A REPORT detailing new figures from Bathurst’s Pest Bird Management Strategy has left councillors calling for more to be done to eradicate pigeons from the city.
Councillor Bobby Bourke, who has long campaigned for the removal of pigeons from the central business district, said the figures were pleasing, but could be better.
Figures in a report put together by the director of environmental planning and building services revealed that a total of 2108 pigeons had been removed from the CBD since March 2013.
Their removal was the result of two different methods, trapping and contract shooting.
Bathurst Regional Council has also installed ‘Don’t feed pigeons’ signs in Machattie Park, installed exclusion mesh and spikes, sold nest boxes to members of the public and produced a Backyards for Wildlife booklet as part of the strategy.
While there is no accurate figure CBD’s pigeon population prior to the adoption of the strategy, Cr Bourke said it was likely significantly more than how many have been removed.
“I think if we did have an accurate figure, 2000 is very low and we have to keep on going with this pigeon control and we need to eradicate them to whatever extent we can do it,” he said.
Cr Bourke praised staff for working on cleaning up areas that have been defecated on by pigeons, but said that it needed to be done more frequently to keep the CBD looking good.
He also said more attention had to be paid to the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, where some of the worst pigeon-related damage has been seen.
It was a point Cr Monica Morse could agree with, and she took it further by asking council to look into preparing a report on the damage that has been sustained at the museum.
“I don’t know whether there has ever been a report into the damage that has been done, but it is significant,” she said.
Cr Morse also said there should be a cost benefit analysis prepared on the Pest Bird Management Strategy overall to see how much money has been spent on the selected methods to eradicate pigeons.
According to the report to council, the most effective methods have been shooting, trapping and exclusion devices.
Options that council is considering for the future are birth control, which has yet to be approved in Australia, and distress callers.
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