[mschuster91]

> I view them about the same as pigeons or moths; occasionally annoying, but not something to relentlessly eradicate.

Moths? You gotta absolutely eradicate the fuck out of these before they destroy your clothing or your food.

Rats, well, you don't want them in residential areas [1], and you don't want their feces around food preparation areas like kitchen.

Pigeons, especially their poop, are a massive danger for historic buildings [2] - their poop, similar to acid rain in the 80s/90s, is acidic and erodes the substance. In addition, it is extremely nasty to clean up, you need to wear a full PPE suit - our OSHA equivalent has a dedicated guideline just how to protect yourself while cleaning up pigeon poop [3].

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/indi...

[2] https://www.kath.ch/medienspiegel/taubenkot-gefaehrdet-bausu...

[3] https://www.bgbau-medien.de/handlungshilfen_gb/daten/pdf/201...

[Steven420]

That's why you don't listen to the government :) They'd have me wearing a space suit just to clean my bird cage

[mschuster91]

> They'd have me wearing a space suit just to clean my bird cage

This is about doing that commercially for a living. If all you do for 40 years of your career is cleaning bird cages, roofs and whatnot from bird droppings, wearing the space suit makes sense because otherwise you're pretty much not going to live to retirement. Lung cancer is a horrible and nasty way to go, and I know on this one what I'm talking about. On top of that come the pathogen infection risks with H1N1 being dangerous enough to send a young man of fine health into critical care [1].

And for what it's worth, of course no one can require you to do so - but you absolutely should be wearing at least an FFP2 mask if dealing with bird droppings or mineral based cat litter of your pets. Try it for once, your lungs will thank you - I certainly noticed the effect.

[1] https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/canadian...