The baiting will be carried-out outside of business hours by an experienced control firm to reduce the potential of disease-spread and contamination from the non-native feral pigeon (Columba livia domestica) which cause major problems in cities and towns throughout Australia.

“It’s basically a health issue, pigeons can carry a number of diseases that are a risk to humans such as encephalitis as well as bird lice and also block drains with their nesting material,” Director, Environmental Services, Kate Alberry said.

The decision followed a report to Council on the health, environmental, and aesthetic problems caused by large numbers of “street pigeons” in a shopping environment.

“Many businesses in Kendal Street are involved in food preparation and the proximity of feral pigeons to these businesses can be problematic,” Ms Alberry said.

She said that the company carrying-out the control measures are highly-experienced in their field with little risk to native birds or domestic animals from the baiting program.

A large component of the project will be taken-up monitoring the site during the pre-feeding to make sure that there are no protected birds feeding at the site, Ms Alberry explained.

“The pre-feeding of the pigeons is vital to ensure no native birds are present. The contractor will need to provide the National Parks and Wildlife Service with extensive proof of monitoring of the sites,” Ms Alberry said.

After the contractors have completed pre-feeding to be sure that only pigeons are on the site, the company will feed and bait the birds on a suitable weekend with the baited birds subsequently removed, dispatched, and buried.

“It is extremely rare to have any native birds affected during the baiting process,” Ms Alberry concluded.