[Derived from Art. XVI of Ch. XXV of the Charter and Ordinances,
1974]
It is hereby determined, following investigations made by the
Department of Health and other departments of the City and from information
and reports contained in the daily newspapers, that the great increase
in the number of uncontrolled pigeons which roost and make their nests
on the roofs and in the recesses of the various public and private
buildings and structures within the City constitutes a menace to the
public health and is generally injurious to property within said City.
For control purposes and in order to prevent public distress
caused by the foregoing pigeon menace, the Department of Street Sanitation
is hereby authorized to purchase traps and place or permit the placing
of said traps in public buildings or places and provide for baiting
of the same for the purpose of trapping any pigeon or pigeons, in
accordance with the provisions of the State Environmental Conservation
Law. The number, kind and location of such traps shall be determined
by the Commissioner of Street Sanitation.
A.
Any pigeon or pigeons found in any of said traps so set up, placed
or permitted to be so placed for trapping purposes shall, if the same
are fit for such purposes, be disposed for food purposes within the
meaning of said State Environmental Conservation Law and in the manner
determined by the Commissioner of Health. All sick, injured or unfit
pigeons or birds found in said traps shall be placed in the charge
or care of the City Small Animal Shelter to be disposed of in the
manner provided by law.
B.
Whenever any Antwerp or homing pigeon, wearing a ring or seamless
leg band with its registered number stamped thereon, or any protected
wild bird within the meaning of the State Environmental Conservation
Law is found among such trapped pigeons, the same will be immediately
released from custody or placed in the care or charge of the City
Small Animal Shelter for disposition pursuant to law.
No person shall feed any pigeon in any public street or place where traffic conditions will not warrant such feeding in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police or of the Commissioner of Transportation. No person shall feed any pigeon in any open space, except in a suitable receptacle placed at least 48 inches above the ground level. No person shall feed any pigeon within 500 feet of any location declared by the Department of Health to be rat-infested, within the meaning of § 356-2 of the Code of the City of Buffalo.
The Commissioner of Street Sanitation is hereby authorized to
issue permits for the trapping of pigeons within the City in accordance
with the provisions of the State Environmental Conservation Law and
with regulations established by the Commissioner.
The starling, a species of bird defined in the Environmental
Conservation Law as an unprotected wild bird, has so greatly increased
in numbers within the City that it constitutes a menace to public
health and is destructive to property and is hereby declared to be
a public nuisance. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Street
Sanitation, in accordance with law, to cause the destruction of such
bird for the purpose of eliminating or minimizing the nuisance caused
by it, and he shall designate certain employees of the Department
of Street Sanitation to engage in such destruction and elimination
of said starlings by any lawful means.
