Goulburn is enduring a pile-on of pigeons.
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The brazen birds are congregating on the city’s buildings and painting them with their poop.
Such is the problem that a report by Goulburn Mulwaree general manager Warwick Bennett was put to last night’s ordinary council meeting to discuss how to tackle the bird build-up.
“The CBD of Goulburn is experiencing a significant increase in the number of pigeons and the amount of pigeon faeces is increasing maintenance costs of CBD buildings,” the report said.
The report initially suggested controlling the pest birds should be the responsibility of the property owners, similar to that of controlling vermin such as mice.
However, a collaborative approach was considered to be more successful in the report.
Possible pigeon control methods considered include:
- Ensuring rubbish bins in the CBD parks have lids to prevent pest birds from foraging on scraps
- Using locally occurring native vegetation for new street plantings
- Installing netting, bird spikes and gutter guards on buildings
- Destroying nests during peak breeding times (July to February)
- Trapping the birds, and
- Installing signage reminding residents not to feed them.
The Department of Primary Industries advised that any control method should minimise suffering.
Another option the report considered is for the council to coordinate the control of the pigeons and allocate $100,000 per year for it.
This would involve seeking expressions of interest from licensed operators on how they could assist property owners.
The report looked at ways other councils, such as Bathurst Regional Council, had dealt with similar problems.