Woman wants Côte St. Luc underpass 'pigeon paradise' cleaned out

The book, which was cited by an Ashdale Avenue resident of Côte St. Luc during a session of city council earlier this month, lists 33 diseases carried by pigeons, including viruses like encephalitis and meningitis, as well as mycotic diseases, such as histoplasmosis. "A person who contracts histoplasmosis simply by breathing in the spores which grow on the fungus of bird droppings, this causes fever, anemia, pneumonia, blindness and even death, especially in the young and the elderly," said Bonnie Lyon.

Lyon is demanding that the city take action to control the hundreds of pigeons which have adopted the underside of the Côte St. Luc Road underpass as their permanent roost.

Lyon maintained that not only are residents being endangered when they breathe spores as they walk along the underpass, but they have no choice because it's the only way to reach Côte St. Luc Shopping Centre just east of there.

Referring to the underpass as the "profuse pigeon pee and poop plop palace paradise," she said that directly above the pedestrian passageway's handrail are nine active roosts overflowing with excrement, feathers, spores and organisms that have never been removed.

Lyon told Mayor Anthony Housefather she wanted to know why the situation "which is of great concern to our public health has even been permitted to exist." She said she was told by a city official that a netting would be put underneath.

Housefather questioned Lyon's claim that Côte St. Luc has done nothing to deal with the pigeons. he asked David Tordjman, the city's public works director, to provide a more elaborate explanation of measures taken.

Tordjman said a public works crew cleaned the centre median of the underpass, which according to Lyon is the most heavily polluted stretch. However, he maintained that it's actually on the City of Montreal's side. The crew also cleaned the sidewalk and removed pigeon nests. "In the next couple of weeks, we are going to be installing extra netting on part of the structure," added Tordjman. "But unless Montreal does their part, it'll sort of defeat the purpose, because the pigeons'll nest on their side and fly to Côte St. Luc because it's a bit cleaner possibly."

According to Tordjman, Côte St. Luc tried a number of things to discourage the pigeons, including a radar device emitting sonar to disturb them. "Unfortunately, birds like this become accustomed to it," he said. Fake owls dispersed the pigeons for a while, but they returned eventually.

Housefather said he disagreed with many of Lyon's health risk claims. "I dispute the issues that you've raised and the magnitude of the public health risk that you've made this out to be," he said. "I think that certainly the City of Côte St. Luc has done a reasonable job of trying to resolve this problem. Without Montreal's cooperation we will never solve this problem