LOPBURI: A Thai district chief has clipped the wings of his town’s pigeon population by paying residents to trap the birds and organizing a cook-off to build support for the cull.
The campaign to go after hundreds of thousands of pigeons started earlier this week in a district of Lop Buri province — a region better known for its monkey menace.
“The number of pigeons increases four to five times each year, if we don’t do anything the problem will get worse,” said Plaek Thepparak, the highest government official in Mueang district, who came up with the idea.
The birds were a nuisance and defecated on government offices, historical sites, temples and houses while ravaging local crops, he added.
“Before people can drink rain water but now they have to buy drinking water because rain water is dirty from bird droppings,” he said.
Residents will get 10 baht (about $0.30) per trapped birds, which will be transferred to a quarantine center in a nearby province.
But cooking them up is also on the menu.
“We also urged residents to eat the dead pigeons but only if they are hygienic and cook them well,” Plaek said, adding the town hosted a “pigeon menu” cooking competition earlier this week with cash prizes.
The dishes whipped up included a simple fried pigeon, knocked back with a side of Thailand’s classic papaya salad.
Two hours north of the capital Bangkok, Lop Buri is on Thailand’s tourist circuit and is better known as a haven for monkeys, but even they are being outnumbered by the birds.
“There are about 3,000 monkeys but there are hundreds of thousands of pigeons,” Plaek said.
Pigeon pie anyone? Thai town hosts cook-off of culled birds
Pigeon pie anyone? Thai town hosts cook-off of culled birds
Egypt’s grand museum begins live restoration of King Khufu’s ancient boat
- The 4,600-year-old boat was built during the reign of King Khufu, the pharaoh who also commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza
CAIRO: Egypt began a public live restoration of King Khufu’s ancient solar boat at the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum on Tuesday, more than 4,000 years after the vessel was first built.
Egyptian conservators used a small crane to carefully lift a fragile, decayed plank into the Solar Boats Museum hall — the first of 1,650 wooden pieces that make up the ceremonial boat of the Old Kingdom pharaoh.
The 4,600-year-old boat was built during the reign of King Khufu, the pharaoh who also commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza. The vessel was discovered in 1954 in a sealed pit near the pyramids, but its excavation did not begin until 2011 due to the fragile condition of the wood.
“You are witnessing today one of the most important restoration projects in the 21st century,” Egyptian Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy said.
“It is important for the museum, and it is important for humanity and the history and the heritage.”
The restoration will take place in full view of visitors to the Grand Egyptian Museum over the coming four years.
