Is there possible progress in the City’s pigeon birth control pill program?

It’s no secret that several Toronto neighbourhoods have become inundated with large flocks of pigeons. But there may be indications that a pilot program aimed at controlling the pigeon population is working.

In May 2022, the City set up feeders in four locations across the city – two downtown, one in East York and one in North York – in which food was laced with OvoControl, a non-lethal and humane technology which interferes with the ability of pigeon eggs to hatch.

“The pill for pigeons is in food pallets and they’re eating them,” said Mayor Olivia Chow who sounded optimistic when asked about the trajectory of the program.

“It’s going really well, so I think the population of the pigeons will be under control soon.”

Back in February, CityNews stopped by Yonge and Finch – one of the identified hot spots being targeted by the program. At the time there were a lot of pigeons, not to mention all of the associated droppings. When we returned recently, the situation appeared to have considerably improved with fewer pigeons and their droppings were a lot less noticeable.

“Unless we can control people not feeding pigeons, which is a hard thing to do,” said York University professor Gail Fraser, noting that pigeons tend to follow the food.

When asked about OvoControl, she said unless you know the birds are actually eating enough of it to work it may be challenging to track its efficacy. She adds structures known as dovecotes – designed to house pigeons or doves – might be another option.

“Bring the pigeons in to nest in these structures and then you can swap out their eggs, you can oil their eggs, you know exactly how many pigeons are around,” said Fraser.

The City says evaluation of the program is continuing until the end of the year. It’s stated goal was to have a targeted impact of a 50 per cent reduction.