University campus turned government office becomes pigeon paradise

University campus turned government office becomes pigeon paradise

2026-06-17

Pigeons have taken over the campus of the former Taiwan Shoufu University in Tainan. After the school closed in 2023, the campus reopened as Zengwen Civic Park in 2024, becoming home to government offices. Now its green, open environment has attracted so many pigeons that they outnumber office workers, raising hygiene concerns. The Tainan City Government said it would address the issue while maintaining coexistence between humans and birds.

Even with loudspeakers playing eagle cries, this flock of pigeons remains calmly perched on the building. This is Zengwen Civic Park in Tainan, which was converted from a university campus to government offices two years ago. About 300 government employees work across seven buildings in the park. With its open, green spaces and limited human activity, it’s become a paradise for pigeons.

Member of public
Concered about droppings
If you park for a while, especially over there, your car will definitely get bird droppings on it.

Cleaner
Has to deal with pigeons
We emptied around 20 trash bags and found about 20 to 30 live young pigeons.

The open environment and easy feeding attract pigeons, but with the buildings now covered in droppings, people are concerned about hygiene. Authorities have tried to deal with the problem by installing protective netting and setting up kites and sounds that resemble eagles to deter them, but their efforts have had a limited impact.

Government employee
Deterring pigeons
The kite resembles an eagle in flight, which makes the pigeons think a predator is here and discourages them from coming too close.

Wu Cheng-lung
Mayoral office director
Catching them would be very inappropriate, so at the moment, we’re adopting these measures to keep their numbers under control and stepping up cleaning and disinfection.

While agricultural consultants said that capturing the pigeons would be most effective, the city government, concerned for animal welfare, decided to pursue coexistence with the birds. It said it would continue with mild deterrent measures, while stepping up cleaning and disinfection to ease hygiene concerns.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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#pigeons #Tainan #pigeonparadise #CivicPark #campus #university #pigeonproblem #citygovernment #government

退場校園轉型園區綠蔭盎然鴿群聚集"引發衛生疑慮"

2026-06-17

台灣首府大學前年轉型曾文市政願景園區，卻因為佔地16.7公頃園區綠蔭環境，吸引大量鴿子駐足，和辦公人數相比，根本是鴿子比人還多，也讓外界擔心，鴿子掉落的排泄物，恐怕引發環境衛生疑慮。對此，台南市府表示，會以人鳥共存方向，盡力解決問題。

就算聽見了老鷹宏亮的叫聲，停在建築物上的鴿子卻還是老神在在，完全沒動靜。這裡是台南麻豆的「曾文市政願景園區」，也是全國首座大學退場後，轉型活化的指標案例。7大棟建築目前進駐的公務人員不到300人，空曠的環境與稀少的人流，意外成為鳥類天堂，每到傍晚就有成群鴿子聚集。

[[民眾]]
“鳥糞便的話，確實如果你停久一點，尤其是在那個位置的話，(車頂)上面就會有”

[[清潔人員]]
“我們整個袋子，垃圾袋，是清了十幾二十包出來，活的那個小鴿子，有20、30隻”

看中這裡的生態好、覓食容易，鴿子長期定居，但滿地鳥屎，讓人憂心有衛生問題。即使相關單位絞盡腦汁，塗抹驅避劑、架設防護網，每天早晚還出動老鷹風箏與音響，想靠「假天敵」嚇阻，但驅趕成效十分有限。

[[市府員工]]
“(老鷹)飛翔的一個假想畫面，這樣讓牠感覺到有天敵來了，(鴿子)牠就比較不會這麼靠近”

[[台南民治市政中心市長室主任吳政隆]]
“捕捉牠非常的不恰當，所以目前就是採取這些(軟性)措施，讓牠數量能夠得到有限的控制，並且加強清潔跟消毒”

市府坦言曾請來農業與鴿類專家勘查，評估後直言，採取「捕捉」方式才是最有效的處理手段，不過市府基於動保立場，認為作法不妥並未採納。市府強調，目前先以「人鳥共存」為原則，未來除了維持溫和的驅趕措施，也將全面加強園區的日常清潔與消毒，消除環境衛生的疑慮。

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