Mechanical Falcons to Stop Poop Problem

[sox 06]

LONDON (AP) - You could say it's a bird of a different feather.

Liverpool, plagued by pigeons that pollute the city centre with their droppings, is introducing a mechanical falcon which squawks and flaps its wings in hopes of scaring the pesky birds away.

The fat pigeons, who feast on junk food, are an embarrassment to a city chosen to be next year's European Capital of Culture.

The city council is buying 10 Robops, short for robotic bird of prey, at a cost equivalent to about C$4,500 each.

Meanwhile, cleaning teams spend many hours each day scraping droppings from streets and buildings at a cost of about $360,000 a year, the council said.

Only two of the Robops have been installed so far.

"The key is that we move (the Robops) around, so the pigeons don't get used to them," council spokeswoman Sarah Langworthy said. "It keeps (the pigeons) on their toes."

The city had weighed several options, including introducing live falcons, but ultimately settled on the Robops.

While the council has not yet evaluated the Robops' performance, Langworthy was confident they would be effective in fighting the city's pigeon menace.

"It's early days, still," she said. "When we get the full force up, they won't know what hit them."

[beanoX3]

$4500? What a waste of money. All they have to do is give the bums a few bucks and tell them to go chase them damn things away.

[treat24]

$4500? What a waste of money. All they have to do is give the bums a few bucks and tell them to go chase them damn things away.

hilarious... but then they will have to make a robot bum fighter to scare all the bums away....

[sox 06]

$4500? What a waste of money. All they have to do is give the bums a few bucks and tell them to go chase them damn things away.

It is a waste of money and I like your idea a lot more

[joelamosobadiah]

This doesn't make sense. What do these things do for that kind of money?

Flap their wings and squawk? They don't even fly???

Apparently not cause it says that they will move them around.

[sox 06]

This quote is from another article about this same topic,

Cleaning teams spend 88 staff hours a day scraping droppings from streets and buildings at a cost of about 160,000 pounds ($320,000) a year, the council said.

I guess the robotic falcons is cheaper than this

[joelamosobadiah]

This quote is from another article about this same topic,

Cleaning teams spend 88 staff hours a day scraping droppings from streets and buildings at a cost of about 160,000 pounds ($320,000) a year, the council said.

I guess the robotic falcons is cheaper than this

Yeah, well this is a quote from the article you posted:

Meanwhile, cleaning teams spend many hours each day scraping droppings from streets and buildings at a cost of about $360,000 a year, the council said.

[sox 06]

This quote is from another article about this same topic,

Cleaning teams spend 88 staff hours a day scraping droppings from streets and buildings at a cost of about 160,000 pounds ($320,000) a year, the council said.

I guess the robotic falcons is cheaper than this

Yeah, well this is a quote from the article you posted:

Meanwhile, cleaning teams spend many hours each day scraping droppings from streets and buildings at a cost of about $360,000 a year, the council said.

Its a little more specific.

[beanoX3]

Liverpool should just try to convince knapp that pigeons is the new thing to hunt over rabbits.