Pigeon power prevailed in Co Down this week after the feathered residents of one town secured a victory over the local council.
A war on "dive-bombing" pigeons in Newtownards that had left some local councillors in a flap ended in defeat after officials admitted their numbers at the town's main square are growing despite efforts to tackle the pests.
A £25,000 move by Ards and North Down Borough Council to reduce the pigeon population of Conway Square failed to take flight. Councillors have now agreed to take no further action after an update by officers stating that their efforts to clear the popular square had only resulted in more pigeons.
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Elected representatives had been given the option to take the battle against pigeon numbers in Conway Square to the next level, by introducing trapping and falcons, at a cost of £25,000. But none of the elected representatives were prepared to countenance this line of action.
In the original meeting where the motion was tabled over two years ago, DUP Alderman Stephen McIlveen said his proposal was to “humanely” reduce the amount of pigeons harassing people relaxing in the town’s main square.
We paid a visit to Conway Square this week to ask locals whether the pigeons were pesky pests or simply part of the furniture...
One man told Belfast Live: "The pigeons are doing nobody any harm. The kids come here in the summertime and they're running about and chasing them all. So what's the sense of doing away with pigeons? They're not doing any harm."
Another woman told us: "Well, they can be a nuisance, you know. There's a lot of dirt locking around and you're trying to sit about in the summer. They can be a nuisance, but I do know the kids love feeding them.
"I read about [the plan for] the hawks and stuff. To me it seems a wee bit drastic, and actually I'll be more scared of the hawks than about the pigeons so that seems a wee bit drastic.
"They've been here a long time, OK, and they probably have as much right to be here as anybody else," another local resident said. "I have no problem with them at all, and I think, you know, everyone expects them to be here, and the children play with them, and I've no bother with them at all."
But one man we spoke to really felt the pigeon problem was causing issues: "They're defecating on the tables, eating off people's plates, scaring people. You know, they're determined as vermin. Same as rats. Where would you want rats to go? Because they're flying rats, basically.
"They're carrying masses of germs and where people are eating, as I say, they're coming down, you can see children in the summer especially eating chips and all, and the pigeons are up on the table in front of them and you're having to scare them away off the table. It's defeating the communal effect of the square."
Another man said he still wants to see some form of council action: "When you're sitting in the square and you're eating anything, the drops from the pigeon sometimes land in your food and things like that, you know what I mean?
"But the other thing is that it's encouraging people to come down and feed them. and the more they feed them, the more they go there.
"I know some of the children who walk through there and there's a big flight of them that scares them terribly like you know so I'd like the council to do something about it."
He added: "We need to look after our animals, that's for sure. They've been allowed to do this for a long, long time, you know, they shouldn't have been allowed to breed so much."
But one woman who said she loves the pigeons is totally opposed to removing them: "They're part of Newtownards and I feel that they've been here long before us and I think every animal deserves a chance.
"If I have to stand here with placards of wood, you know, I am totally against that (council plan). It's just complete cruelty. I'm totally, totally against that. Just look at them, you know, beautiful animals, I love them."
Video by Belfast Live videographer Harry Bateman.
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