A town in Germany has voted to exterminate the entire population of pigeons.

Residents of Limburg an der Lahn in the western state of Hessehas have voted to cull its population of 700 pigeons, leaving animal campaign groups horrified.

The city council's plot to slaughter the birds sparked an uproar in November 2023, leading to a referendum.

Der Spiegel reports more than 53 per cent of the residents cast 7,350 "yes" votes, calling for the pigeons to be culled.

Mayor Marius Hahn said: "Today's result was unpredictable for us. The citizens have made use of their right and decided that the animals should be reduced by a falconer."

Over the next two years, the falconer will lure the birds into traps, bludgeon them to stun them before breaking their necks.

Animal rights campaigners were outraged by the announcement, with Limburg city pigeon project manager Tanya Muller telling Sky News last year: "We live in 2023, it can’t be that we kill animals just because they annoy us, or they’re a nuisance. That’s not acceptable."

Campaign group Pigeon Action proposed an alternative solution in which citizens are warned against feeding the animals. They would also install pigeon lofts so that eggs could be easily removed.

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It is not the first time a European country has tried to cull its pigeon population.

Basel in Switzerland conducted massive culls over several decades but saw its pigeon population remain stable.

Instead, Basel’s pigeon population was significantly reduced only after implementing the ‘Basel model,’ which involved public education against feeding pigeons and installing pigeon lofts to manage egg removal.

Meanwhile, the Bavarian city of Augsburg implemented a similar model, in which pigeon lofts were installed and new eggs were swapped with dummies to keep numbers at a stable level.

President of the German Animal Welfare Federation Thomas Schröder, stated that the majority of voters in Limburg had "signed a death warrant for the pigeons" with their votes.

He promised to file a criminal complaint if the birds were actually killed.