Officials said they were still considering whether to proceed with the results. (figurative)
A German town, Limburg an der Lahn, voted to exterminate its entire pigeon population, sparking a fight between residents and animal rights activists. Residents voted in favor of culling the birds earlier this month in a referendum, according to local media.
The report revealed that the legal fight against pigeons was motivated by countless complaints about the birds’ feces. These complaints were recorded by residents, restaurant owners and market vendors around Limburg’s central Neumarkt square.
On June 20, Limburg officials said they were still considering whether to proceed with the referendum results.
City spokesman Johannes Laubach said, “There is no timetable for its implementation,” according to the report. The resolution stipulates that there will be another comprehensive case-by-case review before its implementation.”
Residents and business owners said they have been frustrated by the city’s pigeons for years.
The report adds that last year, in November, the city council decided that a falconer should be tasked with killing Limburg’s pigeon population.
It said: “The falconer will lure the birds into a trap, hit them on the head with a wooden stick to stun them, and then break their necks.”
This decision sparked fierce protests from animal rights activists and a petition for signatures, after which a referendum was launched.
In a post on They will reproduce and replenish the population. Other German cities, such as Frankfurt, rely on a form of birth control and replace real eggs with plaster eggs to keep their pigeons under control, while the city of Hagen is testing a drug that leaves birds temporarily infertile. ”.
Flying rats, vermin, rats with wings: urban pigeons have a bad reputation that is difficult to get rid of.
However, in a German city the relationships between pigeons and humans have taken a macabre turn.
Limburg an der Lahn, in the western German state of Hesse, voted last week to exterminate its… pic.twitter.com/CZ2IZoxzeo
– DW News (@dwnews) June 19, 2024
After the referendum, Limburg mayor Marius Hahn said that citizens had decided “that the pigeon population should be reduced in the next two years by a falconer who stuns and kills the animals.” On Thursday, the mayor reported that a final review of the referendum’s implementation was still pending.