Vigil for square's 'dead pigeons'

It is illegal to feed birds in Trafalgar Square

A group fighting to save the remaining pigeons in Trafalgar Square has held a candlelight vigil for the 2,500 birds it claims have starved to death.

Earlier this month, the Pigeon Action Group (PAG) said post-mortem tests showed the animals were starving.

It said a ban on feeding the pigeons, introduced by London Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2003, was to blame.

A spokesman for the Greater London Authority (GLA) said measures to reduce pigeon numbers were humane.

PAG held the vigil on the north terrace of the square on Tuesday lighting candles for the 2,500 birds it claims have starved to death.

Empty gizzards

In October PAG sent five dead pigeons found in the square to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency's laboratories in Suffolk.

It found them to be in "poor bodily condition" and said the "gizzard of all birds was empty".

It became illegal to feed birds in the main square in 2003, but a loophole allowed protesters to continue to feed pigeons and other birds on the north terrace.

This loophole was closed by Westminster City Council in September and since then pigeon numbers are thought to have dropped to between 300 and 400.

Homing instinct

PAG claims that in 2002 a flock of about 4,500 birds occupied the square.

Julia Fletcher of PAG said: "While the mayor is reporting that the programme to reduce the birds is working well, the reality is that these birds have been subjected to a long, agonising death by starvation."

She said the birds' homing instinct meant they would not go elsewhere for food and the group wants a designated feeding area set up in the square.

A spokesman for the GLA said: "The measures to reduce the feral pigeon population in Trafalgar Square and make the square more pleasant and hygienic for public use have been done in a humane way."