Pigeon population and shit is harmful to human health
If you are feeding pigeons in your locality – beware – you are posing danger not only to your own health but to the innocent community members who live in your neighborhood.
Feeding pigeons is common be it at the Gateway of India in Mumbai or at St.Mark’s Square in Venice.
The compassionate act has now pushed the rock pigeon population to ‘alarming levels that call for immediate control,’ say environmentalists who point to the ‘dangers’ they pose to human health and the damage their corrosive droppings can cause.
The issue has raised its neck again after the Bombay High Court dismissed a plea by an animal rights activist to keep a tray to feed birds outside the balcony of her Worli apartment as it caused hygiene problems to her neighbours.
Doctors say that human diseases associated with pigeons are plenty.
‘Pigeon droppings contain antigens which when inhaled trigger an immune reaction in the body which can cause lung fibrosis, a condition that stiffens the lungs and makes it difficult for oxygen to flow. If not treated properly, it can be life threatening,’ says Ashok Mahashur, a consultant chest physician at Hinduja and Saifee Hospitals.
‘The largest number of allergic pneumonia cases in Mumbai is related to pigeons,’ he adds.
The pigeons are listed as invasive species by a global network of scientific and policy experts as they are infested with parasites such as fleas and mites and are known to transmit ornithosis, encephalitis and salmonella food poisoning.
Considering the potential hazards that pigeons pose to human health, the Venetian municipal authority banned feeding pigeons in the St. Mark Square eight years ago.
In Mumbai, where kabutarkhanas abound and pigeon feeding is a religious act, these birds continue to flock.
The only way to control their spiralling numbers is by controlling their unnatural food supply, say ornithologists.
‘And there’s nothing wrong in that. No birds need to be fed so much food by humans. They know how to find their own food,’ says naturalist-writer Sunjoy Monga.
Housing societies in Navi Mumbai have been trying to pigeon-proof their homes by diverting them to a separate feeding area as nets and spikes are not yielding the best of results.
‘Thanks to enterprising Navi Mumbai residents we installed feeders and nesters in gardens and at entrances of almost 200 housing societies, to redirect pigeons from people’s homes,’ said Madhurita Gupta.
There have been no studies on the city’s pigeon population yet. ‘That’s because the immediate focus is always on endangered birds,’ says Narwade, a project scientist at BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society), admitting the need for ‘a study to control this rapidly rising avian population.’
