Compulsive pigeon-feeder evicted
A man has been evicted from his flat in Vienna for excessively feeding pigeons for many years.The unemployed man, 56, was kicked out of his apartment in the Meidling district after a court ruled his actions made living in the housing estate unbearable for other tenants. Several residents filed legal complaints against the pigeon enthusiast as he fed the birds – which are widely regarded as a nuisance and a threat to human health – with food leftovers and grain for years.A court now ended years of legal wrangling by ruling that the man has to be evicted. Vienna city council officials, who carried out the eviction in cooperation with the police yesterday (Mon), said today the offenders flat was full of pigeon nesting places and bird faeces.Only last month, a 63-year-old woman living in Vienna-Floridsdorf was given a 7,000-Euro fine for feeding pigeons with bacon and sweet corn after neighbours filed a complaint at the district court.Viennas pigeon population is estimated to be 150,000, and decision-makers in the city have failed to agree with environmentalists and animal experts on how to prevent their number from growing further.