PiCAS INTERNATIONAL

Wellington City Council in New Zealand has recently announced that it intends to slaughter an undisclosed number of pigeons in Wellington’s Midland Park in an effort to control numbers.  Incredibly, the Council has even suggested that it will poison the pigeons.  Other control options suggested by the Council  include shooting.

Although the extensive use of poisons, such as Avitrol, in countries like the USA comes as no surprise, for a New Zealand City Council to even consider the use of dangerous and indiscriminate poison in an effort to reduce pigeon numbers in a public park is almost unbelievable.  All poisons are indiscriminate and not only effect the target species but all types of wildlife in the area, with protected birds such as hawks, falcons and songbirds, as well as many animal species, falling victim to the poison.  All will die a long and agonising death.

What makes Wellington City Council’s announcement even more incredible is that  the use of lethal controls will have zero effect in terms of reducing Midland Park’s pigeon population and will, in reality, increase pigeon flock size in the park by anywhere between 10% and 20%, and these are conservative estimates.  The scientific world suggests that pigeon flock size will increase by over 30% following a cull.  

We urge Wellington City Council to contact PiCAS International for completely free and impartial advice where the reduction of pigeon flock size in Midland Park is concerned.  PiCAS International will provide the Council with a tailor-made and sustainable control programme that will be humane, effective and indeed cost-effective, unlike the use of lethal controls.  The use of lethal controls such as poison and shooting will achieve nothing other than  cause conflict with animal groups and right thinking people alike and absorb a great deal of public money without resolving the problem in any way at all.