Question Asked About Targeting Pigeons

The question about how the City is dealing with the pigeon population was asked at Monday afternoon’s regular Council meeting.
During the Enquiries to Administration portion of the meeting Councillor Heather Eby asked a question on behalf of a resident what the City is doing about pigeons.

“I just had a question this weekend regarding pigeons and the pigeon issue in Moose Jaw. And the person just said to me what does the City of Moose Jaw do about pigeon problems especially around the Downtown area?,” Councillor Eby said, adding “I said I think they do something but I don’t know what it is. Can you help me out with that?”

Pigeons might be a problem for some in Moose Jaw while in other places, including Ukraine, feeding them such things as stale bread in the parks is practiced and encouraged - MJ Independent file photo

Director of parks and recreation Derek Blais said the City is in fact looking at pigeon population controls.

“We are still looking at opportunities. We are going to trialing some stuff for the bridge in Crescent Park. We had a contractor lined up but has since backed out so our operations manager was able to do a walk through last week so we are waiting to get some pricing from them,” Blais said.

Councillor Heather Eby, pictured during Monday afternoon’s regular Council meeting, asked an enquiry about patrolling the pigeon population - MJ Independent photo

Blais went on to state the City would look at expanding the program and informing the community if the control measures are successful.

“We are looking at solutions not just for there but the entrance to the SportsPlex is another area that is bad. We have a lot of issues at our City Complex with pigeons. So if we find something that is successful I am sure we can shar it with the community in other areas that people are having issues.”

It should be noted that some of the methods to control pigeon populations and the poop that they produce have been highly controversial. The use of the nerve toxin Atrivol bird pesticide is an extremely controversial product.

The pesticide for example causes neural damage to pigeons who act erratically and have been known to have public seizures which have had psychological effects on those witnessing it.