The district office did not adequately examine whether this measure is suitable, necessary, and appropriate. The Landestierschutzverband Baden-Wurttemberg, which had appealed against the decision, was pleased: « The ban on killing also applies to pigeons. »
Veterinary authorities would have to check whether the animals can be housed elsewhere, explained Chairman Stefan Hitzler recently in Karlsruhe. « We even offered it, but the veterinary office didn’t care. »
The court traced the circumstances in the now known judgment from the end of September: According to this, an official veterinarian of the district office had found during a site inspection in 2018 that feral city pigeons had infested the entire company premises and the production hall.
Above all, machines are soiled with excrement and feathers. The entire daily production sometimes becomes unusable, cardboard boxes and packaging boxes have to be cleaned to avoid customer complaints. There would be significant damage and ongoing cleaning costs.
According to the negotiation, more resettlement options are likely to be needed than are available. « However, this does not relieve an animal protection authority of its obligation to carry out an individual case-related examination. »
The court overturned the decisions of the district office. According to a spokeswoman, the district office in Aalen will not go before the administrative court because the underlying application has now been withdrawn.
Daniela Lisenfeld from the Animal Welfare Association said that with defensive measures such as nets, the company limited the seating options so that the last 40 or so pigeons remained largely in the surrounding trees.
The animal rights activists explained that these birds should not simply be released into the wild. But if they were housed in supervised pigeon lofts, they would come back there voluntarily after an adjustment phase.
The eggs would then be exchanged for plaster models, preventing the animals from reproducing. « This prevents excess animals from being killed. » This procedure is also common for city pigeons in public places.
