Feral pigeons are common urban wildlife managed through a range of methods; humane alternatives to culling are more effective long-term and cause less welfare harm.
Feral pigeon management welfare depends on choosing methods that achieve population management goals without unnecessary killing. Lethal control creates vacuum effects that negate population reduction; contraception and egg management achieve population reduction more durably without welfare harm to existing individuals. Physical exclusion prevents problem roosting without harming birds at all. The welfare-positive approach to urban pigeon management combines exclusion to prevent new roost establishment, contraception or egg management to progressively reduce existing populations, and public education to reduce food provision that maintains population size.