Barcelona: Pigeons flying across the skies is a pleasant sight on a sunny day with a clear sky, but too many of the birds can be inconvenient and even become a menace due to their messy defecating habits.

A similar problem is being faced by the historical city of Barcelona, where authorities have tried culling pigeons in the past, inviting sharp criticism from animals rights activists. But now they have adopted a new approach to control their population without any killing.

The civic authorities have decided to install 40 dispensers by 2017 which will be used for feeding contraception to pigeons, hence reducing their population by 80 percent in the city where pigeons are a common site on the skyline.

They will go ahead with the move only after conducting a census over the issue in December and January, and are hopeful that the idea works for solving the issue without any violence.

The idea has been working since 15 years in several cities across Europe, and has high chances of success.