The Salford Precinct pigeons are as much a feature as that huge red arrow on the tower block pointing to the Centre, but the feathered friends, or fiends, are out of control with their feeding habits.
Now, Salford Shopping Centre has taken the extraordinary step of launching a 'pigeon slimming club' using state of the art technology.
"I have a bird's eye view from my office of where our flying friends like to congregate and have been watching them like a hawk" says Shopping Centre Manager, Nick Pitt "The pigeons have no self-control and we therefore needed to take drastic measures and not just do something on a wing and a prayer.
"The only other option is to ask our shoppers to stop feeding the birds, but this slimming club seemed like a more sensible approach" he adds "We have invested in some specialist technology used by ornithologists that recognises birds by their footprint and will be able to record weight loss. This live data will then feed into the centre and for every pound a pigeon loses, we'll add a golden feather to a chart which will be unveiled on the mall, so shoppers can also follow their progress.
"We are very concerned about the portly pigeons' welfare and hope the community will show its support, and our slimming club will become a beacon of hope for other birds in the city" he explains.
As well as aiding the pigeons to slim down, Nick and the team at Salford Shopping Centre also want to emphasise the importance of the community helping the birds by not dropping their food on the floor as it's bad for the birds health.
"The pigeons can't help themselves, our slimming club of course will, but members of the public can also help by throwing their food waste in the bins provided."
To find out more about the scheme and how you can help see www.salfordshoppingcentre.com
Update: 12.10pm - This was, of course, an April Fool's spoof...
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