British tourists visiting Tenerife have been warned they could be hit with a £1,000 fine unless they avoid making a common mistake while on their holidays.
Recently two people in Tenerife were hit with a fine for £855 each (1,000 euros) for feeding animals in a public place - a serious offence there. The Environmental Sustainability and Public Services department of the Santa Cruz Council fined the two residents for feeding pigeons in public areas.
The fines were issued after the pair violated the Municipal Ordinance regulating the Protection and Ownership of Animals in Santa Cruz by feeding the birds - and fines for violations can go as high as £1.2k (€1,500), the Express reports.
"Providing food, of any kind, to any animal found in public places is a serious offence and a lack of respect for other citizens,” José Manuel Bermúdez, Mayor of Santa Cruz told the Canarian Weekly. “Therefore, these residents must be penalised to prevent it from happening again, as these acts pose serious public health problems and deteriorate our heritage.”
Meanwhile, the councillor for the Environment, Carlos Tarife, added: “We will continue to penalise anyone who feeds pigeons in Santa Cruz, a practice that not only leads to uncontrolled growth in the number of these specimens but can also transmit diseases such as histoplasmosis, salmonellosis, and cryptococcosis, as well as carrying bedbugs and ticks, causing, through their excrement and nesting, serious damage to architectural and urban furniture, with the consequent economic impact on public funds."
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Feeding animals in public areas could land unwary holidaymakers with a massive fine (Getty Images)Separate incidents also took place recentlyon Avenida Ángel Romero and Avenida Las Asuncionistas in the capital of Tenerife, according to the Canarian. Tarife added: “The council is making a great effort to control the high number of pigeons in the city, and we cannot allow others to feed them, leaving food residues in public areas and attracting rat or cockroach infestations."
Between 700 and 1,000 pigeons are captured by Santa Cruz Council each month using traps and nets. A specially trained bird of prey is also being trailed in certain areas, such as Plaza de España or Parque García Sanabria, to try and stop the pigeons nesting. Research shows that the presence of hawks and other birds of prey stops pigeons from reproducing nearby.
Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands and it sees close to 2.3 million British tourists visiting each year - roughly three times the number of Spanish tourists from the mainland. The beautiful beaches and warm weather make the islands a top tourist spot for visitors from all over Europe.
More than 5.8 million tourists travelled to Tenerife in 2022, according to Statista. Almost three million of these come from outside Spain. That means six tourists visit the island each year for each of the 950,000 people living on Tenerife fulltime.
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