Pigeons banned in Venice

Posted on May 2nd, 2008 in Featured

Cheaperholidays travel news report: If your considering visiting Venice and feel the Urge to feed the pigeons then don’t or you face a 50 Euro fine..

As of May 7 feeding pigeons in St. Mark’s Square will be illegal and tourists found guilty of feeding the pidgeons will have to cough up a fine of 50 euros on the spot.

The Venice mayor’s office has placed a ban on the sale and distribution of grain to feed the birds..

The ban has raised the anger of the grain vendors who find themselves out of a job. “Thanks Mr. Mayor for killing off our business after 100 years of sales,” read one banner, according to the report.

The pigeons are also being accused of “eating away at the city’s marble statues and buildings” by pecking at small gaps in the structures. One study estimated that cleaning up the mess caused by pidgeons, cost each Venetian taxpayer 275 euros a year.

A vendor told Cheaperholidays news, that the birds aren’t doing any real damage to the monuments and that the authorities simply wants to get rid of the pigeons and the grain-sellers.

The battle against the birds is part of a huge campaign to clean up Venice which is a Unesco World Heritage Site and welcomes more than 1 million tourists a month.