Brisbane City Council has removed “aggressive and cruel-looking” bird deterrent spikes from the recently revitalised Shorncliffe Pier, north of Brisbane.
The 350-metre pier, originally built in the 1880s, reopened to the public last month after a $20 million renewal project.
As part of the project, bird deterrent spikes were added to the tall lamp posts along the length of the pier to prevent birds from defecating on visitors.
Geoffrey Redman from the Sandgate Environmental Appreciation Society said the group had become concerned about the birds being injured.
“They were unsightly and cruel looking,” he said of the spikes.
“This site was known for birds and we needed to get rid of them to save the birds that use the area.
“When we had the pier for the last 100 years we didn’t have these.
“Other bird deterrents I’ve seen have been bird friendly, but these spikes were ugly-looking and the public agreed.”
Councillor David McLachlan, who was in charge of the Shorncliffe Pier renewal project, said the spikes went unnoticed during the opening.
“When the pier was reopened at Easter I didn’t notice at the time and thousands of people that were there afterwards didn’t either,” he told 612 ABC Brisbane’s Spencer Howson.
“The issue was raised to us via Facebook and we made the decision to take them off.”
Finding deterrents for pigeons not easy
Cr McLachlan said pigeons were an ongoing issue for most building managers in Brisbane and finding a deterrent could be difficult.
“When the project team looked at what might happen along the pier, and keeping it clean, they concluded that it’s easier to deter them in the first place,” he said.
“The 340-metre-long pier has a lot of timber work and the lamps are hard to clean along the pier — there’s 18 to 19 posts.
“The design of the lamps has a slight point to it which we hope will now deter most birds.”
He said council would keep the new pier as clean as possible.
“We’ll have crews out there a couple of times a week keeping it clean of bird poo and fish guts,” he said.
“We’ll see what happens on the pier, but at this stage we won’t return to the pier with further deterrents there.”
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