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When Doves Cry: Birth Control For Pigeons
By newsguy | November 13, 2007
Dig, if you will, this idea: birth control for pigeons. Linda Vista, a San Diego neighborhood, is apparently so infested with pigeons that the local community board has decided to bring in the big guns to control the bird population. Living in San Diego myself, I’m fairly familiar with the area. There’s certainly a good amount of winged rats in scenic Linda Vista, but it’s nowhere near what you’d find in major urban areas like New York City, Paris, or London.
Photograph by Alessandro Ronchi. Some rights reserved.
In New York, for example, pigeons were turning the daily commute into a minor nightmare. When the famous St. George Staten Island Ferry terminal reopened in 2005 after a lengthy multi-million dollar renovation, weary commuters discovered that the building had been practically overrun by pigeons. The birds managed to build nests all through the ceiling panels, resulting in showers of bird “droppings” and, even more disgusting, the maggots that feed on the feces. The Staten Island commute is already a challenge involving a combination of subway, ferry, and bus, so it’s not hard to imagine that the addition of sky rats would meet with fierce New York-style reprisals. At the time, Councilman Oddo (R) of Staten Island stated: “The reproductive rights of pigeons comes in a distant second to my constituents and their commute.”
In beautiful, suburban Linda Vista, where it’s sunny 330 days per year and the worst that could happen is some unsightly splotches on your parked car, the local residents have also had enough. They’re putting the birds on the pill. The product used is OvoControl P, which is produced locally in San Diego County. OvoControl P doesn’t harm the birds and even allows them to lay eggs. The eggs just don’t hatch, so the bird population gradually declines. OvoControl works by interfering with the development of the vitaline membrane, which separates the egg white from its yolk. So technically the product is not a contraceptive (preventing fertilization) but a contragestive (preventing gestation), making it a form of very early abortion.
Somewhat surprisingly (at least to me), the Humane Society and even PETA seem to be okay with animal birth control, comparing it to the practice of spaying or neutering pets. Birth prevention is better than killing, according to PETA’s version of Planned Parenthood, the ABC (Animal Birth Control) program. Given that the pigeon is considered the number one pest bird in the world, it’s not surprising that PETA would lean towards pro-choice in this case. But it’s hard to ignore that the real cause of the problem in Linda Vista is the fact that good portions of the population actually feed the pigeons, which encourages them to roost in the area. However, after careful consideration it has been determined that it would be easier to implement birth control for pigeons than to retrain the human population not to feed the birds.
Submitted by Stefan Raets. Stefan is a refugee from the corporate world. When he isn’t reading or writing, he’s probably feeding or diapering his newborn son.
Topics: What do you think? |
December 14th, 2007 at 4:27 am
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptBirth prevention is better than killing, according to PETA’s version of Planned Parenthood, the ABC (Animal Birth Control) program. Given that the pigeon is considered the number one pest bird in the world, it’s not surprising that PETA … […]