Highland Council's Alan Bentley discusses the rat problem with Joe Telfer both men are looking over to the area where Joe regularly feeds swans, ducks and pigeons.
Highland Council are to take action to eradicate the infestation on the Maggot side of the sewage bridge. As previously highlighted in the Gurn the area in question is where Joe Telfer and others regularly feed birds. Previous article here. Alan Bentley also spoke to local residents and River Community Council Chair Tommy Hogg. Also present was Highland Councillor Colin MacAulay. An appeal will be going out from Highland Council for bird lovers not to leave food on the riverbank.
9 comments:
lol, that photo brought tears. Did Alan happen to miss the latest addition to Joe's circus act namely the two pigeons sat on his hat?
When are folk like Alan going to twig that when someone throws tonnes of food down on a river bank all manner of pests will be attracted and potentially increase in numbers with the abundance of food, and that includes rats and pigeons and goodness knows what else
The answer is very simple, STOP the feeding then we'll go back to a more natural balance of wildlife on our river and not see tamed hand fed birds and rats
What are pigeons if they're not pests. Is the HC guy blind to the fact that there are two of them perched on Joe's hat where he puts food for them, and feeds them on the ground
Only an ASBO on a certain person is going to sort the pest problems we have along the river, the sooner the better
Is this no Dr Doolittle wi' yer man from the cooncil?
Thanks for all the other comments, re cost of rat control etc but have decided not to publish them.
@ Birdwatch I agree with much of what you have to say but as some of the comments are very specific concerning the present situation on the riverside I have decided not to publish. You can always try the Nairnshire Telegraph or other newspapers or even start your own blog if you think that is unfair.
@I am barking - Likewise but let's see how things go from here.
Lieutenant Pigeon has gone to seed & is now attracting the wrong type of bird & its gone to his head, I smell a rat as it munches on "The Mouldy Old Dough" with Hey Joe, Down by The Riverside as Simple Minds congregate on The Bridge Over Troubled Waters.
Think Nairn could go into the Guinness Book of records if they manage to eradicate brown rats from sewer pipes FFS !
You know, it this was a sitcom sketch it would be very funny.
As it's real life, it's actually quite sad.
There seems to be a lot of pretty petty people in this town to go as far as to get the council to stop one man feeding birds.
It's a river, there are rats, both go together, it's called nature.
The ironic thing is that the petty people have caused the end of one of the few natural inhabitants on the river.
Regardless of Joe Telfer being a controversial figure (to some/many?) the issue as defined by the Pest Control officer (to this observer yesterday) was about feeding in general and not just by one person. However the authorities are paying attention to an area where Joe has regularly been feeding birds for some time. A press release is supposed to be coming out so let's see what the professionals have to say?
Rats part of the landscape - yes but in large numbers and emerging in daylight and not too scared by humans beside a popular path and footbridge then surely you can see the issues that arise?
With that, this comments thread is now closed. Thanks for all contributions.
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