Authorities in Aylesbury are hoping posters of a ‘Frankenpigeon’ (a pigeon with a rat’s head) will convince people to stop feeding birds in the town centre.
Aylesbury Town Centre Partnership has relaunched its campaign and plea to town centre visitors not to feed the pigeons.
They say that it is unnecessary and not helpful to maintaining a sustainable and healthy pigeon population and that surplus food not eaten by the birds becomes a food source for rats.
Posters have started to appear across the Aylesbury town centre – featuring ‘Frankenpigeon’ and reinforcing the council’s message that feeding pigeons is in fact also feeding rats.
A new leaflet has been produced that outlines all the reasons why the council says you shouldn’t feed pigeons and this will be given to anyone who is found feeding the birds: and they will be asked to read it and to stop feeding them in future.
Councillor Julie Ward, AVDC cabinet member for civic amenities, said: “not only can it be potentially harmful to the pigeon population it is unhygienic – with the typical pigeon depositing up to 25lbs (11kg) of droppings each year! Also, any surplus food will be scavenged by rats.
“We are working hard with local business to ensure they dispose of waste responsibly and we provide rodent proof waste bins across the town centre that the public can use to dispose of litter.
For more information about pigeon feeding go to www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/pigeons.
