A couple of pigeons perch, high up, on the mat of the baker’s oven. In extension, the saleswoman tries to chase away the intruders using a broom. Behind the cash register, Chantal, manager of the Maître Panisse bakery on Cours Lafayette, no longer knows what to do: “It’s like this every day, whispers the shopkeeper. And when a pigeon touches the food, obviously we have to throw everything away, at a loss.”
Pigeons also sit on the terraces of the port cafés. Without embarrassment, they do not hesitate to peck from the plates. And on the market stalls, coexistence is sometimes difficult with the new products. “Before, the town hall agents would lay seeds to catch them in a net, then they would gas them. Now they no longer want to kill the pigeons, they say they no longer have the right to do that, so it’s It’s up to us to take care of it.”says a trader.
Don’t touch my piaf!
In addition to noise pollution and damage to buildings, it is mainly pigeon droppings, vectors of serious diseases, which are disturbing.
To prevent birds from depositing their acidic droppings, with corrosive properties, on the ground or worse, on customers’ heads, traders therefore call on pigeon control companies.
To hunt feathered freeskies, Aurelio Manganaro, manager of the Nuisix company, suggests “cups containing repellent gel, based on essential oils, which simulates a spectrum of flame to the eye of pigeons, sensitive to UV”. An efficient and effective solution “cruelty free” towards animals, but which only shifts the problem.
“The only effective solution, as for rats, is eradication. But from an ethical point of view, it is very frowned upon to harm birds”, notes the professional. The pigeon is not considered a protected species, but no one dares to attack the bird.
Sit on a bench… but don’t give them food
“Before, we zigagged or gassed the pigeons. But these methods are a thing of the past, we assure the town hall, which now advocates another approach: We no longer round up birds in the streets of Toulon, we sterilize them.”
Since 2020, the City has installed a “contraceptive” dovecote in Square Kennedy, at the Champ de Mars. Some of the eggs are sterilized, so that the birds brood but do not lay again.
“The objective of the contraceptive dovecote is to regulate the birth and therefore the presence of pigeons in the cityrecalls Mohamed Mahali, deputy for urban ecology, who warns: But if local residents continue to feed the pigeons, we will never be able to solve the problem.”
No question of sitting on a bench for five minutes and feeding pigeons… Article 120 of the departmental health regulations prohibits “throw or leave seeds or food in all public places to attract stray, wild or reverted animals, particularly cats or pigeons”. Feeding is punishable by a fine of 180 euros. The “flying rats” haven’t finished cooing.
7,500 euros fine
The lifespan of a rock pigeon, the most common in the city, ranges between 6 and 10 years. The overpopulation is also explained by the laying rate, between 6 to 7 broods of 2 young pigeons per year for a pair. And each pigeon produces 12 kg of droppings per year. Multiplied by hundreds of individuals, this is enough to annoy traders and local residents…
But be careful, squirming a pigeon is punishable by law, recalls the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO): “The fact, without necessity, publicly or not, of voluntarily causing death to a domestic animal, tamed or held in captivity , outside the framework of legal activities, is punishable by six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 7,500 euros. This is why the regulation of pigeons in the city is always done within the framework of a municipal decree. »
