- The owners of racing pigeons are to try a desperate new
tactic in their battle to stop their birds being eaten by peregrine falcons
- they are going to make them taste so awful that the predators will take
them off the menu. Sage Busines Awards
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- The pigeons will either be sprayed with a foul-tasting
chemical or given a supplement to their diet that has the same effect.
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- Britain's 55,000 pigeon fanciers are so worried about
the numbers of birds being taken by the raptors that they are resigned
to losing yet more in the "aversion therapy" experiment until
peregrines - and their smaller cousins, sparrowhawks - get the message.
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- In the past, pigeon fanciers have tried such tactics
as painting "eagle eyes" on their birds to scare away hungry
falcons and putting lofts full of slower birds near their best racers to
tempt the raptors with the more expendable slowcoaches.
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- Neither approach had much success so the fanciers are
examining "taste aversion". Peter Bryant, 50, the general manager
of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, said that the chemicals would not
actually harm the falcons, but would, after a few bad lunches, persuade
the raptors to give up their racing pigeon diets.
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- "I am getting members telling me this is their last
season: they can't cope with the losses from sparrowhawks and peregrines.
This could solve the problem.
-
- "I can see the talk about 'weapons of mass destruction',
but you wouldn't be losing any birds of prey. You would just be changing
their diet and protecting our birds."
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- The fanciers - not to mention the pigeons - are facing
a growing peregrine population. The birds of prey suffered an almost catastrophic
collapse in numbers in the 1950s and 1960s but there are now more than
2,800 in Britain and a pair bred in central London for the first time this
summer.
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- "They are moving into unnatural habitats,"
says Mr Bryant, "affecting the ordinary urban dweller who finds that
not only has he got a sparrowhawk problem, he is facing a peregrine threat
as well."
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- "You see Bill Oddie on television glorying in the
sight of a peregrine taking a pigeon, urging it on like a football hooligan.
They are fantastic birds, but no one ever stops to see it from the pigeon
fancier's point of view.
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- "Some people have paid more than £100,000
for stud birds and they commonly pay £500 to £1,000 for pigeons
they will race. They put an awful lot of love into these birds and then
a peregrine eats them."
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- His association, whose patron is the Queen, had commissioned
previous research into deterrents. "They didn't work. Sequins that
were supposed to confuse the peregrines fell off or broke pigeons' feathers.
The transfers of eagle eyes didn't show up on darker birds and washed off
after about eight days.
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- "A plastic eagle owl in the garden did frighten
sparrowhawks, until they got used to it. These birds are not stupid, unfortunately."
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- Mr Bryant emphasised that careful research would be needed
to ensure that taste aversion did not ruin a bird's championship potential.
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- "Apparently some of the sprays are a bit like Kentucky
Fried Chicken coating. It could affect the aerodynamics of the pigeon's
feathers.
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- "We may have to try something in the feed, but we
must be careful. Racing pigeons' diets are strictly controlled, like those
of Olympic athletes in Athens."
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- Some pigeons, he admitted, would have to die for the
greater good. "Birds are going to be killed before the peregrine or
sparrowhawk realises 'this is not a very nice pigeon', but you have to
look at the longer term. If there is eventually a result, the ends justify
the means."
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- Despite the anguish of pigeon fanciers, bird lovers remain
in awe of the peregrine's powers. It is the fastest flying bird in the
world, reaching an estimated average speed of 112mph when stooping after
prey.
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- Grahame Madge, of the Royal Society for the Protection
of Birds, disputed the fanciers' claims about how much damage peregrines
inflicted, but welcomed their "taste aversion" tactics.
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- "As long as they are non-lethal to the peregrine
- and the pigeon - and there are no welfare concerns, this sounds like
a significant step forward," he said. "It is in nobody's interests
to have peregrines preying on racing pigeons."
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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