Hundreds of pigeons have been killed in Elliston after swarming the area in "plague proportions", according to the local council.
District Council of Elliston chief executive Geoff Sheridan said 700 pigeons had been killed since pest controllers arrived at the Eyre Peninsula town in South Australia on Monday.
"For some reason or another we've been plagued with pigeons that have decided to come to Elliston for a holiday," Mr Sheridan said.
"Over the last three to four weeks there's just been such an influx of them we'd really like to know why on earth they've found Elliston so attractive."
Mr Sheridan said thousands of the pigeons arrived in the area in recent weeks and lingered in the town centre, forcing control measures.
"To get rid of them we've engaged professional specialists. They're pest controllers, and they have specialised air rifles they use to shoot the birds," he said.
"We're exploring the opportunity of using a net gun that council owns as well, but since they [the pest controllers] have been here from yesterday, they've eradicated around 700 birds."
He said the pest controllers buried the pigeons daily and were accurate in their targeting.
"These pigeons are really quite smart and they'll work out that it's not safe to be in the town and they'll probably move on to somewhere else," Mr Sheridan said, adding that residents had been complaining about the number of birds.
"The pigeons rest on roofs in the township. They soil in the gutters and of course that goes into rainwater tanks and creates enormous problems in the community," he said.
Why Elliston?
Mr Sheridan said the birds might be searching for water, which is why they had decided to settle in Elliston.
"They're just in plague proportions and they're around our wetlands, which is really in the centre of the town, which is not a good look by any means for the tourists, so we certainly want to get them under control," he said.
"They create a real health hazard around the town and we've had a number of complaints and we want to try to keep the program going and make it a regular occurrence so we can really get rid of them."
