Send in the Eagles: Barcelona's Answer to Pigeon Problem
"A dead pigeon doesn't learn."
This sounds like an old proverb. But no, these are the words of Albert Tomás, who is working on a modern problem in Barcelona: too many pigeons.
Tomás works for a company that the city has hired to control the pigeon population.
There are thought to be 85,000 pigeons in the city, and residents have had enough.
Tomás' company has been hired to send eagles and falcons into a part of the city to scare away pigeons.
It's a trial project, with teams of three or four of the birds of prey guarding an area close to FC Barcelona's famous soccer stadium, Camp Nou.
"The birds can eat a few pigeons but that's not the idea," Tomás told The Guardian.
The city council says that pigeons like to stay in areas where they feel comfortable: where they know they can get enough food, rest and breed.
The idea is to send the birds of prey into these places to scare the pigeons away, perhaps to green spaces where they aren't as much of a problem.
The trial began with the eagles and falcons guarding the area every day between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., but in the final four weeks of the six-week project the birds will be sent out three times a week.
The city is also trying to encourage people not to feed pigeons. Hundreds of people are thought to feed the birds regularly.
Officials said that if the trial project is successful it could be used in other parts of the city.
