Dear Sir,

Tired of longtails as our national symbol? No worries. Pigeons are proliferating and ready to replace the longtail on airport art, trinkets, jewellery and T-shirts, and most importantly in our skies.

Ridiculous you say? Then come to the East End where pigeons are mobbing our longtails and overtaking their cliff nests. Our home roofs, water and beaches are soiled with pigeon faeces that can carry numerous serious diseases such as E. coli, salmonella, encephalitis, candidiasis and histoplasmosis.

What is the Government doing about it? There is a feral pigeon management plan that was put in place in 2016. It called for shooting and trapping as the primary means of reducing the number of feral pigeons in Bermuda, but this strategy has produced only limited effect.

Bermuda is being too complacent, allowing the pigeons to pollute our precious water, soil our beaches and drive away our revered longtails. We need the Government to step in with legislation to prohibit unregulated feeding of feral pigeons before it’s too late.

KATHY ZOLL

St George’s