A TOWN council has suspended a cull of pigeons after a row about how to deal with the birds threatened to fly out of control. The trapping and killing of the pigeons was due to go ahead on January 18 in Liskeard but after a heated debate, in which some town councillors claimed they were unaware they had voted for a cull, a decision was made to cancel the pest control measures for now. Liskeard mayor Chris Ferguson said the decision to cull was taken for health and safety reasons. It was approved by Liskeard Town Council at a full council meeting in December. This was done by adopting the suggestions of a local amenities committee meeting, also in December, which recommended a trapping programme costing £850 despite Liskeard Town Council only having a £250 pest control budget. 'I think the problem is the word trapping,' said cllr Rowe. 'It does not imply that there will be a cull.' Following the decision Liskeard Town Council received a number of objections to a cull which made a councillor conduct a survey in Fore Street to find out what people thought. 'The traders I spoke to said the pigeons were a nuisance and it was annoying but they were opposed to a cull,' said councillor Lori Reid. Tony Faragher, owner of Sunpower Fairtrade in Fore Street, gave Liskeard Town Council information from the Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS) that said lethal methods of bird control were counterproductive. 'The town council has been presented with what is quite a difficult problem and it has applied what it thinks is a common sense solution,' said Mr Faragher. 'All I said to the town council is look at the evidence which actually says "do not cull".' PiCAS research suggests that all lethal methods are ineffective in the medium and long-term reduction of pigeons – as pigeons are birds which breed to the amount of food available to them. Having looked at the evidence, the council has now decided to put back the cull until a full council meeting on January 23, which the public are invited to attend. The council has stated that it still plans to go ahead with spiking and netting methods on the Guildhall shops and has urged other businesses in the town centre to pigeon-proof their buildings as only a cohesive effort will solve the problem.