A BUSINESS owner has backed a council’s controversial culling of pigeons in High Wycombe, warning they pose a risk to public health.

Batrachian Management Company Limited boss Penelope Tollitt said she ‘fully supported’ Wycombe District Council, which plans to trap and cull pigeons.

She said: “The pigeons in the town centre – because of their numbers, estimated to be 200 and growing fast – are a very real public health issue.”

Letters to The Bucks Free Press have said pigeons pose no risk to public health.

One reader, from Chicago in the United States, said culling is ‘barbaric’. They said: “Pigeon flock numbers will be temporarily reduced but will eventually increase.”

But Mrs Tollitt, whose firm is at The Galleries in Dovecot Road, said: “I, and some of my neighbours, have to keep windows to balconies closed because of the pigeon droppings that have accumulated there.

“This is not only because of the smell, but also because of the diseases pigeons and their droppings carry.

“Cleaning the areas on a regular basis is not an option because of the costs – pigeon droppings should only be cleaned up by specialists with suitable protective clothing.

“We look forward to being able to clean up – and stay clean – when the pigeon population is reduced.”

And she said: “The method chosen would seem the most natural in the world. In wild habitats pigeon population would be kept in check by birds of prey, so why not in town centres?”

The council said ‘live traps’ would catch the pigeons and a hawk would be introduced ‘as a deterrent’ once numbers have fallen.

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