A mayor of a municipality in France made a radical decision by hiring a hunter to combat the spread of birds, including pigeons.
There are more pigeons in Villefranche-du-Périgord than in the town of 600 in the Dordogne region, where they cause a lot of chaos, France Bleue reported.
“The village is suitable for this, the houses are suitable for this.” There are many free openings under the roofs so that the pigeons can come in and breed,” said Mayor Claude Brontel.
Since his election in 2009, the city council has increasingly tried to deter birds from nesting on rooftops, including deterring birds of prey, but without success.
“We tried setting up cages to capture them alive before releasing them elsewhere, but that was unsuccessful. We spent 3,000 euros to catch 50 pigeons,” he tells the French media.
The town hall has given a year to the hunter, who can intervene day and night to eradicate these birds from the surroundings of the city, where pigeons have been the cause of many accidents.
“There are still some accidents involving pigeon droppings. People using the small roads have already fallen and injured themselves. We cannot continue like this,” Mr Brontel said.