Pigeons in Honolulu Receive Reprieve

January 2001

Cathy Goeggel of Animal Rights of Hawaii informed PETA that Honolulu’s City Council was considering spending $42,000 to hire the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Wildlife Services (USDA-WS) to capture and kill pigeons in several local parks to reduce the threat of disease and structural damage attributed to the pigeon population.

We immediately faxed a letter to Mayor Jeremy Harris asking the City Council to halt plans to contract with USDA-WS and adopt a humane, integrated pigeon-control program instead. We shared a copy of the letter with a reporter, who covered the story for the Star-Bulletin in Honolulu.

Goeggel, members of Animal Rights of Hawaii, animal activists, and bird caregivers attended a City Council meeting to oppose the plan to kill pigeons. At the conclusion of the meeting, the city parks director acknowledged that city officials had not studied the issue thoroughly enough and said that they would not move forward until they fully explored a nonlethal program.