Brit town puts pigeons on the pill to cut their population!

London, Aug 23 : Stamford town councillor has suggested that pigeons should be put on contraceptive pills to cut down their population.

The town council has been getting lots of complaints about the mess pigeons have been creating.

Also Princess Anne and her daughter, Zara visit to Stamford for the Burleigh Horse trials next month have sparked huge concerns among the council bosses.

"The pigeon problem in Stamford has got worse and worse over the last five or six years," Telegraph quoted Clem Walden, an independent on Stamford Town Council, as saying.

"We have been getting lots of complaints about the mess they are making and it has now got to the extent where it is uncontrollable," he added.

He is planning to place pellets laced with the chemical OvoControl P in rooftop feeders dotted around the town.

OvoControl P interferes with egg development, and Mr Walden believes the use of the drug could halve the local pigeon population by 2012.

He came up with the idea after hearing of its success during a recent holiday in America. The pigeon pill proved successful on the boulevards of Hollywood.

"I heard about the pigeon pill and I think it's a good idea - provided only the pigeons get hold of it," he added.

However, the town council has yet to make a decision on the issue and a number of Mr Walden's colleagues have expressed concern about the legality of using the drug in Britain.

It would not be possible for them to put pigeons on the pill as there is no product licensed in the UK at the moment," said Emma Haskell, director of the Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS UK).

"While we would applaud any pigeon control programme that is non-lethal and humane, the contraceptive OvoControl P has a long way to go before it satisfies PiCAS UK that it is wholly non-lethal, humane and cost effective.

"There is absolutely no need to use a pharmaceutical product to reduce pigeon numbers," she added.

ANI