Sainsbury's has faced backlash from animal activists after it was found to have hired a pest control company to shoot pigeons at its Crayford store.

Cinzie Delegate, a volunteer with the London Wildlife Protection group, told News Shopper the group was alarmed to hear from one of its volunteers who works in the Crayford store that she witnessed pest controllers targeting pigeons in the warehouse before taking out a number of the birds.

Ms Delegate said: "She screamed and told them to stop.

"They took one last shot at a fifth bird before they left. She picked it up but it died in her hands and traumatised her."

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Ms Delegate said that although she understands why businesses such as Sainsbury's need to hire pest controllers, extermination should only be a "last resort".

"Shooting animals is illegal when you’ve taken no other steps, you have to have deterrents in place first.

"Culling is very ineffective as studies have shown that the population tends to increase following a cull rather than decrease," she said.

Ms Delegate said it appeared there were no deterrents in place at Sainsbury's Crayford, which meant it was inevitable that pigeons would seek shelter within the warehouse.

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A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said non-lethal attempts to remove the birds had not worked, which led to the birds being killed.

"Our pest control experts have used a range of methods to try to encourage the birds to leave the warehouse.

"Unfortunately these were unsuccessful and an extermination was completed outside of store open hours as a last resort, in line with industry guidelines," she said.