Grenta
About six months after Gretna took steps to tackle its pigeon problem downtown, problems from the pesky critters has abated.
But officials’ attempts to stop the nuisance attracted the attention of animal-rights supporters, said Gretna Town Manager David Lilly.
The town received hundreds of calls and emails from all over the world expressing opposition to the town’s efforts, including those from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Lilly said.
“They didn’t like us capturing those pigeons,” Lilly said.
When the Danville Register & Bee spoke to Lilly and Mayor Glenna Lingafelt in Gretna in June, pigeon droppings dotted the sidewalk and littered the floor of the old Adrian’s Electric & Plumbing building along Main Street.
The birds roosted at the former business on the west side of Main Street downtown, between Henry and Watts streets, defecating onto the sidewalk and parked cars. The town had to wash away the fecal matter.
The town had received a letter from Revitalization for a Greater Gretna about the pigeon problem and council members asked Lilly during a meeting last spring to explore ways to get rid of the birds.
In the past, Lilly had tried pyrotechnics to scare the pigeons away, but they returned 20 minutes after the explosions, he said. The town even tried luring them into one-way cages to haul them away and drown them in a creek. But that, too, failed.
A few years ago, a local business owner placed poisoned corn kernels on rooftops to kill them, but residents complained of pigeons flopping around and dying in their yards.
Gretna Town Council voted this past summer to put up traps containing feed and the town got a barrage of calls from PETA demanding to know what officials were doing, Lilly said. Gretna’s campaign snared no pigeons, which were too smart to fall for the trick.
However, the owner of the old Adrian’s Electric building boarded up windows and doors and closed holes in the structure, helping alleviate the problem, Lilly said.
Though the nuisance has decreased, pigeons are still present, Lilly said.
“I think we have a good handle on it,” Lilly said, adding that there have been no more complaints.
Copy and paste the code below:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_t.jpg" width="100" height="75" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_t.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/]Ang in Gretna Green[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/jm999uk/]johnmuk[/url], on Flickr
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_s.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/]Ang in Gretna Green[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/jm999uk/]johnmuk[/url], on Flickr
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_m.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/]Ang in Gretna Green[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/jm999uk/]johnmuk[/url], on Flickr
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/]Ang in Gretna Green[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/jm999uk/]johnmuk[/url], on Flickr
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_z.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/]Ang in Gretna Green[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/jm999uk/]johnmuk[/url], on Flickr
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_91db07763b_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/]Ang in Gretna Green[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/jm999uk/]johnmuk[/url], on Flickr
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_2952870686_o.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/]Ang in Gretna Green[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/jm999uk/]johnmuk[/url], on Flickr
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm999uk/6574550597/" title="Ang in Gretna Green by johnmuk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6574550597_2952870686_o.jpg" width="3274" height="2456" alt="Ang in Gretna Green"></a>
