Pigeons and people: mortal enemies or lifelong companions? A case study on staff perceptions of the pigeons on the University of South Africa,Muckleneuk campus

Pigeons have been a part of our lives for as long as we can remember. Some people view them with joy, others disdain. Regardless of the perception, control measures are often implemented against the birds in a bid to reduce their presence in urban environments without considering the views of members of the public in the process. Complaints about pigeon activity are, typically, given more attention than praise for these birds. However, people who are pro‐pigeons are often not provided with the forum to express their views of the birds. This study explored the perceptions of staff with regard to the pigeons inhabiting the University of South Africa's Muckleneuk campus. Two hundred and forty‐six participants provided their opinions on the pigeons, their related activities and the perceived impact on staff on the campus. Recognising that both people and urban wildlife play a role of cause‐and‐effect in human–wildlife conflicts can contribute to understanding peoples' relationships and perceptions of animals which transgress the boundaries between urbanisation and nature. By considering peoples' perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards urban wildlife, management strategies can be significantly informed in the process of mitigating conflict. The study has shown that the negative perception of pigeons, which was assumed to be the position of all the people affected by the pigeons at the University of South Arica's Muckleneuk campus, is in fact incorrect. Participants would rather encourage the nesting and breeding activities of the pigeons on campus, as they felt that the human–pigeon interactions and the viewing of squabs in nests contributed positively to their work environment. Pigeon control strategies should therefore not solely be on the biological aspect of a perceived pigeon problem, but should also include the human association. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Traversing the Fantasy: Why Leftist Academics Must Abandon the Myth of Organic Resistance and Think Again About the Problems We Face

Critical Criminology - The concept of organic resistance has stood as a cornerstone of critical social science for decades. Countless authors have claimed that minor acts of...     

Evolution,uncertainty, and the asymptotic efficiency of policy

Public Choice - Politics, like any social system, involves selection mechanisms. This paper presents a model of politics as an evolutionary process. Our model yields three main results. First, the...     

A Comparison of Thresholding Methods for Forensic Reconstruction Studies Using Fluorescent Powder Proxies for Trace Materials

Image segmentation is a fundamental precursor to quantitative image analysis. At present, no standardised methodology exists for segmenting images of fluorescent proxies for trace evidence. Experiments evaluated (i) whether manual segmentation is reproducible within and between examiners (with three participants repeatedly tracing three images) (ii) whether manually defining a threshold level offers accurate and reproducible results (with 20 examiners segmenting 10 images), and (iii) whether a global thresholding algorithm might perform with similar accuracy, while offering improved reproducibility and efficiency (16 algorithms tested). Statistically significant differences were seen between examiners’ traced outputs. Manually thresholding produced good accuracy on average (within ±1% of the expected values), but poor reproducibility (with multiple outliers). Three algorithms (Yen, MaxEntropy, and RenyiEntropy) offered similar accuracy, with improved reproducibility and efficiency. Together, these findings suggest that appropriate algorithms could perform thresholding tasks as part of a robust workflow for reconstruction studies employing fluorescent proxies for trace evidence.