They are 41 municipal elected officials to sign this forum published in the Obs on February 13th. They’re asking presidential candidates to consider city animals says “harmful”, pigeons, rats, sparrows or rabbits and find other methods to control their numbers than killing them. Among the signatories, the Périgourdin Patrick Capet, referent of the animal condition and municipal councilor at the town hall of Périgueux. This forum was initiated by the animal protection association PAZ (Paris animals zoopolis).
Regulate is a nice word to say kill” Patrick Capet
“Cohabit” with these so-called harmful animals
According to the elected ecologist, you have to learn to “cohabit” with these animals and to get used to them “you can take pleasure in seeing a rat pass by, in any case not wanting to kill it” explains Patrick Capet. He equates rat extermination methods “to torture”. “We could not bear to see a rat dying for six days in front of his door, we are not aware”. Patrick Capet considers that the nuisance of rats can be reduced if we pay attention to waste and garbage cans.
While some Périgourdins are sensitive to the fate of city rats, most encountered in the Clos-Chassaing district are hostile to them and prefer to be killed. Angelique can’t stand rats. The young mother had one in her living room and several in the attic. “There were even some at the children’s school […] live with sewer rats no thank you, it’s full of diseases and it’s dangerous”. Patrick Capet recognizes that there is no miracle solution and that everything will not be resolved overnight, but he believes that “everything is a question of desire and means”.
A contraceptive nest box for pigeons
To avoid pigeon droppings everywhere in the city, Patrick Capet proposes first of all to inform the population then to install a contraceptive dovecote. “It is a question of always feeding the pigeons in the same place, in a well-kept place, and when the females lay their eggs, they are sterilized or shaken so that we avoid the multiplication of pigeons” explains the referent of the animal condition.