Der Spiegel interviewed terror expert and Obama advisor Bruce Riedel about the evolving focus on Pakistan.

SPIEGEL: Currently, there are many reports about how closely the Pakistani secret service ISI is intertwined with terror groups. Does the ISI actually supply the Taliban with ammunition, trucks and recruits?

Riedel: These are serious issues. We are raising them with the Pakistanis. The head of the ISI was here in February. We have put these issues on the table and we expect to see a serious response. In our engagement with Pakistan, I think our watchword must be an old one: trust but verify.

SPIEGEL: What does the ISI expect to gain from their influence on these groups?

Riedel: Over the course of the last three decades, the ISI used these relations to have leverage against India and influence in Afghanistan. More and more Pakistanis now recognize that they have created a Frankenstein that threatens the Pakistani state itself. We now need to help them bring this monster under control.

SPIEGEL: The United States also played a role in its creation, back in the eighties when the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, then the number two at the CIA, was involved.

Riedel: Yes but we cannot go back and change history. We have to live with the reality we face today.

I like the Frankenstein reference. Nice sidestep to the historical connection, but the past is obviously still relevant and probably a real influence on Gates’ strategy for the Pentagon.

Perhaps you were wondering how to finance your next trip to Krakow, Poland. Maybe you also like killing birds. Problem solved. The Krakow Post reports:

“The programme is very progressive,” explained Mateusz Kierewicz, a local councilman and the main proponent of the new legislation. “The city’s pigeon problem has simply grown too large to ignore, and we needed to find a way to motivate citizens to take matters into their own hands, so to speak.” Beginning next month, each person that kills and brings in a pigeon to a police station will receive 10 zloty cash, tax-free – and there are no limits to how many pigeons each person can bring in.

Progressive? I suspect something was lost in translation. Are there restrictions on methods used to kill the pigeons? What about side-effects? Will someone be liable if they kill numerous other species of birds, for example, while trying to eliminate the pigeons?

Right off the top of my head I would suggest they try to reintroduce predator species like falcons since that would be far more attractive to life in the city, as well as visitors, compared with people sitting in the square spreading poison or shooting wildly at anything that looks pigeon-like.

Aside from the practical issues with the legislation, there are also numerous historic perspectives that might suggest it is a bad plan. Supposedly the pigeons helped the prince of Silesia, Henry the Fourth Probus, make a pilgrimage in the 13th Century to ask for the Pope’s blessing. The story goes something like this: The Pope requires a big payment to bless Henry’s plan to be king. The Prince is unable to get locals to contribute (apparently he would have lost an election, had there been one in those days) so in desperation he turns to a witch for help. She agrees and then turns all his knights into pigeons. Why? Maybe she disliked knights. Maybe she liked pigeons. I haven’t found a good translation yet. Anyway, the flying knight-birds peck pebbles from St. Mary’s Tower, which turn to gold when they fall into the square. Henry then takes his massive trove of gold but he blows it all on parties before he gets even close to Rome. Thus, the pigeons are really the knights of Henry. Another story tells of how a brown pigeon helped save the city of Krakow from evil attackers by carrying a message of hope.

Although I can understand the sentiment behind another “pest” elimination program for Krakow surely there could be a more sensible approach. Giant pigeon live traps, for example, that become exhibits of their own perhaps as a memorial to Prince Henry. Ontario, Canada has posted a list of Alternative Controls for Pigeons that is actually designed to help protect predator populations like the Peregrine Falcon.

Exclusion Methods: include habitat modification by reducing the pest bird’s access to food, water and roosting/loafing areas and by keeping out pest birds by using custom-designed sheet metal or plastic covers on ledges, sills, overhangs etc. Other exclusion tools include: netting, porcupine coil, spider wire, wire, electrified wires, eye balloons and sticky repellents

The advantages of these methods are that the birds are not killed and the control is comparatively long-lasting.

Trapping: is especially effective against pigeons, however, as with the use of toxicants or bird repellents trapping requires pre-baiting and luring pigeons to the chosen feeding bait site. Where a group of birds are roosting or feeding in a confined and isolated area, trapping should be considered the primary control tactic.

That says to me that trapping and exclusion combined could not only solve the problem, but increase tourism revenues and respect the historic importance of pigeons to Krakow. Exclusion methods also could motivate locals as it would generate work and opportunities for innovation.