The PAZ (Paris Animaux Zoopolis) association has sent a dunce cap to the city of Orléans (Loiret) for its “cruel practices” of capturing pigeons.
The capital of Centre-Val de Loire would kill so-called “harmful” birds by asphyxiation with carbon dioxide.
“A slow and painful death, while other safe methods exist such as the use of contraceptive corn, which allowed the city of Barcelona to halve its pigeon population,” says Amandine Sanvisens, co-founder of the association.
In 2022, in Orléans, 1,200 pigeons would have been eliminated.
A consultation of the population
Requested as part of an investigation launched by this animal protection association aimed at identifying the practices of large French cities against the proliferation of pigeons, the town hall of Orléans announced, in a letter dated January 11, that it had mandated a new service provider “to effectively combat these birds causing health and public hygiene problems”.
Laurent Blanluet, the deputy mayor responsible for public health and security of establishments open to the public, concedes however that “this euthanasia process, in accordance with the legal and regulatory framework” was still used and that “alternative methods ( contraceptive dovecote, keeping pigeons away), carefully studied, have not demonstrated their effectiveness.
Finally, a consultation “concerning pigeon control” must be launched among the population during the year.
Also read “We hear them dying”: in Paris, they demand the removal of a pigeon-killing net
These answers do not satisfy Amandine Sanvisens, who requested a meeting with Serge Grouart, the mayor of Orléans, “which we were refused”.
Having responded to this national survey, the city of Orléans escapes seizure by the administrative court, unlike Bourges (Cher), which turned a deaf ear to the association's requests for information.
In Center-Val de Loire, the association praises the good practices of Fleury-les-Aubrais (Loiret), which refrains from “resorting to cruel methods”, while the town hall of Tours (Indre-et -Loire) announced that it had stopped gassing pigeons as soon as the investigation was published.