Pigeons On Birth Control

Pigeon poop has got to go, and Hollywood is taking a pharmacological solution to city roosts: birth control. A chemical that interferes with the development of pigeon eggs will be put in feeders on rooftops in the latest effort by people to limit the sizes of flocks that displease them.

In a variation on the same theme, some cities in the Northeast employ sharp shooters to inject birth control hormones into white-tailed deer to keep herd sizes down. The indiscriminate spraying of pesticides a generation ago had a similar -- though undesirable -- effect on many birds, as chemicals ingested by eagles and other raptors destroyed their ability to reproduce.

It's a cautionary note, but the Hollywood program is being supported by the Humane Society and other notable animal lovers. This still doesn't solve the great pigeon mystery of the day, noted recently in The New Yorker. Unmarked white vans there have been seen scooping up pigeons and whisking them away to unknown ends -- perhaps in kitchens, or to the cages of pigeon fanciers. If only those pigeon thieves could be identified, Hollywood could give them some gainful employment.

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