(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-27 10:19

MADRID - When Real Madrid stars like Raul and Robinho head to the locker room, a team of birds of prey begin their shift, protecting the Spanish club's iconic stadium from pigeons - and their harmful droppings.

About a dozen eagles, falcons and owls with names like Atenea, Aramis and Byron stand guard above the grounds of the 60-year-old Santiago Bernabeu stadium, which hosted the 1982 World Cup final won by Italy.

"The pigeons are big problem, they enter the grounds in big numbers," said Guillermo Santalla, 34, who has trained the birds of prey to frighten the pigeons away without ever touching or harming them.

"We have to prevent them from living in the stadium because they dirty everything. The dirt is is tremendous and it harms the structure of the stadium," he told AFP.

In addition to leaving behind messy droppings, pigeons devour the pitch, especially when it has been recently seeded, and build their nests in the stands of the stadium, which can hold up to 80,000 people.

To keep the birds at bay, the eagles and falcons are trained to fly above the stands during the day while at night owls take over to discourage them from sleeping in the stadium, located in the heart of Madrid's business district.

Santalla, who had a childhood passion for the art of falconry, which was used in medieval times by the nobility in hunting, spends an average of six hours a day working with the birds at the venue.

He was trained by the widow of Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente, a Spanish expert in falconry who was at one point employed by the Saudi Arabian king and who is credited with popularizing the activity in Spain in the 1960s.

At a farm some 30 km outside of Madrid, Santalla is already training a new generation of falcons, including two named Figo and Zidane after the former star Real Madrid players Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane.

"This contributes to the recovery of certain endangered species because all of our birds of prey are born in captivity," he said.

Authorities in other European cities are also taking steps to protect their landmarks from pigeons, which are each estimated to produce an average of 11.3 kim of waste each per year.

Feeding pigeons was banned in London's Trafalgar Square while officials in Italy are looking into the possibility of banning the sale of birdseed in Venice's St. Mark's Square.

Several km away from the Bernabeu stadium, Madrid's international airport employs a team of falcons to scare off pigeons and other birds that can be dangerous for airplanes in the critical moments of takeoff and landing.

"Imagine the risk, what would happen if a flock of pigeons got in the way of a plane and it could not take off or slow down because of its speed," said Jesus Rero who has spent 37 of his 51 years working at the airport.

Airport management body Aena employs four teams of falcons at Barajas, which permanently stand guard on the sidelines of its four runways that handle some 1,400 daily takeoffs and landings.

The tactic is used at all Spanish airports to deal with the threat of collisions between birds and aircraft.

"It is the best method to frighten off pigeons which could strike the planes," said Rero who said the birds get used to other tactics like alarms or ultrasounds.

"Falcons always frighten them off because they are their natural enemy and they scare them," he said.