The many pigeons at Schongauer Marienplatz and Frauenberg are slowly becoming a problem.
Because obviously not all visitors to the old town adhere to the fact that the wild birds must not be fed under any circumstances, the animals are becoming more and more trusting.
A pigeon house could help.
Schongau
- It was Susanne Tischner who recently brought the topic of pigeons to the table in the city council.
“A pigeon almost knocked me over”, reported the UWV city councilor and businesswoman of her observations at Schongauer Marienplatz and on Frauenberg.
Passers-by and guests of the street cafes in the pedestrian zone would be annoyed by the pigeons.
"The pigeons are becoming more and more intrusive"
“They are becoming more and more intrusive,” said Tischner.
Which also immediately gave the reason for this: She observed how passers-by feed the pigeons with ice cream cones.
It is obvious that the animals are only too happy to be attracted by this.
"A pigeon even hopped on a guest's head," said Tischner.
Even if he is happy that Marienplatz is now so busy: Mayor Falk Sluyterman himself has seen how citizens share the remains of their ice cream cones with the pigeons.
"And children find it funny when pigeons land on their heads." But what the mayor also fears: "It will be difficult to master the situation." They have even considered putting up signs to point out that the pigeons are being fed is forbidden in Schongau in the old town.
There has been a pigeon feeding ban since 2019
Bettina Schade, the managing officer of the city of Schongau, pointed out: “The pigeon feeding ban was issued in 2019 because we had exactly this situation in mind,” she recalls.
There is a fine of up to 1000 euros.
At that time there had been a massive problem in Christophstrasse because individual citizens and bird lovers had meant the animals a little too well and were feeding them regularly.
In February the city administration had not called the many pigeons a "plague".
The faeces of the animals can be harmful to health
What many passers-by may not be aware of is that the faeces of the animals are harmful to health.
The animals are often attacked by parasites and excrete microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts and fungi) and viruses that can be inhaled through the dried feces.
Up to ten kilograms of wet droppings or 2.5 kilograms of dried pigeon droppings are produced each year.
This attacks materials such as sandstone, bronze or copper and can lead to structural damage.
Bird droppings themselves must be disposed of as hazardous waste.
Fines have also already been imposed
Fines could well be imposed after the feeding ban on wild birds in Schongau, which has already happened, according to the executive officer.
In other words: Whoever feeds the pigeons must expect a fine.
"It is difficult for the administration if there is no appropriate information," said Schade's statement in the city council.
Perhaps it would also be helpful to draw the attention of passers-by to the problem.
If many pigeons were recently observed on Frauenberg, everything has now shifted towards Marienplatz.
“The problem is the ice cream parlor,” said Schade.
“In the long term we have to think about something,” Schade is certain.
Since pigeons breed five to seven times a year, the population is increasing rapidly.
“Maybe a pigeon house will help”, so the manager's suggestion.
In this way one can regulate the strength of the population by exchanging eggs.
There is already a pigeon house in Landsberg
In Landsberg, too, they want to tackle the pigeon problem with a pigeon house.
A pigeon house was recently set up on the west bank of the Lech.
Several hundred pigeons allegedly live in the neighboring Lechstadt.
Gregor Schuppe (ALS) also called for something to be done, there are also many pigeons in Forchet.
He even claims to have observed that at Marienplatz citizens deliberately go to buy empty ice cream cones for the wild birds.
He suggested that the security guard be involved.
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