Giuseppe Belvedere died in early 2022 in his van.
This popular figure from the Beaubourg district who fed the pigeons left behind a herd of a thousand of them who had become orphans.
Several citizens have decided to take over and continue to feed the birds, ignoring the law which prohibits their feeding.
At the end of 2019, the town hall of Paris announced the installation of new dovecotes in the capital, which at the same time adopted a "pigeon plan" to reduce nuisance.
Two years later, some citizens and animal rights associations are beginning to get impatient.
You may have passed by her this Thursday, near rue Rambuteau.
Yet you surely did not notice this feeder.
Seeds in hand, Sophie regularly feeds pigeons.
The young woman, who does not live in the area, prefers to remain discreet.
His act is prohibited by law.
By her gesture, she pays homage to Giuseppe Belvedere, who died on January 12th.
Although few people really knew him, the old man was a neighborhood figure.
Eloquently nicknamed "the man with 1,000 pigeons" and by others more affectionately "Monsieur Pigeon", he fed and took care of Beaubourg's birds on a daily basis.
Over the past twenty years, it was not uncommon to come across him near the Center Pompidou.
"Save the Pigeons"
For Anne Bretel and Martine*, who did not know him personally, he was also a small local legend.
Engaged in the defense of animals, the two women decided to take his side.
What does it matter when they say.
“It was someone who was in the way,” explains Anne Bretel.
“He sometimes had to deal with an attitude from some residents who could be aggressive.
His story is that of a retiree expelled ten years ago from his social housing.
He then lived in his car, then in a van where his body was discovered.
A month before his death, an online kitty was launched to help finance the purchase of a new vehicle.
Since then, around ten Ile-de-France residents have taken up the torch.
"The money we collected, we said to ourselves that we were going to use it to take over a bit," explains Lola, a feeder.
Since the end of January, seven days a week, they have been forming a "solidarity chain" to buy seeds and feed these birds which "are completely domesticated, impregnated by man".
Anne Bretel launched the petition "We must save the pigeons of Beaubourg", in order to challenge the town hall of Paris.
To date, more than 23,000 people have signed it.
“I felt totally in duty bound to do something in memory of Giuseppe,” she explains.
Eight active lofts in the capital
In 2019, the city of Paris announced the deployment of a "pigeon plan" against their nuisances.
The installation of new shelters so that they can both sustain themselves and nest was on the program.
At the same time, actions to strengthen the verbalization of feeding, as well as the implementation of mediation work with repeat feeders were planned.
If, in principle, several associations support this action plan, they deplore the slowness of its implementation.
Amandine Sanvisens, co-founder of the Paris Animals Zoopolis association (Paz), which defends animal welfare, believes that it is mainly a lack of will on the part of certain districts of Paris.
It is also favorable to the installation of new dovecotes, so that the birds can shelter there.
“But only under specific conditions.
The activist also wants them to be better maintained: that is to say cleaned regularly, with seeds and an egg management device.
“Which, so far, is not at all the case.
»
For Stéphane Lamart, of the eponymous association for the defense of animal rights, not leaving food available in the dovecotes is an aberration.
“It's like a house without furniture!
» For it to be well installed, the pigeon needs a certain comfort.
Currently, eight contraceptive lofts (where the eggs are regularly turned or drilled) are active in the capital.
Feeding should resume “soon in these facilities”, indicated at the end of January the town hall of Paris in response to the message of a Francilienne, consulted by
20 Minutes
.
No date was specified.
Feeding is controversial
During 2016-2017, the Association spaces for meetings between men and birds (Aehro) carried out a study at the request of the city of Paris.
The objective was to estimate the number of specimens – they would be around 23,000 – and to make an assessment, as well as recommendations concerning their impact in the capital.
Since then, nothing seems to have been implemented.
A situation that leaves Didier Lapostre, the president of Aehro, skeptical.
For him, the city has only “done half the way”, although it possesses all the keys to implementing an effective management policy.
Martine is not part of the feeder team at Beaubourg, but she regularly does it elsewhere, near where she lives.
Unfortunately for her, she has already been caught in the bag – of seeds – by the police.
At that time, she was trying to bait and release a pigeon pigeon whose legs had become trapped between them by a detritus.
Verdict: 135 euros fine.
A repression that she considers unfair and unnecessary.
“The feeders keep going no matter what.
The Francilienne always walks around with in her pocket: “A pair of scissors, betadine and a few seeds”, to be able to intervene easily if the opportunity arises.
Flying rats or brave beasts?
Flying rats, as some call them, don't win everyone's empathy so easily.
“Preliminary animals [including pigeons] are extremely neglected, forgotten, invisible and despised.
We consider that the living conditions of the pigeons are not acceptable and that the city of Paris allows it to happen”, denounces for her part Amandine Sanvisens.
In the report he provided in 2017, Didier Lapostre had also strongly relativized the usefulness of tickets, which he considers ineffective.
“Out of 1,500 verbalizations per year, more than two thirds are not paid.
And [concerning] those who are paid, these are people who, in the best of cases, will change streets or times to feed.
83% of the sites where there were fines continue to have feeding.
In 2020, the city of Paris announces 444 PV carried out against those who feed the birds.
According to an Ifop survey, commissioned in 2018 by Aehro, 73% of Parisians have a rather negative view of the feeding of pigeons which causes nuisance.
However, these – droppings come to mind in particular – were cited well after other inconveniences (litter, pollution, dog excrement, noise or even human urine).
For Didier Lapostre, it is necessary to help people who experience them to no longer be victims, without however forgetting that, according to him, pigeons remain "brave beasts".
Contacted, the town hall of Paris and Christophe Najdovski, deputy in charge of the revegetation of public space, green spaces, biodiversity and animal condition, did not respond to our requests.
*Assumed first name
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