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Feral pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica) management in low-density urban areas: prevention is better than cure

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Abstract

Currently, there are naturalized populations of feral pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica) worldwide with an estimated global population between 165 and 330 million individuals. Feral pigeons are adapted to urban environments, creating problems related to human health, damage to architectural structures, unpleasant soiling, and foul odors. Thus, local governments usually implement measures to reduce feral pigeon populations in cities to a suitable size. We monitored a feral pigeon trapping campaign to investigate the use of cage traps as control method in residential zones. We analyzed efficiency (daily capture rate), effectiveness (defined as the number of feral pigeons captured relative to the total number of potential pigeon captures), animal welfare, selectivity (the proportion of captured feral pigeons in relation to the total number of captured animals), and the effect on feral pigeon abundance. All procedures were conducted in compliance with current European and Spanish legislation. Overall efficiency was 0.25 feral pigeons/trap-day, effectiveness was 22.5%, and selectivity was 99.7%. Over the study period, there was a decreasing trend in abundances. A significant decrease was found in the relative abundances of feral pigeons after 2 months of extractions, and population abundances remained low up to the end of the extraction period. The use of cage traps was a useful and effective method to reduce local feral pigeon populations in isolated urban areas with low building density in which the feral pigeon population has not yet reached high densities.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank BioGea for providing the information contained in the present study and allowing us to use and publish it. F. Díaz-Ruiz was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Funder Id: 10.13039/501100004837, FJCI-2015- 24949) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.

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  1. Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071, Málaga, Spain

    Miguel Ángel Farfán, Francisco Díaz-Ruiz & Raimundo Real

  2. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC; CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo, 12, 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Francisco Díaz-Ruiz

  3. Ofitecma Marbella SL, Avda. Ramon y Cajal 17, 29601, Marbella, Málaga, Spain

    Jesús Duarte

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  1. Miguel Ángel Farfán
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Correspondence to Miguel Ángel Farfán.

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Farfán, M.Á., Díaz-Ruiz, F., Duarte, J. et al. Feral pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica) management in low-density urban areas: prevention is better than cure. Urban Ecosyst 22, 1027–1035 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-00879-1

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