La Crosse to enter into agreement with feds to fight growing pigeon population

The pigeon wars continue in La Crosse. Now with mini cannons and nets.

The growing pigeon population may lead to what some are already worried will be extreme measures to control the their numbers.

The city’s board of public works Monday approved a plan to have the U.S. Fish and Wildlife come at a cost not exceeding $23,000.

The process would be to lure pigeons into one place with poison bait and then shoot a net to capture them.

Money for the pigeon eradication will come from the city’s parking utility.

“What we’re trying to do is, through maybe getting a giant piece of them, get rid of a giant chunk of that flock, maybe we can get it to a maintainable level,” parking utility coordinator Jim Flottmeyer said. “Between the sterilization program and this program, we get it manageable. You’re never going to get rid of them all, because they just keep coming in.”

It’s unclear when the big downtown pigeon capture would commence and Flottmeyer said it probably won’t be as disturbing as it sounds.

“I don’t think (anyone) would ever even notice it if we never talked about it,” he said. “And, I haven’t witnessed it but it’s like firing a couple shotgun shells to launch the nets across them.”

Police chief Ron Tischer said the effort will help limit future damage costs by high numbers of pigeons, though he acknowledges the city’s pigeon control efforts will never come to an end.