New pigeon house in Giessen: Animal-friendly solution for city pigeons!

New pigeon house in Giessen: Animal-friendly solution for city pigeons!

In Gießen, a new metal pigeon house has now been set up in the theater park, which is intended to control the city pigeon population in the city center in an animal welfare-friendly manner. This initiative addresses the challenges of the urban pigeon population creatively and responsibly. After all, there are very different approaches - while in Limburg a controversial decision to kill pigeons was stopped by a referendum, Giessen relies on a sustainable approach that keeps both the animals and the city residents in mind. Loud faz.net City pigeons in Hesse were classified as wild animals, which prohibits hunting them. This legal change provides the framework for responsible animal management.

The new dovecote, which offers 30 breeding niches and costs 20,000 euros, is operated by the city's own Wohnbau GmbH. The project is based on the successful Augsburg model, in which the Columba Livia association took over the care of the birds. These pigeons are provided with food and fresh water appropriate to their species, and to keep the population controlled, the eggs are replaced with plaster dummies. The planned location search for this pigeon house took about a year and a half and was described by Mayor Alexander Wright as “good” for the city center.

Criticism and creativity

While the functionality of the new dovecote is undisputed, some passers-by express criticism of the appearance of the house, which is perceived as inappropriate for the park. Environmental department head Gerda Weigel-Greilich explained that the building was not beautiful, but it served its purpose. To address the aesthetic issue, the city plans to employ graffiti artists to beautify the loft - a creative solution that might add a little more charm to the pigeon house.

A fundamental problem is the high number of city pigeons in urban areas. Many of them descend from domesticated rock pigeons, which settled near human settlements around 8,000 years ago as cultural followers. The influence of affluent society in the first half of the 20th century and the restraint of natural enemies such as the peregrine falcon have led to excessive reproduction of pigeons. The high availability of food in cities invites birds to leave their natural nesting places, which further strengthens the pigeons' local attachment. Feeding, whether intentional or unintentional, also leads to an increased pigeon population, which also in r-ein.de is discussed.

Looking for effective solutions

The challenges of coexistence between people and pigeons in city centers are diverse. High pigeon populations lead to various problems, including pollution and health concerns. Current control and decimation measures have shown that they are not effective in the long term, which is why cities are increasingly relying on concepts for sustainable control of pigeon populations. Supervised pigeon lofts are gaining great importance in order to enable animal-friendly feeding and thus more reliable population control, as in tierhyg.vetmed.uni-muenchen.de is determined.

The new dovecote in Giessen is a step in the right direction to offer city pigeons a home and at the same time manage their population in the city center in a responsible manner. Innovative approaches, such as collaborating with creative minds to beautify castles or experimenting with new concepts, could pave the way for a more harmonious coexistence between humans and urban pigeons. The key to this lies in the balance between animal-friendly management and the aesthetic sensibilities of city residents.