Residents of an apartment building in Taipei City's Hsinyi District are demanding that one of their neighbors move out because they can no longer tolerate his 200 pigeons.
"He rarely cleans his house and you can smell the odor from the very moment you walk into the building," said Hsiao Cheng-tieh (
PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIPEI CITY COUNCIL
"What's worse, the entire building is infested with cockroaches, bugs and rats."
City officials yesterday promised to issue tickets to the man until he cleans his place or to clean the place for him if necessary.
Leading a group of city government officials, reporters and TV cameramen, New Party city councilor Alex Fai (
Fai's attempted visit was in response to a complaint filed by Chen's neighbors.
Chen, who was reportedly inside the house when the group arrived, did not answer the door.
A third-floor neighbor, who preferred to be identified as Ms Cheng, said Chen, who is divorced and lives alone, has been raising and living with pigeons since she bought her apartment some 10 years ago.
"Every weekend I have to spend time cleaning up dead cockroaches and other bugs on the floor. The odor coming from up there is simply unbearable," she said.
Cheng said that she has asked Chen several times to get rid of the pigeons but he has turned a deaf ear to her requests.
"I've also filed complaints with the city government but nobody seemed to care," she said.
Showing photos of Chen's house which is filled with pigeons and their droppings, Cheng said that she does not plan to move out.
"It's my home. I spent all of my personal saving buying this place and I'm not going anywhere," she said.
Hsiao said that she is very disappointed with how the city government has handled the matter.
"Over the past five or six years, I've filed complaints with borough wardens, the [city's] environmental protection bureau and even written to the mayor, but nothing has been done," she said.
She added that she does not dare to let her grandchildren come home for a visit.
"I have four grandchildren aged three, five, nine and 11. I'm afraid that they might get bitten by rats or cockroaches when they come to my home," she said.
According to Wang Ming-fang (
"We'll come back again next Tuesday. The problem might soon be resolved since Chen signed an agreement with Ms Cheng to remove all the pigeons by Oct. 2," Wang said.
Fai, however, said that he was not optimistic and requested that the bureau take pro-active measures to handle the matter.
Stephen Shen (
"If no improvement is made by Monday, we'll issue a notification letter telling Chen to immediately stop raising the pigeons," he said.
The bureau will request permission from the Ministry of Justice to enter Chen's house to clean up the mess for him if the situation remains the same on Wednesday, Shen said.
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