Hyderabad: The plans of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) of removing pigeons from the city’s environs and leaving them free in the forest could end up as a bane, caution ornithologists.
They point out that research of several years indicate that the birds can travel for over 400 kms and return to the place they were picked up from.
Even as GHMC authorities maintain that they pose a health hazard, they also admit that they need to look at this entire issue from a more holistic perspective.
“Usually these birds are used to being fed by humans, as they do not fend well for themselves. Even if they are left in the forest, they would return to the city looking for food,” said Sriram Reddy, an avid bird watcher.
While alienating them would not fatal, they could possibly begin looking for feed from farms abutting forests.
“If these birds are set out into the forest, they will look for safe places like human habitation, where they can find food. Unlike other avian species, these birds are quite familiar with human psyche,” he adds.
Prof Vasudeva Rao of the Agriculture University’s invertebrates’’ pest control wing said pigeons are not pests that need to be eradicated or reduced.
It might be recalled that the plan to remove the birds came with the initiative to protect Moazzam Jahi Market, a heritage structure. GHMC captured about 500 pigeons and let them off in Srisailam forest.
The civic body said that since the pigeon droppings were creating health problems (breathing dust or water droplets containing contaminated bird droppings can lead to several diseases.
