“I own more than 2,000 books on Toronto”—Peter Freed, p. 20 They don’t just poop. Urban pigeons are destructive pests that spread disease, slow transit, and ravage parks, plazas and balconies. Various bylaws exist to prevent pigeon proliferation, but they’re often ignored by residents who love the birds, feed them, raise them and otherwise perpetuate the problem. In response, Toronto has put its pigeons on the pill. The city just wrapped a year-long pilot that installed feeders loaded with spiked pellets in four particularly afflicted wards: Spadina–Fort York, University–Rosedale, Don Valley North and Beaches–East York. Vancouver ran a similar program that stabilized the pigeon population plaguing the SkyTrain. It’s a novel approach to culling the flocks, but will it work here? Results won’t be tallied until this summer, so don’t…
