RATON, New Mexico (STPNS) -- The pigeons that have made their roost at the Colfax County Courthouse are finding out ? through the use of a deadly deterrent ? they are not welcome. County and federal officials are trying to stop this public place from being used as a pigeon perch.

With a mounting number of the bothersome birds making a home atop the roof and ledges of the North Third Street courthouse in Raton, county Maintenance Supervisor Tino Cordova about a month ago began looking into potential solutions to remove the pigeons from the building. Aside from getting some complaints from courthouse visitors made nervous by the pigeons flying overhead, Cordova?s concern stemmed from the fact that the birds? droppings can contain diseases. That isn?t good for either the unsuspecting people coming and going from the courthouse or for Cordova?s staff who have to constantly clean up the birds? excrement from the walkways around the courthouse.



Cordova said he and his staff counted 25 to 35 pigeons making the courthouse home around the beginning of March. It?s a problem that has existed for years, but the birds? numbers seemed to be growing this year. The birds were paying little attention to the three owl effigies the maintenance staff placed on the roof and the north- and south-side ledges of the courthouse a year or two ago. Shortly after one owl effigy ? the owl is a natural predator of pigeons ? was put up, pigeons began landing on the fake owl, one maintenance worker recalls.

Local pest-control services told Cordova they could poison the pigeons, an idea that Cordova didn?t like after he envisioned dead birds lying around the courthouse and other places in town they happened to die when the poison finally caught up with them. So he contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Wildlife Services, which already has a contract with Colfax County to assist area ranchers and other residents with controlling damage done to property and livestock by wild animals ranging from prairie dogs to coyotes.

Cody Hazen, the Wildlife Services agent assigned to the county, took up the pigeon-eradication project. From inside the courthouse?s top floor, he was able to get out on the building?s wide and walled-in ledges after the courthouse was shut down for the day. Hazen then used a special pellet gun to shoot some of the pigeons and take the dead birds away for proper disposal at a landfill.

He made a couple outings onto the courthouse ledges last month and will return to evaluate the effect on the courthouse pigeon population every so often as needed. If necessary, he?ll be back with his pellet gun.

The idea, said Teresa Howes, the spokeswoman from the Public Affairs Office of the USDA?s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is to ?modify the behavior of the pigeons.? She said Hazen has removed about 10 of the pigeons that had been roosting on the courthouse.

?The hope is other pigeons (at the courthouse) would see that (pigeons being shot and killed) and move on,? she said. ?But we know how persistent pigeons are.?

Howes said the shooting method is just one of several means that could be used to try to get rid of pigeons. Other methods include putting up an effigy ? the owl didn?t work that well at the courthouse ? noisemaking (including use of pyrotechnics to create explosions), netting, using dogs, poisoning, ?hazing? (using both noise and other means to scare the birds), and installing little spikes to prevent the birds from having an adequate place to perch.

Pigeons are associated with the spread of a number of diseases and other health hazards, including meningitis, psittacosis (a flu-like disease), salmonella, skin diseases, and respiratory problems.

Cordova said that at one time in recent years the pigeons were getting through open windows to the inside of the courthouse?s fifth floor ? used for storage ? and leaving their droppings on the county?s voting machines. Wiring the windows shut so no one could open them, and then forget to close them, solved that problem.

But simply keeping the pigeons outside the building still meant droppings on the courthouse exterior and the ground surrounding the historic building. The acidity of the droppings can eat away at the building. A large amount of droppings can damage or kill vegetation. The droppings can also potentially be a slipping hazard on a walkway.

Meanwhile, in years past, with nothing specific being done to attack the pigeon problem, Cordova said his crew ?just cleaned the messes? as best they could.

He?s hoping Hazen?s recent efforts with the pellet gun will mean less pigeons, fewer messes to clean, and less instances of courthouse visitors and employees instinctively ducking as they hear a group of the birds taking off from their perches atop the building.