Pigeon lovers hope nasty taste will save birds

LONDON (Reuters) - Pigeon fanciers, tired of having their prize racing birds snatched away by predators, have a plan to save them -- make them taste too nasty for other birds to eat.


Many nature lovers have been delighted that populations of predator birds such as peregrine falcons, once seen as threatened, are growing.


But not the country's 55,000 pigeon racers, some of whom spend thousands on prize birds, said Peter Bryant, general manager of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.


With TV show hosts "glorying in the sight of a peregrine taking a pigeon, urging it on like a football hooligan... No one ever stops to see it from the pigeon fancier's point of view," he told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.


So the group is looking at spraying its pigeons with nasty-tasting chemicals, or feeding them special diets that will make them unpleasant to eat, Bryant said.


There may be some problems with the plan, he acknowledged: "Apparently some of the sprays are a bit like Kentucky Fried Chicken coating. It could affect the aerodynamics of the pigeon feathers."


And some pigeons will end up as lunch before the falcons learn to avoid them.


"Birds are going to be killed before the peregrine or sparrowhawk realises, 'this is not a very nice pigeon'. But you have to look at the longer term. If there is a result, the ends justify their means."