DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona Beach has come up with a plan to control its pigeon population that business owners claim has become a nuisance.
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City commissioners recently passed an ordinance that prohibits the feeding of pigeons.
Some Main Street merchants told Channel 9 that they give the pigeon scraps while others said they are tired of the birds crowding sidewalks and leaving droppings behind.
Owner of Ocean Ave Gallery Louie Louizes has witnessed people putting out large bags of bird feed on multiple occasions.
“Those pigeons, they are not stupid. They come back to the same spot everyday,” said Louizes.
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The birds have even ventured out to the boardwalks and those pigeons seem to prefer pizza with their ocean view.
Racha Stevenson works at a T-shirt shop and admits she sometimes gives them scraps.
“They never harm anybody -- they are pigeons. They only thing that they would do probably is a little poop here and there. But nothing you can’t wipe,” said Stevenson.
But what they’re leaving behind is part of the problem that led to the city passing a new ordinance that prohibits the feeding of pigeons if it creates a public nuisance.
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That includes the accumulation of droppings, blocking of right of ways and sidewalks and damaging property.
While not everyone is on the same page when it comes to feeding the pigeons, they agree being fined for it goes a little too far.
We asked the city how this would be enforcement and how much the fines are and we are still waiting to hear back.
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