Every night, two or three hunters with air rifles track these birds. An initiative that comes after multiple unsuccessful attempts by the town hall.
“For us, the pigeons, it’s a big war”, launches Isabelle, hairdresser from Neubourg, in Eure. In this town, pigeons are very numerous and are a source of nuisance. What to exceed the inhabitants, and especially the tradesmen.
“I take my broom every day, I clean with water and I grumble”, abounds Valérie, owner of a nail salon, at the microphone of BFMTV.
The problem: the droppings of these birds, which can be corrosive and degrade the public space.
Hunting as a last resort
To overcome this overcrowding, the town hall decided, in a decree, to authorize the continuation of shootings against the pigeons. Thus, every night, two or three hunters equipped with air rifles hunt down the pigeons.
“We are going to shoot a pigeon and all the others will fly away. The pigeon is intelligent, it will not come back immediately”, explains Francis Davoust, president of the communal hunting association.
The authorization to hunt comes after multiple unsuccessful attempts by the town hall. “We tried with ultrasonic scarers and it was not enough (…). We also worked with the population of the streets concerned so that they put anti-pigeon spikes but it did not work for long “, deplores Isabelle Vauquelin, the mayor of Neubourg.
In addition, residents are encouraged to clean their gutters and fill holes in their roofs to prevent pigeons from taking up residence there.