'Please don't feed the dirty, filthy vermin': Pigeon fines for shoppers?

Feeding the birds will cost you more than a tuppence - a council has threatened prosecution should a piece of bread be offered to a pigeon.

Daventry Council, Northamptonshire, has come down hard on bird feeders after dozens of pigeons made a home in the town centre.

Perched on ledges the hungry creatures have defecated on the heads of unsuspecting shoppers and have even flown into food shops in search of a morsel, according to fed-up shop owners.

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The District Council has taken action and warned people feeding birds that they could be dealt under littering laws.

Daniel Cribbin, the council's environment portfolio holder, said: "Feeding the pigeons is technically littering and, while we don't want to go down the road of fining people, if it persists and the birds continue to cause problems, we may have no other option then to look at fixed penalty notices, and ultimately prosecution."

One store manager, who did not want to be named, said: "It's a big problem. If you're underneath you're at risk of being splattered."

He continued: "Unfortunately, we get a couple of old ladies feeding them because they are God's creatures, but they're not starving - they're fat pigeons.

"They are dirty, filthy things, and they're vermin."

The winged creatures has also been judged a health hazard and in danger of spreading deadly diseases such as influenza.

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Daventry council's environmental improvement team said: "Street pigeons could spread infections and feeding them will cause numbers to grow.

"Apart from looking unsightly, spores from dried pigeon droppings can spread diseases similar to pneumonia and influenza if they are inhaled as dust and carried on the wind."