Banning order comes after multiple complaints from residents of apartment block about feathers and droppings
Rome’s mayor has ordered a woman to stop feeding dozens of pigeons that have overrun an apartment block, after furious residents, claiming to be drowning in feathers and guano, demanded relief from what has been described as a Hitchcockian nightmare.
For several months, on the third floor of a building at 108 Via Spartaco, a woman nicknamed “The Pigeon Lady” by the press has been feeding the flock of birds that has been plaguing the block. After countless complaints from residents, exasperated by the thick layer of guano covering the building’s interior and the public areas below – not to mention the parked cars – local authorities issued an order banning her from feeding the pigeons.
Reached by intercom by the local news site Roma Today, the woman replied: “I’m an animal rights activist with the Italian League for Bird Protection – a major environmental organisation in Italy dedicated to wildlife conservation. I rescue animals in distress; I don’t feed them for a hobby. I rescue pigeons and other animals like cats and dogs,” she said. “I put out the food in order to save them. Obviously, if I put food out for one pigeon, others were bound to come. But there have been so many lies, slanders and threats against me.”
