Pigeons
The square was once famous for its feral pigeons, and feeding them was a popular activity. The desirability of the birds' presence was contentious: their droppings disfigured stonework, and the flock, estimated at its peak to be 35,000, was considered a health hazard. In 2005, the sale of bird seed in the square was stopped and other measures introduced to discourage the pigeons, including the use of trained birds of prey. Groups of supporters continued to feed the birds, but in 2003 the then-Mayor, Ken Livingstone, enacted bylaws to ban the feeding of pigeons in the square. In September 2007 Westminster City Council passed further bylaws banning the feeding of birds on the square's pedestrianised North Terrace and other pavements in the area There are now few birds in Trafalgar Square and it is used for festivals and hired out to film companies in a way that was not feasible in the 1990s.
Read more about this topic: Trafalgar Square
Famous quotes containing the word pigeons:
“On shallow slates the pigeons shift together,
Backing against a thin rain from the west....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Pigeons on the grass alas.
Pigeons on the grass alas.
Short longer grass short longer longer shorter yellow
grass Pigeons large pigeons on the shorter longer yellow grass
alas pigeons on the grass.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“[Paris] is dirty. It has pigeons and black yards. The people have white skin.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)