Sunday, September 26, 1999
Pigeon invasion has town baffled
Franklin fears health hazard
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
FRANKLIN — Flocks of pigeons have taken up residence downtown since July, when the city demolished their old hangout, the solid waste treatment plant.
“I would say it is disgusting,” Mayor James Mears said. “It's a humane issue.”
Council members are concerned with the mess and growing health risks of the birds' droppings and feathers littering downtown, particularly around Fourth and Main streets.
But officials are at a loss on how to get rid of the unwanted visitors, Mr. Mears said.
Council recently discussed remedies — from the doable to the farfetched — but couldn't come up with a solution.
Putting poison out for the pigeons isn't a good idea because other birds might eat it, said public works director Sonny Lewis. They can't be trapped and moved out of town because they would probably come back.
And the pigeons are not easily intimidated.
“They put (a fake) owl up on that roof, and (pigeons) sat on the owl,” Mr. Mears said.
Council asked City Manager James Lukas to investigate what can be done.
As a boy in Franklin in the 1950s, Mr. Mears remembers when residents would have pigeon shoots to keep the birds in check. Shooters would station themselves along bridges and in buildings downtown and, using a shotgun, shoot the birds into the Great Miami River.
“Because of my shooting ability, I was able to participate in a pigeon shoot,” he said. “Policemen would shoot with you.”
“It all comes back to a .410 shotgun,” said Councilman George Hamilton, a retired police chief.
But, he noted, “it may not be politically correct.”
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