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Pet Hates: Pigeon Myths Challenged

W S Derfty | 20.06.2002 15:20

One- time socialist and self- proclaimed Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has repeated history as farce.

Years ago he was famous for his (arguably) principled stands for the ethnic minorities and their political campaigns. Now all that is gone, and to a new generation he will be known as the man who tried to wipe out the pigeons of Trafalgar Sq.
Why precisely he decided to waste time on such a pointless, vindictive exercise is a mystery. However, the odd silence and lack of criticism among the radical thinking sector suggests that 'dissident labourism' is stronger than one would have hoped at this stage.

Myth 1; "The pigeons of Trafalgar Sq are a health hazard."
But to whom ? There are no food factories, no hospitals and no residents in the area, (apart from Nos 10 and 11 Downing street...)

Myth 2: "Visitors to the Sq dont care about the pigeons" O, yes they do ! In fact, I have an old tourist guide from the 1950s, suggesting the pigeons are an ideal subject to photograph ! And can you cite any other attraction which is so free and non-profiteering ?

Myth 3; "Pigeons are vermin". In fact, they are a 'survival species', and while indeed SOME survival species are vermin, pigeons are NOT; they share more in common with say grey squirrels and white butterflies, all of which live in a sub-feral condition within human environs, and are the descendants of the carrier pigeons used to carry messages years ago.


I suggest that Livingstones irrational obsession with these sad creatures is less of a 'policy' and more of a symptom of the general decline in political thinking that seems to have set in in recent years. taking a wild guess, It may be part of a scheme to turn over Trafalgar Sq to corporate interests (well ? everything else has been)

W S Derfty

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

if pigeons are vermin, what are humans?

20.06.2002 16:21

what i find weird is that people dislike rats/pigeons etc cos they see them as living off rubbish, being unhygienic etc....
but it's trash that we create..... their supposed 'vermin' tendencies are a by product of our society...
they might sh*t a lot and rats might spread disease, but their impact on the environment is minute compared to humans'

kev


indeed. remember the hitchcock film

20.06.2002 16:38

as i said, the sheer hate now being projected at these poor birds is irrational; politics is now so dependent on subjective thinking, and people are operating on a kind of collective neurosis. this, i think, is what hitchcock was trying to say in "the birds".

W S D


Feral pidgeons / fat cats

20.06.2002 21:38

Errr they do carry deseases, and they do a lot of damage to roofs and gardens. But something could be done to keep them under control. Just a question of using public funds for what they are meant for. Rather then paying fat cat back hand handers

bee eater


extermination of ze flying ratz

20.06.2002 23:59

pigeon extermination is another symptom of new labours yuppification of london, the real reason why flying rats are being targetted are because they keep shitting on guilible tourists, pidgeon doo doo is also eroding monuments to beloved establishment figures. ken has recieved the command from his superiors to sort out the pidgeon problem, he will carry out ze orders wizout hezitation, wiz a prompt seig heil to ze fuhrer tony blur

buddcheesygeegolly


disease mania

21.06.2002 08:20

Why make all this fuss about pigeons carrying diseases? Humans also carry diseases.

woodie


pigeonfest

21.06.2002 13:17

I thought that, like foxes, pigeons were scavengers and when the food source disappears, they simply migrate to the next nearest place and if that food dries up, they regulate their numbers to account for food supply. But maybe not.

beer and chips


One relatively humane way to give them a hint

21.06.2002 15:17

that is, one they would comprehend, and persuade them to move on a bit, would be to locate a few natural predators in the area, such as a cat or two, or some birds of prey (owl for night, and a hawk for day). that way, they would have the option of staying put or heading off, as they wished. as it is, having grown dependent on humans, they simply DONT UNDERSTAND being poisoned or culled. i certainly suspect that the Rentokil crew are making some money from this.

Tory B Liar


Pigeon trouble in Trafalger Square

17.03.2004 10:54

The reasons why licenses for selling pigeon feed in Trafalger Square were taken away was because it was costing the government £40,000 a year to clean up th mess the pigeons made. While the pigeons were popular, and no proof has been given that they do spread disease, that is an awful lot of money to spend that could be spent on health services and other such things.

Lucy
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