Valletta's monuments 'under siege'

As pigeon droppings continue to damage buildings in Valletta and Floriana, the executive co-ordinator of the Valletta Rehabilitation Project, Ray Bondin has complained that no action is being taken by the health department and the local council to reduce the pigeon population, as is done in the rest of Europe.

Dr Bondin said their numbers were on the increase and their droppings were a serious problem. Speaking to The Times, he expressed his concern on the damage being caused by the pigeons.

"The pigeon droppings are particularly harmful to all bronze and marble monuments. Many of the buildings, especially churches, have had serious problems because pigeons have a preference for buildings with a cornice," he said.

The birds, which many see as pests, are dirtying cars and damaging private property and historic monuments such as that of Christ the King in Floriana, St John's Co-Cathedral, the statue of Grand Master Vilhena, City Gate and the Grand Siege monument. Their droppings contain anemone, which is acidic and corrosive.

Over the last eight years, Dr Bondin said, the Valletta Rehabilitation Project introduced a number of measures against pigeons, the latest one being the placing of spikes at Our Lady of Victory church.

"Unfortunately, these spikes do not remain fully effective after three years. In many cases the pigeons persistently damage them and eventually regain the best spots on these façades," Dr Bondin said.

He added: "The pigeons also cause problems in our public gardens, especially the Upper Barrakka Gardens where they are already damaging the beautiful new benches."

Asked what can be done to protect historic monuments, Dr Bondin answered: "We are looking at two other methods of removing them from buildings but the problem is that we cannot protect all buildings as we do not have the necessary funds".

Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier said the Valletta local council receives complaints from residents particularly about the dirt left by pigeons and about people who feed birds.

Pigeons are considered as "flying rats" and carry a high risk of potential diseases and the public should understand that feeding pigeons may contribute to spreading disease, he said.

Asked how he was planning to improve the situation and to solve the problems associated with an overpopulation of pigeons, Dr Borg Olivier said he believed a serious clamp-down was necessary involving all stakeholders "and the most important issue is education".

He also said that the Valletta local council has recently approved in principle the adoption of a bye-law to ban feeding pigeons in Valletta.

BirdLife Malta president Joseph Mangion said that "a ban on feeding any wild animal, feral or stray animal population is the best measure to keep feral populations under control and to keep wild animals living truly in wild state".

He said that all wild species can become dependant on man for a food supply and when this happens, they will no longer eat a balanced diet which will lead to health problems for the species.

Mr Mangion continued: "There have been studies that claim that pigeons are carriers of diseases and are unhealthy to humans but there are studies that reject this claim too. It is also likely that feral or stray populations are actually a health threat to similar species held in captivity".

A study, published by the American company BirdBarrier, found out that over 40 types of parasites, fleas, mites and ticks live either on pigeons or in their nests. These parasites carry plague, encephalitis, pox and meningitis and are responsible for the transmission of several hundred viral and bacterial agents and can spread over 60 types of infectious diseases.

Diseases may live in the bird and be passed on to humans when the bird defecates directly into human food or water sources. Besides direct contamination, airborne spores from drying faeces in air ducts and vents can settle on exposed food and spread diseases.

Mr Mangion believes that "there is a general lack of awareness in respect of the whole issue of management of feral or stray populations and an objective non-emotional strategy should be drawn up".

Different cities have used different methods to control their pigeon population.

In Zurich feeding birds is strictly prohibited and a full-time attendant shoots and traps up to 50 birds a day.

In Venice more than 100,000 pigeons are fed by tourists who buy and scatter over 300 kilogrammes of food every day; 19 families earn their living by selling food for the voracious birds. In order to protect the historic buildings, the city has tried using a sound, which the birds did not like at first, but soon got used to. The city then used a bird which picked a hole in pigeons' eggs and drank the contents.

A hawk hovers over London's city to scare away the pigeons.

Berlin and other German cities built special resting places while blocking nesting spots. This has proved to be a lasting, environmentally and animal- friendly method to reduce the pigeon population by a third within only a few years.