Pigeon cull causes feathers to fly

The recent shooting of a small number of white pigeons has caused considerable distress and bad feeling among residents of Kensington Park in Ōrewa.

Around eight of the birds were living in and around Kensington Park and a number of residents complained about the mess and noise they caused.

In response the body corporate of one of the apartment blocks where the birds were living arranged for them to be exterminated by a contractor called No More Birds.

One resident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, says she found out that the birds were to be shot the day before the cull happened.

A pair of them nest on the eaves of her apartment, and when she looked out her window the morning after the shooting took place, she saw a dead dove in its nest with its mate alive beside it.

“They were quite happy living there and a little bit of poo around is fine,” the resident says. “Shooting them was very distressing and made me want to get out [of Kensington Park], right now.”

Linda Nunn of North Shore charity Animal Re-homing says she was contacted by “a lot of distressed people” after around five of the birds were shot and killed. She approached the body corporate that organised the shooting, offering to assist with a humane solution for any remaining birds. She says she is concerned this option wasn’t considered first and says shooting is not very common in her experience.

No More Birds’ website describes shooting birds as “a last resort”, listing several other methods including installing bird netting.

The body corporate committee was contacted for comment, but declined, it’s chair saying this was “due to the amount of acrimonious feeling among residents about the situation”. He told Hibiscus Matters that other methods had been tried to discourage the birds off the roofs before the shooters were employed.

The overarching body corporate for Kensington Park, the Kensington Park Residents’ Association, also did not wish to comment.