PiCAS INTERNATIONAL

A regeneration group called Regenesis, based in the town of Leamington Spa, UK, opened a dovecote facility recently as part of a town-wide pigeon control system.  The impressive dovecote has already been dubbed ‘contraversial’ by the local media, only a week after its launch, with one local newspaper already suggesting that pigeons are uniterested in the cote.  The fact this type of control typically takes several months before it is regularly used by pigeons appears to have been ignored by the newspaper concerned.

The dovecote was recommended by PiCAS UK some years ago when Regenesis and PiCAS UK were working together to find a solution to the town’s perceived pigeon problem.  Unfortunately the two organisations are no longer working in partnership.  Although the PiCAS group normally recommends and supports this type of humane and effective control programme, in this case PiCAS UK has had little or nothing to do with the dovecote facility provided in the town and therefore cannot lend its name to the programme.

Regenesis must be applauded for their persistence and determination to provide a wholly humane and non-lethal pigeon control system having fought a running battle with Planners and residents in Leamington Spa who were objecting to the scheme.  Planning permission was finally granted for this second choice site and the scheme is hoped to be the success it was originally intended to be prior to the PiCAS preferred site being rejected by Planners and residents.  It appears that the main reason that the original site was rejected was lack of communication with residents. 

Although Regenesis has a forward thinking attitude to dealing with Leamington Spa’s pigeon problem, its partners, Warwick District Council, were one of the many reasons why PiCAS UK made the difficult decision to extricate itself from the partnership with Regenesis.  Officers acting on behalf of WarwicK District Council were unsympathetic to the plight of a pigeon that had become trapped behind netting on a railway bridge in the town even though the bridge had been netted on instruction from Warwick District Council itself.  A PiCAS UK consultant saw the pigeon trapped behind netting with no means of escape whilst travelling to a meeting with the Council.  Officers refused to free the pigeon even though trapping any wild bird, deliberately or otherwise, is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. 

We understand that Regensis has plans in the pipeline to encourage pigeons to the cote and we hope that these plans will include a designated feeding area where residents and visitors to the town can feed the pigeons and further encourage the birds to take up residence in the dovecote facility. We wish Regenesis every success with this new pigeon control system and hope that the system is given a chance by both residents and the media. 

For further information on area-wide pigeon control please visit the Area-wide Control page.