Open season on pigeons in Umbria

Bevagna, a dove-gray town in the heart of Umbria, Italy's hunting country, has introduced a novel way to protect its medieval monuments, Roman ruins and 5,000 citizens from a bombardment of pigeon droppings: the town has encouraged its marksmen to blast the feathered pests from its skies.

The measure has proved so popular that nearby towns and even the regional government have followed suit, despite a flurry of criticism from local animal rights and environmental groups. At year's end, Umbria inserted pigeons onto a list of harmful species, which essentially gives the region's 40,000 hunters a license to kill.

Posted by David on January 17, 2005 10:17 PM