Samira Fateh battles Eastern Health Authority over order to remove 60 rescue pigeons from inside her Athelstone property

A woman who runs a “Pigeon Lives Matter” campaign is battling health authority claims that 60 birds sharing her home is a health problem.

Keith "Jim" Fellingham and Samira Fateh in Victoria Square with signs protesting against pigeon culling in 2020. Picture: Simon Cross

An eastern suburbs woman is locked in a battle with authorities after she was ordered to remove 60 rescue pigeons living inside her home.

Samira Fateh, who also runs a Pigeon Lives Matter Facebook page, said she was considering her options after she unsuccessfully appealed to the SA Civil and Administrative Tribunal to have the order reviewed.

Eastern Health Authority ordered the removal of the pigeons after investigating complaints from neighbours, including that children could not play outside because of the pigeon poo, odour, noise and increase in vermin.

An EHA environmental health officer who visited the Athelstone home multiple times in 2020 and 2021 found pigeons roosting in the bathroom, bedroom and lounge.

The flock was allowed to roam free in all but two rooms of the house and bird faeces were found in the kitchen, on showers screens and on walls.

Samira Fateh with one of her pet pigeons from her Athelstone home. Picture: Ben Clark

The officer found the house was “so unsanitary that no one should be living there”, and noted Ms Fateh had walked barefoot on pigeon faeces and admitted scratches on her shoulders had been caused by perched pigeons.

She complied with the EHA order to remove the pigeons by moving them to a friend’s regional property but appealed the decision to SACAT.

During the unsuccessful appeal, she told the tribunal she maintained a level of sanitation by placing cardboard over the floor to collect the pigeon faeces, which was replaced weekly, and covering her bed with a blanket during the day.

She said she vacuumed the pigeon feathers weekly, collecting so many that she would need to empty the vacuum cleaner five to six times on each occasion.

Ms Fateh acknowledged in the appeal proceedings that pigeons can carry diseases, but said they only caused a minor cough and the risk was no greater than that presented by ownership of a dog or cat.

She told the Advertiser this week that, before the appeal decision was handed down, EHA officers had told her that housing half of the pigeons in an outdoor loft at her home would be acceptable.

She said she spent $4700 on the loft, only for the EHA to then say she was not allowed to keep any pigeons.

Samira Fateh said she paid $4700 for construction of a pigeon loft outside her home. Picture: Supplied

She also claimed that photos of the inside of her home taken through the windows, violating her privacy, were then provided to the EHA without her permission.

Ms Fateh, who began rescuing pigeons in 2020 after she witnessed them being shot by a pest controller in Victoria Square in the Adelaide CBD, said the birds have been demonised by authorities and society.

“I have never been ashamed of sharing my living space with pigeons as they have no rights and are killed brutally and unnecessarily,” she said.

“They don’t have any proper regulation. They made me spend a lot of money to spend a loft and then they changed their mind and, because it was verbal, they could get away with it.”

The EHA, when contacted for comment, said it stood by the evidence it had provided to the tribunal.