Do Not Feed Pests

Flying rats. Dirty birds. Pesky polluters. Disease spreaders. Scavengers.
So much for the euphemisms to describe our pigeon population.
Now that we have gotten that out of our system, we have to ask, &#8220What good are pigeons?” The answer of course is no good!
A single pigeon creates about 25 pounds of excrement a year as the merchants and pedestrians along Roosevelt Avenue in Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights can attest. Pigeon related damage to buildings, awnings, autos, businesses and recreational areas is estimated to cost over $1 billion a year. Their poop can spread over 60 diseases. It has to be steam blasted from building surfaces and facades.
The government estimates that 80,000 pigeons call this city their home. Brought to this country nearly 400 years ago, they are feral domestic birds. They have no real value. They are not used for food. They are not used to carry messages. They do not eat insects. With a natural life span of 30 years, city dwelling birds only live between one to two years.
&#8220Pigeons are there because we are filthy, dirty, creatures,” according to Guy Merchant, director of Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS) in England. &#8220They are there because we are stupid creatures who go on feeding them,” Merchant laments.
Due in part to their shortened life span, and to the many people who feed them, city pigeons reproduce rapidly. Because people feed them, they can peck 150 or so times and get the ounce of food they need each day. Energized and saved the chore of scavenging in the trash that might require thousands of pecks, the pigeons have time to breed more often and more successfully. They produce up to 12 squabs six times a year.
Killing pigeons is not a solution as many communities all over the world have found out. In Switzerland, the city of Basel began culling its 20,000 pigeon population depleting some flocks by as much as 80 percent. Having killed 100,000 birds over 25 years, they gave up with the pigeon population in Basel still at 20,000.
So what do we do now? We can't live with them. We can't successfully kill them.
We must not feed them!
Experts point to re-educating people to &#8220Please Don't Feed the Pigeons!” Since we currently spend millions of dollars with the pest-control industry to only shift flocks from one area to another or one building to another, why not pass a law to make it a fineable offense to be caught feeding the nasty little creatures? The Department of Health can only issue fines of $75 to $150 for violation of the City Health Code Section 3.11 - Abatement of Nuisance.
It is time to get serious and stop the feeders from making it too easy for pigeons to survive and thrive. Make feeding pigeons a crime and enforce the laws as the beginning salvo in the war to rid our City of these Dirty Birds!