The town hall of Toulouse installs a contraceptive dovecote at La Farouette
A contraceptive loft has just been competent this Friday, February 18 in Toulouse. Located on the edge of the Parc de la Farouette, it should make it possible to regulate the population of pigeons in the area.
The shelter, all in wood, is perched three meters high. It can accommodate up to 250 pigeons. And these installations are multiplying, says Hervé Barbereau, sales and operational manager at Pigeons Control: “It prevents populations of pigeons from ending up in private homes in the attic, on balconies, windows or in disused buildings, with nuisances such as droppings.”
Renowned neighborhood pigeons
Several pigeons were selected from the area and placed in the loft for 14 weeks. A long period to allow them to get used to the place. “They will be released in the second week of March, details Françoise Ampoulange, municipal councilor in charge of animals in the city. They stay on the site because you have to know that a pigeon which is born in a place dies in this place. He always comes back.”
Twice a week, employees will come to clean the dovecote. They will take advantage of this to control the nests and return the eggs of the birds. “By mixing the yolk and the white of the egg, we make it sterile” explains Françoise Ampoulange. “It still allows the female to be able to continue to cover, adds Hervé Barbereau. But when she sees that nothing is happening, like in the natural state sometimes, she throws the eggs and starts again”
Interrogations in the neighborhood
The arrival of the dovecote interviewed in the neighborhood. Some even wondered if this wooden camera was not going to house CCTV cameras. Without explanation around, difficult to guess that it is a dovecote. Claudine is rather in favor of it: “pigeons perch on the roofs of buildings. Suddenly, there is droppings on the balconies and even sometimes on us that we pass underneath. Afterwards, I have nothing against pigeons, but if there a little less is even better!”
Two other contraceptive dovecotes are already in Toulouse, avenue de Lombez, the other in the Reynerie district.