In recent weeks, people have been regularly warned verbally by enforcers of the municipality if they did feed pigeons despite the ban. But that will come to an end from next week, then a picture will follow immediately. “The time of warning is over, now we are really going to issue fines. And there is an offense if food is deliberately sprinkled. And not if a child drops a piece of bread or a piece of fries that is picked up by the pigeons said a city spokesperson.
The municipality and Diederik van Liere know all too well that at least two residents invariably feed the pigeons, and who both have great difficulty dealing with the pigeon nuisance. For example, pigeon enthusiast Carla Baruch, who has been taking care of the pigeons on Koopmansplein for fifteen years, has made it no secret on Twitter in recent weeks that she does not like the policy of the municipality. She accuses Assen of letting the pigeons ‘create’ in this way. “The pigeons don’t understand anything, this is animal suffering. Please keep feeding them people”, is her repeated appeal.