Football membership brings in birds of prey to cease pigeons pooing on followers’ seats
Birds of prey have been brought in by bosses at Oxford United in a bid to stop pigeons pooing on fans’ seats.
Numbers of the pests were so high Hoops fans were being forced to constantly move seats, despite the ground being cleaned just hours earlier. The problem came to a head during sold out matches where there were no clean spare seats to move to.
Chiefs at the Championship club decided to hire a number of Harris Hawks to scare and unsettle the pigeons into pooing elsewhere.
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Andrew Taylor, Senior Safeguarding and Matchday Operations Manager, explains: “The pigeon problem had never really been addressed as all the solutions we were presented with were unaffordable with the club’s budgets being so tight.
![Hawks are helping to keep seats clean](https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article33282832.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_hawk-team-herojpeg.jpg)
(Image: Susan Watkins/Black Cat News)
“Fortunately, I met Mark Pretty from Cleankill Pest Control and he came up with an affordable plan to help us get on top of the problem.
“It includes a combination of using Harris hawks as a deterrent, bird proofing to make it harder for the birds to nest and a cleaning regime.”
The strategy is proving a success with good feedback from the club’s supporter group.
![The structure offers perfect roosting and nesting opportunities for the pigeons](https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article33282831.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Oxford-United-v-Lincoln-City-Sky-Bet-League-One.jpg)
(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
After an initial burst of 10 sessions with the hawks, the visits were carried out three times a week and are now once a week.
The structure of the Oxford United stadium offers perfect roosting and nesting opportunities for the pigeons.
The worst mess was in the corners of the stadium where the seats offer some of the best views.
Mr Taylor added: “Getting the pigeon situation under control gives us one less thing to worry about especially on match days as we’ve recently had the stadium at full capacity.”
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