Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Pigeons having a bath!


It's very common to see pigeons in Paris (there are about 100 000 of them) but it's pretty rare to see them "bathing" in the sewer (in Paris, it's still usual to see water running along the sidewalks like in the old times).
Due to many reasons (pollution, cars, food poisoning...) pigeons tend to live no more than 4 years (whereas a pigeon can live up to 30 years!) but people in the town hall still think these birds cause too much damage... Therefore, in order to limit their number (they normally lay two eggs, 6 times a year!) they are fed with contraceptive seeds (no kidding!) every day.
But the most surprising thing I learnt when carrying out this "research" about pigeons is that, in some parts of Paris (mainly the Library Francois Mitterrand in the 13th arrondissement), they brought back hawks to "naturally" control the pigeons population! Isn't that clever? (Yeah, ok, what animal are they going to use to control the hawks now?!)

6 comments:

  1. 6 billions of humans... Isn't that an over-population ?

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  2. I noticed, after having returned to the Cimetière du Père Lachaise this year (my last visit was some 20 years ago), that there were many fewer cats than before. I was told that those cats were being neutered by the City of Paris...

    I live in Pennsylvania, where there are way too many deer. I do not know one single person in my area who has never been hit a deer while driving on a country road. I know a guy who has been hit by a deer over 10 times in the past 35 years or so. I am not into hunting, and find the notion of hunting repulsive, but - hey - it does help control the deer population.

    Pigeons are really annoying, very dirty, and I am sure that they spread diseases. Interesting fact about the hawks, though.

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  3. What do you bring next to control the population of hawks? :~}

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  4. well, i wouldnt miss them if they were all eaten by hawks.

    in the meantime, what is paris doing about dog's sheits on the sidewalks ? that is really an annoyance too.

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