# more bad press for edinburgh ferals



## tuxedobaby (Sep 9, 2008)

But city leaders, through their health and safety obligations, have been forced into action. 

Officials will now draw up a prioritised list of bridges for the anti-bird measures, as well as cost and time-scales for the work. 

Last week the Evening News revealed plans to hire hawks or falcons to scare pigeons away from the Scottish Parliament building.

Network Rail today said it was happy to work with the city council to help it install appropriate anti-pigeon measures.

Councillor Maureen Child, who raised the issue after receiving complaints from constituents in her Portobello and Craigmillar ward, said: "I know people make light of the matter, but pigeon poo is just as harmful as dog stuff.

"There are some bridges, such as Newcraighall, where the pavements are tight, and people are having to try and balance as they go along to try and avoid touching walls covered in the stuff.

"The council needs to take the lead on this on environmental health grounds."

It is estimated that around £15 million a year is spent removing pigeon droppings or preventing the nesting of pigeons in the UK.

Excessive build-up of the bird waste was linked to the collapse of a road bridge in the United States last year, which killed 13 people. Experts believe a build-up of corrosive droppings weakened the metal structure in Minneapolis.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "Responsibility for dealing with pigeons lies with councils, but we are happy to work with local authorities to help them install appropriate anti-pigeon measures if they wish to do so."

Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's transport leader, said: "The council has no locus to ensure Network Rail takes steps to prevent pigeons roosting under railway bridges. 

looks like more of our feral friends in edinburgh are in for a rough time,be assured,MORE complaints will follow from me and other folk who like pigeons,bridges collapsing,pigeon poo,scaremongering by our media.i know these bridges personally and they are really NOT as bad as is being made out by our local paper


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*The statement about the MINNEAPOLIS BRIDGE COLLAPSE is in fact not true it has been proven that the company that was working on the bridge over loaded the bridge with construction material this plus the fact that more traffic was rerouted do to work being done on another road caused the OVER LOADING OF THE BRIDGE. There also seem to be some poor workmanship in the construction of the bridge in the first place. The attempt to blame the collapse on the pigeons was a feable attempt by the city to avoid law suits by the familys that had people kill in the collapse. The councillor MAREEN CHILD DID NOT CHECK ALL THE FACTS on the Minneapolis bridge collapse that were brought to light by the committee that investigated the collapse.*GEORGE


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

george simon said:


> *The statement about the MINNEAPOLIS BRIDGE COLLAPSE is in fact not true it has been proven that the company that was working on the bridge over loaded the bridge with construction material this plus the fact that more traffic was rerouted do to work being done on another road caused the OVER LOADING OF THE BRIDGE. There also seem to be some poor workmanship in the construction of the bridge in the first place. The attempt to blame the collapse on the pigeons was a feable attempt by the city to avoid law suits by the familys that had people kill in the collapse. The councillor MAREEN CHILD DID NOT CHECK ALL THE FACTS on the Minneapolis bridge collapse that were brought to light by the committee that investigated the collapse.*GEORGE


That's right George.
I just hate it when people lie to get their way.
Let's just blame it on Feral Pigeons and what's worse...they can't even find thier way home.


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

Charis said:


> That's right George.
> I just hate it when people lie to get their way.
> Let's just blame it on Feral Pigeons and what's worse...they can't even find thier way home.


 I feel as you do it angered me very much when they first tried to blame the birds for the bridge collapse.I was trying to let our friends in Scotland know that their councillor did not have her facts strait and maybe they could point this out to others on the EDINBURGH city council. ..GEORGE


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## Grimaldy (Feb 25, 2007)

Here you go Tuxedobaby, send her this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_Bridge


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

george simon said:


> I feel as you do it angered me very much when they first tried to blame the birds for the bridge collapse.I was trying to let our friends in Scotland know that their councillor did not have her facts strait and maybe they could point this out to others on the EDINBURGH city council. ..GEORGE


I know you were.


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2008)

Charis said:


> Another Life, Gone To The Birds!


how many lives do you have?? hehe


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

LokotaLoft said:


> how many lives do you have?? hehe


Silly...I'm one of many folks.


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## tuxedobaby (Sep 9, 2008)

george simon said:


> *The statement about the MINNEAPOLIS BRIDGE COLLAPSE is in fact not true it has been proven that the company that was working on the bridge over loaded the bridge with construction material this plus the fact that more traffic was rerouted do to work being done on another road caused the OVER LOADING OF THE BRIDGE. There also seem to be some poor workmanship in the construction of the bridge in the first place. The attempt to blame the collapse on the pigeons was a feable attempt by the city to avoid law suits by the familys that had people kill in the collapse. The councillor MAREEN CHILD DID NOT CHECK ALL THE FACTS on the Minneapolis bridge collapse that were brought to light by the committee that investigated the collapse.*GEORGE


my thoughts entirely!the ferals are being used as scapegoats once again!i have written prevoiusly abt the parliament pigeons,and plan to write to scotrail head office soon as i can as this is really not on,these pigies have been roosting under abbeyhill bridge as far as my memory goes back and have never caused any probs,the road itself is not one frequently used by pedestrians(its on a hilly area)scotrail and edinburgh council seem almost fanatical about ridding edinburgh of our feral freinds and the methods they use are questionable.on road where bridge is there are arches containing motor car workshops,no one lives there! i have complained about metal spikes("anti roosting devices")at my local station(2 min from my home),scotrail run this station and i have witnesses a bird (dead)impaled on spike and this is not fair,it makes me so angry when innocent birds are blamed for human error!!!!edinburgh would lose something precious and valuable if they get rid of our pigeons!


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

Maybe if they use those poops as fertilizer their £15 million upkeep wont look that bad or be partly be compensated. Think green! LOL!


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## tuxedobaby (Sep 9, 2008)

RodSD said:


> Maybe if they use those poops as fertilizer their £15 million upkeep wont look that bad or be partly be compensated. Think green! LOL!



yes,guano (or bird poo)was used for centuries here in scotland,some of it came from the bass rock,where colonies of sea birds live,im sure it could still be used,i dont believe for a minute it costs 15 million for upkeep of buildings,as we say in scotland edinburgh can be "fur coat and nae drawers"meaning it looks fancy and nice but theres another side to it,im from edinburgh and lived for most of my life there until moving here to fife(just across the coast) and in princes st gardens in the 70s pigeons were encouraged,people sold bags of nuts to feed them,now people are trying to rid the city of them,somethings gotta be done!


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