Marcus Marshall was running around collecting dead pigeons in Balluta on Sunday... and he was delighted.
During the last storm I had two feet of water on my terrace because the drainpipe was blocked by pigeon feathers and excrement
For him, pigeons are not cute little birds that coo to be fed breadcrumbs, but dangerous pests that have to be removed.
Mr Marshall, the marquis who owns the landmark block of 20 apartments known as Balluta Buildings, yesterday justified the culling organised by the St Julian’s council.
“The problem is still there but greatly reduced,” he said, a day after some 100 pigeons were shot with air rifles.
His was a sigh of relief that the authorities had taken action to address residents’ plight, highlighted by The Times two years ago.
Pigeons use the ledges, nooks and crannies at Balluta Buildings to roost. Their droppings have not only damaged the stonework of the 1928 building but are a constant hazard for neighbours.
“During the last storm I had two feet of water on my terrace because the drainpipe was blocked by pigeon feathers and excrement,” Mr Marcus said, adding he had to clean his terraces every day to re-move droppings.
But there are also health concerns. Pigeons carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans and their excrement can cause contamination.
When contacted, St Julian’s mayor Peter Bonello said the exercise was legal.
“We received complaints from residents and acted on them. We also consulted the public health authorities,” he said, adding that similar culls had been carried out in other localities.
Mark Mifsud Bonnici, president of the St Hubert’s Hunters Association, pointed out that EU legislation allowed for a derogation to shoot birds if they were considered to be pests. “It is common in EU countries to conduct culling exercises for birds if they are considered to be pests for farmers or pose a health and safety risk,” he said, adding that starlings were sometimes shot at the airport to prevent them from getting sucked into jet engines and risk causing an accident.
The situation may be slightly different with pigeons because they are domesticated birds gone wild and a derogation may not be required.
Mr Mifsud Bonnici said pigeon control exercises had been previously conducted at St Luke’s Hospital by the Government’s animal welfare agency.
He recalled that a similar order was issued during the foot and mouth disease crisis, when the Government had allowed pigeons near farms to be killed.
The Balluta culling will give residents some reprieve but their war against the “flying rats”, as Mr Marcus described them, is not over.
“We have to get a private contractor to reinstall all the plastic ventilators that were pulled off by the pigeons to block some of the places where they roost,” he said.
Whether this will be enough is another matter altogether.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com