Pigeon problems in Mahon

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The ayuntamiento in Mahon has paid Falconers de les Illes S.L. 20.000 Euros to deal with the pigeon problem in the town. There are six points where the pigeons will be captured in cages. In open areas trained falcons will be used to drive the pigeons away to other areas where they will not be such a nuisance. In some cases nets and shuttles will be used to capture the birds.

The company will set up a data base to be used in the future. They have a lot of experience and have dealt with problems in Alcala de Henares, parks and gardens in madrid and Es Castell in Menorca. Their falcons are used in airports including Ibiza, Menorca, Madrid and the Canary Island to guarantee the security of aircraft landing and taking off.

The ayuntaminto will shortly provide a phone number so that citizens can advise where the birds need to be dealt with. They want to reduce the pigeon population to 500.

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Mahon council has been facing up to the problems created by having so many pigeons in the town centre.

During the months of October and November, more than 2,000 birds have been captured in an attempt to slow down their reproduction during periods of high fertility.

So many birds have been causing smells in summer along with noise and the damage to buildings that their droppings cause.

Head of the environment in Mahon, Gari Petrus expressed his satisfaction at the success of the operations and was pleased that the public were doing their bit by ringing the free telephone line to report zones where the birds seem to congregate.