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A Saskatoon woman disagrees with how the city is dealing with roosting pigeons under the Sid Buckwold Bridge.
The city says it plans to euthanize roughly 1,500 birds which have made a home beneath the bridge for more than five decades and left behind a big poop mess to clean up.
Jan Shadick, executive director of Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation, said it’s unfair the pigeons are being targeted after being allowed to nest there for so many years.
“They are paying for their natural behaviour with their life,” said Shadick. “I’m not a super fan of pigeons, but I know they have a job to do, as do mosquitoes, as do many lots of other things that we don’t like and that we consider pests.”
Shadick agrees the birds should be removed, but believes there’s a more humane and cost-effective way to deal with the problem.
One suggestion she makes is to hire a falcon handler to scare away the pigeons while crews do their cleaning and barrier installation to keep the birds from returning.
One of the concerns are the pigeons from the bridge will simply disperse elsewhere in the city.
Shadick said that can be solved using Ovitrol — birth control for birds that prevent eggs from hatching.
“I think that Saskatoon has an opportunity to lead by example, the opportunity to do something different than immediately killing the animals just because they are a problem,” Shadick said.
Pigeons a problem for power utility
Pigeons aren’t just a problem for the Sid Buckwold Bridge.
Saskatoon Light and Power says pigeon droppings are extremely hard on its electrical equipment and have been responsible for outages in the past.
The city said it doesn’t poison the birds. Instead, it works with pest experts.
“It has, in the past and consistent with best practices, retained the expertise of pest control experts which have used widely accepted chemical repellents for pigeon control, but SL&P has not used those products or services since 2017,” the company said in a statement.