City may put its pigeons on the pill

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 13

City may put its pigeons on the pill

PA Dunedin The Dunedin City Council will investigate the possibility of birth control for pigeons which are roosting on the Municipal Chambers. The Mayor of Dunedin, Mr C. G. Skeggs, has received information aobut a French method of sterilisation for pigeons, called sterilivia. It is a specially treated grain of maize which can temporarily stop ovulation of female pigeons. According to the manufacturer of sterilivia, Biard Laboratoire, of France, it is a safe, simple, and economical method of population control “which satisfies all the qualms of animallovers.”

As for the pigeon-lovers themselves? “They will still love each other tenderly but without having baby pigeons ...” Biard claims. A member of the Animal Breeding Control committee supplied Mr Skeggs with details about the treated grain. Members of the committee protested against the city’s poisoning of the pigeons last year in an effort to stop the birds from roosting on the Municipal Chambers. After a few weeks of eating the treated maize female birds stop laying for up to four months. The size of the grains puts other birds off eating them.