Forests of Prague: The municipal dovecote will provide a haven for birds and help regulate their numbers
17/10/2022 22:11 | Press Release
In the center of Prague, not far from the town hall on Mariánské náměstí, a new municipal dovecote began to operate, the construction of which we were commissioned by the capital city of Prague.
This facility will provide the birds with nesting conditions and at the same time allow the city to regulate their population in a gentle way. When pigeons have a suitable space with a food and water source, they will naturally nest here and spend time indoors instead of staying in places where they are not wanted, such as window sills or roofs of monuments.
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In addition, by removing part of the eggs in the dovecote, their number can be regulated and thus the flocks can be reduced. The dovecote will be operated by our rescue station hl. m of Prague for wild animals.
We built a dovecote in the Old Town in Prague 1, not far from the town hall on Mariánské náměstí, in the building on the ground floor the pigeons used to congregate on their own. We placed a simple wooden building on this land, which includes boxes for nesting, seats, feeders and water tanks. The capacity of such a loft is about 150 birds. Once the birds have settled in the loft, they will have no reason to stay in places where they can be a nuisance, such as the facades of monuments or window sills of apartment buildings. Regulation of the pigeon population then takes place by removing part of the eggs from the pigeons and replacing them with artificial ones, which means that the flock does not increase so much and the number of pigeons may decrease in the long term.
The cost of building the Prague municipal dovecote was 142,000 crowns. Our rescue station hl. m of Prague for wild animals, which will operate the facility including providing veterinary care, has extensive experience with pigeons. Since the beginning of its operation, pigeons have been among the patients it cares for and helps.
The municipal dovecote is the first facility that was created at the initiative of the capital city. However, the municipal dovecote in Vítkov, which plans to build the Prague 3 district, has been in preparation for a long time.
Abroad, urban pigeon lofts are evaluated as an effective and at the same time gentle way of regulating pigeon flocks in cities and have been operating in Austria and the Netherlands for many years. Experts consider it a more appropriate method than now more often catching or shooting pigeons. According to research, this has no effect on the size of the flock as a result, because the intervention, on the other hand, expands the food supply for other pigeons in the territory, which is responded to by a higher clutch of eggs, and the numbers are quickly adjusted to their original state.
As a species, pigeons stand somewhere on the borderline between domestic animals and wild animals, and humans have a significant share in their predicament. The “burgher” or “tower” pigeon, as a member of the pigeon population in cities is called, actually comes from the original species of rock pigeon, which was domesticated by man, but later became wild again. The pigeon is thus unable to get enough natural food in the winter, and is therefore dependent on humans.
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author: Press Release