Helen Doyle in Buck Street where the pigeons can’t get free from the sea container complex

BY CONOR WALSH

A WILDLIFE campaigner has kept a three-day watch over two trapped birds facing being shot in a Camden Town market today (Thursday).

Helen Doyle, has been camping out in Buck Street since Monday after being alerted to the pigeons being stuck in-between new-style cargo containers. It is believed the two pigeons most likely hatched from eggs laid in a small hole that have since been covered in a wire mesh.

Attempts to free the birds have been unsuccessful because of the narrowness of the crevice.

Ms Doyle, who lives in Camden Town, said she had been in talks with the Buck Street management and believe pest control experts were coming early this morning.

She said: “We should coexist with wildlife. It’s our duty to help both birds and animals when they’re in trouble. “Most people view pigeons as vermin but they have a right to live. Trapped animals are protected in the law – most people don’t realise that.”

The site in Buck Street, Camden Town

Ms Doyle said she feared the pest control would use a pellet gun to shoot the birds as they cannot be easily be reached, and that this a tactic often used in these situations.

She added: “Not many people know this but there are licences to shoot birds in some situations. I’ve been sitting out here since Monday. I just wish they had done a proper assessment. There are better ways to go about this. We offered a solution to help the trapped birds – a reliable and effective company, who have experience of these situations. If they’d done things properly in the first place then this wouldn’t have happened.”

Buck Street Market is on land that – in a long running saga – is one day expected to be redeveloped as part of a modernisation of Camden Town tube station.

Camden Market’s management company LabTech said last night (Wednesday) Buck Street Market was owned and controlled by Transport for London.