Plan in place to remove birds from old Glace Bay, N.S. church

An old Catholic church in Glace Bay, N.S. has been home to hundreds of birds for several years. Friday, dead pigeons were found on the roof and a nearby road.

“It's not an ideal environment for them. They are in their own feces, it's a disease infested place. It's not a nice place to be right now inside that building,” said MLA John White.

At one time, the church was open to the elements, but now every window and door is boarded up.

White says there is a plan in place to get out any remaining birds.

“The building is in darkness, the windows are all blocked off. The purpose of that is to make it dark inside, so when you open the front door the pigeons will fly to the light and come out. The biologists have told us that, as long as this building comes down before the end of March, that's an appropriate time before they start mating,” he said.

White says he's been told the building will not be demolished until all of the birds are out.

Hope For Wildlife, a wildlife rehabilitation in Seaforth, N.S., has been caring for the birds that have been rescued by volunteers in Glace Bay.

“We've received about 120 pigeons so far,” said Tessa Jackson, with Hope For Wildlife.

Some pigeons were left covered in ice after last week’s storm.

“We just have about 15 in our intensive care unit that are undergoing refeeding treatments because they came in emaciated, and a couple of fractures that we're dealing with and a couple of wounds,” said Jackson.

Jackson says their goal now is to get the pigeons healthy enough to be released back into the wild.

Meanwhile, White says the conversation in the community is around why the building was left in such a dilapidated state.

“Where we are at today is, this building cannot be salvaged. There's asbestos in the building, there's six inches of feces inside and it's not a safe place to be and the only answer now is demolition,” said White.

The Diocese of Antigonish owns the building, and says their priority right now is the safety of the birds.