The Environmental Sustainability and Public Services department of the Santa Cruz Council has fined two residents of Tenerife €1,000 each for feeding pigeons in public areas, which violates the Municipal Ordinance regulating the Protection and Ownership of Animals in Santa Cruz.
The ordinance classes this as a serious administrative offence punishable by a fine of up to €1,500 for the incidents that took place on Avenida Ángel Romero and Avenida Las Asuncionistas in the capital of Tenerife.
The Mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, said that "providing food, of any kind, to any animal found in public places is a serious offence and a lack of respect for other citizens. Therefore, these residents must be penalised to prevent it from happening again, as these acts pose serious public health problems and deteriorate our heritage."
Meanwhile, the councillor for the Environmental, Carlos Tarife, said, "We will continue to penalise anyone who feeds pigeons in Santa Cruz, a practice that not only leads to uncontrolled growth in the number of these specimens but can also transmit diseases such as histoplasmosis, salmonellosis, and cryptococcosis, as well as carrying bedbugs and ticks, causing, through their excrement and nesting, serious damage to architectural and urban furniture, with the consequent economic impact on public funds."
Tarife added, "The council is making a great effort to control the high number of pigeons in the city, and we cannot allow others to feed them, leaving food residues in public areas and attracting rat or cockroach infestations."
The Santa Cruz Council captures between 700 and 1,000 pigeons per month in traps and nets, and in the last week, they have tested the use of a specially trained hawk in strategic areas, such as Plaza de España or Parque García Sanabria, to prevent the pigeons from reproducing as studies show they are nervous when a bird of prey is around.
