More than 2,000 pigeons have been shot at railway stations and depots across the UK in 16 months, the BBC has found. Professionals with air rifles shoot the pigeons at night in an effort to prevent droppings becoming slip hazards or causing illness, but critics say the method is inhumane. Of the stations managed by state-owned companies, York Station recorded 608 birds shot between January 2025 and April of this year - 152 of them on a single day. The data was sourced under the Freedom of Information Act which does not apply to private companies, so it is possible other stations have culled more and the total is higher than the current figure of 2,019.