.

The city is the first in Los Angeles County to adopt such a sweeping measure, which sparked concern among animal rights activists but won support among some local residents.

“Park pigeons are the roaches of the sky,” said Dr. David Wallace, who spoke in favor of the measure at a council meeting.

The vote authorizes the city to contract with Los Angeles County to catch and kill the birds. Under the terms of the contract, traps containing food and water will be placed on downtown business and restaurant rooftops by the end of April.

These traps, which hold up to 40 live fowl, will be emptied twice a week. The pigeons will be taken to the Los Angeles County Medical and Veterinary Services center, where they will be tested for disease and killed.

Pigeons have overtaken downtown office buildings and eateries, messing awnings, ledges and benches and ruining the Civic Center’s appearance, said George Miller, director of public works.

Miller said he is concerned that residents will contract contagious diseases--notably tuberculosis and salmonella--from bird droppings.

Glendale is not the only Southern California city to adopt a pigeon control program, but most other municipalities do not kill the birds.

Los Angeles contracts with the county to place a sticky bird repellent on ledges and rooftops to deter pigeons from landing on the Los Angeles mall.

The city of San Diego reduced its pigeon population in Balboa Park from 8,000 to 1,000 by spiking pigeon corn feed with a birth control substance. San Clemente used a similar method to slow population increases in a flock inhabiting the city pier.

“Management by death, a practice utilized over a thousand years, does not work and is not supported by scientific data,” said Michael Bell, vice president of the Wildlife Protection League, which has an office in Encino.

Leslie Press, a biologist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Washington, D. C., said pigeons are tenacious and will return to areas where there are traps, but not to places where they cannot sit and roost, Press said.

She said alternative measures to killing the birds include playing tapes of bird calls to lure them away or frighten them, or placing nets above ledges and balconies to keep the birds from landing.

Glendale is avoiding such measures because they simply relocate the determined birds from one area of the city to another, Miller said.

It is difficult to cope with urban pigeon populations because residents feed the birds--directly contributing to the current population increase, said Richard Wightman, deputy agricultural commissioner for the county.

Wightman said that while no other municipalities have asked the county to trap and kill pigeons, several businesses and condominium associations have done so.

In Glendale, officials expect to be able to remove 90% of the downtown flock, according to a report presented to the council. The city will pay the county $23,000 for the first year of eradication services, and about $3,000 thereafter to maintain the population.

Residents at Tuesday’s council meeting offered other eradication alternatives to the council, including plastic owls and falcons meant to frighten pigeons.

Others agreed with the council vote and asked that officials also discuss removing crows that frequent hillside areas and scare away songbirds.