Don’t feed the birds

last updated 8 January 2015

London

London has banned all feeding of birds in Trafalgar Square. Mayor Ken Livingstone shut down pigeon-feed vendors in 2003, citing concern for public hygiene. But he allowed the bird group Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons to scatter feed in one corner of the square for 10 minutes each morning. That privilege was revoked this week, after the mayor’s office said the group had been secretly dropping extra feed in the afternoons. Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons, though, says it wasn’t to blame, but rather a radical outfit of pigeon enthusiasts called Pigeon Action Group. Pigeon lover Shelagh Moorhouse said she thinks Livingstone has an irrational fear of pigeons. “Somebody who knows him told me that at the mention of the word ‘pigeon,’ he goes hysterical,” she said.