13 May 2023 , 07:33
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A woman has been left enraged because her neighbour keeps feeding pigeons outside her home and has made her front garden a no-go zone.
Anna, who lives just outside Barcelona in Spain, said it is "distressing" when "hundreds of birds" swoop down on their communal courtyard and leave it littered with feathers and droppings.
Speaking to local radio station RAC1, she said: "It’s very distressing not to be able to go out into the courtyard of your own house. It’s full of feathers and poo. It’s not just the dirt, it’s also the noise."
She said that when the neighbour feeds the birds, around 100 to 200 pigeons show up. She compared it to Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic, The Birds.
The pair lived on Riego Street in Sabadell, Barcelona (Google Streetview)She added: "All I want is for the neighbour to stop feeding them."
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There was a brief respite from the swarm when the neighbour was looking after a pal's puppy, but she restarted soon after the pooch was picked up.
In November, the city council intervened and public health inspectors visited the property.
The neighbour was issued a 137 Euro fine for feeding the pigeons, which the city council considers a minor offence.
It said the case is currently "under review", but Anna insists that the neighbour continues to feed them with a whole bag of feed.
Like many European countries, pigeons have been a problem in Spain for a number of years.
In Barcelona, the city council plans to reduce the population by 80 per cent by rolling out pigeon contraception.
The woman compared it to a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (Getty Images)It said it's a "clear and decisive bid for ethical control of pigeon populations."
Earlier this year, a study revealed that the pigeon has a brain so smart that it can rival artificial intelligence.
A study found the animal is one of the smartest creatures despite inspiring the insult “birdbrain”.
Pigeons were given complex tests that high-level thinking such as logic or reasoning would not solve.
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They turned to trial and error, memorising scenarios. Experts equate it to AI that uses the basic methodology.
Machines are “taught” to identify patterns and objects. Making associations – low-level thinking – is the same.
Prof Ed Wasserman, of the University of Iowa, said: “The pigeons are like AI masters.”
Four pigeons were shown a stimulus and had to decide, by pecking a button, on the correct category.
They included line width, angle and concentric rings. A right answer yielded a pellet.