Medellin launches plan to protect pigeons

Pigeons are birds that generate discussions of love and hate. Why? , have many stigmatizations about the implications they have on the health of both humans and other species. In addition, some people claim that they affect statues, sculptures, facades and other public spaces.

Precisely, this is what the Mayor of Medellín intends to “demystify” through the Ministry of the Environment, which works in coordination with the research group Allied for the Planet, of the University of Antioquia, which are advancing a “responsible and respectful of pigeons” interaction plan. This strategy will count individuals, diagnose their health status and advance education processes with the community.

In fact, three parks in Medellín are already intervening: Aranjuez, Belén and Pedregal; but, the idea will be to have greater coverage with the aforementioned plan. Diana Marcela Santacruz, Undersecretary of Animal Protection and Welfare said:

The administration explained that they are carrying out an “eco-sanitary” diagnosis of pigeons in some sectors of the city, designed from three fundamental components to give “good management to this species”; with the hand of the research group Allied for the Planet, they determined that “diagnosis, research and educational strategies, together they have a basis for the integral management of each park, preserving the principles of ecology”.

“Through knowledge of the ethology of the species, its preferences for nesting, the specific characteristics of its digestive system, its anatomy, its behavioral and reproductive dynamics, it is intended to generate greater empathy among people towards pigeons,” explained Undersecretary Santacruz, who will be the intention of the plan of driving that is being advanced in Medellin. For example, awareness-raising days have been held with children and adolescents in some educational institutions, where more than 200 students, teachers and school leaders participated.

Since 2007, in the capital of Antioquia, strategies have been developed to control pigeons, which include: the extraction of eggs from pigeons, located in some parks, and the maintenance and periodic cleaning of these areas, as well as the controlled feeding of some of these bird populations. In fact, there are some citizen activisms that help preserve this species, for example, the Centro de Medellín portal reports in a chronicle about how in some parks, informal inhabitants and vendors in some sectors of the city buy lumps of corn, to water them in the squares and these birds have to eat.

This modality was banned by the Mayor's Office of Medellín in 2017, because, at that time, the Ministry of Health assured that it is not healthy for these animals to feed on corn, bread or flour. This measure was repudiated by the citizens, mainly by some merchants who sell this food, so that visitors to the squares and parks can feed pigeons, which is almost an “attraction” not only in Medellín, but in several cities in the country.

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