April 24 (Bloomberg) -- As the sun rises over London's Trafalgar Square, hundreds of pigeons huddle under Nelson's Column in a scene reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's ``The Birds.''

Thirty minutes later, a frenzy of cooing breaks out as a woman approaches wheeling a large suitcase. Inside Shelagh Moorhouse's luggage is 15 pounds of corn. On opening it, she is engulfed by a swarm of flapping wings.

Moorhouse is one of a band of activists dedicated to saving the pigeons of Trafalgar Square. Mayor Ken Livingstone, who calls them ``flying rats,'' has spent the past six years trying to banish the birds, saying they're a health hazard and their droppings cost 140,000 pounds ($280,000) a year to clean up.

``We've got a despot with a pigeon phobia in charge of this city,'' says Moorhouse, 69, a retired radiographer. ``It's cruel and wrong to starve them just because one man doesn't like them. You should be entitled to feed birds anywhere.''

Since his election in 2000, Livingstone has pursued the pigeons with the same vigor he put into introducing a congestion charge to reduce traffic in the city center. He evicted the square's bird-seed vendor, made pigeon-feeding a crime and deployed huge vacuum cleaners to suck up corn as part of an effort to beautify the square.

Where an estimated 35,000 pigeons once flocked, only about 1,000 now remain. Signs in half a dozen languages inform tourists of the bird-seed ban.

Dumping on Nelson

Pigeon fanciers in 2002 reached an agreement allowing them to gradually reduce feeding, so that birds wouldn't starve. That truce broke down last year after the mayor said animal-rights activists had violated the bargain.

For now, pigeon lovers are exploiting a legal loophole by continuing to feed the birds on the square's north terrace, an area that is controlled by the borough of Westminster, not the mayor's office.

That may not be an option for long. Westminster Council is in the process of introducing its own bird-feeding ban.

``The pigeons leave a significant amount of mess,'' said Alan Bradley, the council's cabinet member for street environment. ``The resulting cost of cleaning the north terrace is very high.''

The mayor's attempted coup de grace came when he hired two Harris hawks to patrol the skies.

The opposition Liberal Democrats have criticized the program. The hawks have cost taxpayers 226,000 pounds since 2002, while killing an estimated 121 pigeons, the party says. They calculate that Livingstone has spent 90 pounds for each pigeon killed or scared off. Activists say the birds have been ripped apart in front of tourists and children.

Court Battle

Still bedeviled by the remaining birds, Livingstone has brought in conservation experts to ``pigeon-proof'' the 169-foot (51-meter) monument to Horatio Nelson, the square's centerpiece since 1843. Slippery gel, fine mesh and metal spikes are Nelson's weapons against the pigeons, which can each deposit 12 kilos (26 pounds) of excrement a year.

While Livingstone has tried to curb the pigeons in a humane way, ``persistent and anti-social'' feeding have hampered his efforts, said Ben McKnight, a spokesman for the mayor.

``We have no intention of going backwards,'' McKnight said in an e-mail.

The battle wound up in court this week. Activists calling themselves ``Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons,'' have sued Livingstone for breach of contract, saying he reneged on the agreement to gradually reduce feeding year by year.

Starvation Threat

If feeding stops, the pigeons ``will starve within days,'' said Niel Hansen, chairman of Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons. Activists were forced to take hungry birds to an animal sanctuary after feed sales were banned in the main part of the square, and they may be forced to do so again if it is extended.

London pigeons aren't alone in facing eviction. In Venice, the mayor is calling for a crackdown on the 40,000 pigeons that inhabit St. Mark's Square. In New York, speakers were installed at the military recruitment center in Times Square in December to scare away birds by with recorded predator sounds.

Andrew D. Blechman, author of ``Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird,'' says Livingstone should be more accommodating to ``one of mankind's most loyal and gentle friends.''

During World War II, he notes, the U.K. used 250,000 messenger pigeons. A total of 32 were awarded the Dickin Medal -- the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross -- more than all other species put together. Pigeons delivered the news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1805 and the first Olympics in 776 B.C., according to Blechman.

`Stupid Bloody Woman!'

As Moorhouse scatters food on her daily bird-saving mission, hundreds of Londoners pass through a feathery gantlet on their way to work. Reactions are mixed. Many women tiptoe past for fear of getting muck on their shoes. A man in a business suit kicks at the birds and shouts ``stupid bloody woman!'' at Moorhouse, who has three pigeons perched on her hand.

Soon after the last grains are pecked, the mayor's hawker arrives. The pigeons scatter, flapping off to the safety of parks across the city and leaving the square empty.

``There are so many things that need attention, but the mayor's obsessed with pigeons,'' said Hansen. ``It's farcical. If you take away the pigeons, then Trafalgar Square is just another square.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Allen in London at nallen14@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 24, 2007 04:47 EDT