Pigeon Fanciers: BANGKOK has too many pigeons, according to health officials, and anyone caught feeding them can now be fined or jailed.
BANGKOK has too many pigeons, according to health officials, and anyone caught feeding them can now be fined or jailed.
Spurred by Prime Minister Prayut-Chan-o-cha, who recently ordered a ban on the practice, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Governor Aswin Kwanmuang vowed this week to enforce it strictly, especially in places where pigeons gather in large flocks.
Aswin said pigeons are known to carry several diseases that pose a threat to humans, such as meningitis and encephalitis.
He’s got his eye particularly on Lan Khon Muang, the “people’s ground” in front of the Giant Swing, where feeding the birds is popular and vendors sell feed to anyone feeling avian-friendly.
Aswin said a BMA regulation entails a fine of up to Bt25,000 or three years in jail for anyone selling or buying bird feed in a public area.
He said violators would initially be reprimanded and warned of the hazard the pigeons pose.
Fifty BMA district offices have been instructed to identify locations where pigeons accumulate and “take necessary action”, including enforcing the ban on feeding and trying to catch the birds to be released into forests.
