It came to the attention of a volunteer today that pigeons are regularly becoming entangled and slowly dying in anti-pigeon netting on a block of flats in Kirkham Street, Plumstead, a Royal Borough of Greenwich property.
Just a five-minute walk around one block of the flats revealed the decaying bodies of eight birds, some babies, and many of them still visibly tangled in the netting. This is just one block - there are undoubtedly many, many more dead birds.
Regardless of your opinion of pigeons and their potential to harm public health - which has often been massively exaggerated by the pest control industry - no animal should be subjected to prolonged suffering for days at a time, enduring a slow, painful death by dehydration, or by exhaustion as they desperately try to escape the netting.
Causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is a breach of the Animal Welfare Act, and in addition to being both against the law and incredibly cruel, it is simply an ineffective way of deterring the pigeons.
It's clear from the pictures that the netting is doing little to prevent a build-up of droppings on the building - quite the opposite in fact, as it is actively trapping the birds around the building. Anti-bird netting has been condemned by many wildlife and conservation charities as ineffective and potentially hazardous to ALL wildlife, from birds to bats.
You also have to ask how it benefits public health for residents to live in close proximity to the decomposing bodies of birds, sometimes in reach of their windows, and likely crawling with maggots in the summer months. Are rotting animals less hazardous than droppings? Many local residents have also found it distressing watching the birds die slowly, and have reported it to the council, but nothing has been done.
So please urge Greenwich Council to stop slowly killing birds, with little benefit for public health, and to explore humane, non-lethal methods of deterrence at this property instead.
CONTACT RGB - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royalgreenwich/ Email: contact-centre@royalgreenwich.gov.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/Royal_Greenwich Contact via the RBG website: https://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/xfp/form/485 Contact local councillors - Matt Morrow: matthew.morrow@royalgreenwich.gov.uk, https://twitter.com/matt_morrow88 Chris Kirby: chris.kirby@royalgreenwich.gov.uk, https://twitter.com/ccakirby Anthony Okereke: anthony.okereke@royalgreenwich.gov.uk, https://twitter.com/mrokereke Rajinder James: rajinder.james@royalgreenwich.gov.uk Angela Cornforth: angela.cornforth@royalgreenwich.gov.uk Make a report to the RSPCA Cruelty Hotline: 0300 1234 999
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