Shooting pigeons to control their population, which is what is being planned for Vittoriosa this Thursday, has been condemned by the Animal Welfare Commissioner.

Read: Pigeon cull planned for Vittoriosa after numbers become 'unbearable'

“I condemn shooting pigeons to control their numbers. I am totally against shooting the birds, especially since there are other, less aggressive methods, such as contraceptive feeding,” Emanuel Buhagiar told this newspaper when contacted.

A pigeon cull, announced by the Vittoriosa local council last week has been welcomed by some residents, but criticised by others.

Animal activists have called for alternative ways, such as anti-roosting spikes and bird barriers in ventilating shafts.

Read: Shooting pigeons would be 'useless and cruel', activists tell Vittoriosa council

“Ideally, we build small henhouses, as is done abroad, where pigeons lay their eggs and these are then destroyed,” Mr Buhagiar noted, adding that in Melbourne, Australia, pigeon population was reduced by 80 per cent through the use of such traps.

Pigeon culls are not a new thing in Malta, having taken place, among others, in St Julian’s, Cospicua, Sliema and Balzan.

Labour councillor Desmond Zammit Marmara had “thoroughly opposed” and tried his “utmost to stop” the culling in Balzan.

Yesterday he told the Times of Malta that a year later, “not only do we still have a problem in the older part of the village, where the culling exercise took place, but we now also have pigeons roaming about in the newer part of our locality.

“I presume that some pigeons might have sought refuge in the newer part when the culling took place and we might soon be facing the problem there too. In other words, this is a barbaric and totally inefficient way of dealing with the problem,” he said.

As an educator, Mr Zammit Marmara was “appalled” at the message being passed on to younger generations.

Despite all the advances in animal welfare, people are being told that living beings who cause us discomfort can be disposed of by killing them.

Following the Balzan culling, he added, someone had suggested a similar exercise to get rid of stray cats in the village.

Pigeon culling by shooting provided no guarantee that pigeons would be killed instantly.

Pigeons, the councillor ex-plained, could be wounded and find shelter in some hole to die a painful death, perhaps even a couple of days later.

Mr Zammit Marmara joined the call for alternative methods to shooting, and for “common sense and a humane solution”.