City rules family’s pigeon aviary won’t fly after airport objects Birds used as calming influence for autistic boy By: Nicole Buffie Posted: 6:15 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2026

A West End family is crushed they will have to find new homes for their pet pigeons, which provide emotional support to their autistic, non-verbal son because the birds pose a flight risk to the airport.

The Lobo family was told they will have to get rid of 12 pigeons from their backyard aviary on Strathcona Street, because their home is within the Winnipeg Airport Authority’s airport vicinity protection area.

The federally regulated airspace limits land use as a way to keep flight paths clear and safe for aircraft, as well as manage noise from planes.

The city’s urban planning and design division had approved the construction of a 3.9-square-metre (42-square-foot) structure to house racing pigeons in the family’s backyard. An appeal hearing on Wednesday included a letter from the airport authority opposing the aviary.

The letter was not made public, but the city’s appeals committee detailed concerns about the proximity of the aviary to Winnipeg Richardson International Airport and its runways.

Hannah Lobo, whose father Ronald Lobo owns the pigeons, broke down in tears during the hearing when speaking about what the birds meant to her 10-year-old brother.

“They are not just pets … they are his emotional support. Taking them away would have a serious negative impact for his well-being.”

“They help him feel safe, reduce his stress and give him sense of routine,” the boy’s older sister said. “They are not just pets … they are his emotional support. Taking them away would have a serious negative impact for his well-being.”

Her brother uses the birds as sensory therapy and for companionship, and his behaviour at school has improved as a result, Lobo said.

Coun. Sherri Rollins expressed concerns with the aviary’s vicinity to the airport and how far the birds travel when they are let out to stretch their wings.

The birds stay in the coop and are rotationally released in pairs of two, to ensure they get exercise, the family said. Each bird was released twice per month and returned the same day it was released.

Lobo insisted the birds didn’t go near the airport, as they always return to their coop.

The committee heard Ronald Lobo built the enclosure about a year ago and didn’t know he needed a permit for the birds. A bylaw officer visited the home after receiving complaints and told him the birds seemed cared for and the enclosure was clean, but he needed the permit.

The city approved the structure with the variance allowing “flighted birds.” The city report also noted the coop would not be out of character on the lot.

Neighbours appealed the variance, citing sanitary risks associated with keeping the birds in the backyard. It noted droppings could dry and become airborne, and do damage to gardens and lawns in the area.

They also expressed concerns that feral pigeons could be attracted to the domesticated group. Neighbours said they’ve noticed more pigeons in the neighbourhood since the Lobo family built the enclosure.

“Pigeons can cause a lot of problems.”

“Pigeons can cause a lot of problems,” the appellant, Caroline Elliot, told the committee. She and her husband, Russ, live beside the Lobos.

The committee voted 3-1 in support of the appeal, with chairman Ross Eadie being the lone holdout.

During his vote, Eadie (Mynarski) said he’s been supportive of aviaries in the past, noting some public concerns about them are unfounded.

Coun. Brian Mayes cited council’s 2022 vote to shut down a two-year pilot project allowing urban chicken keeping because of sanitary and avian influenza concerns. He said allowing the pigeon aviary would be contradictory to that decision.

Mayes said if the pigeon operation was in a different area in the city he might consider it, but he couldn’t ignore the airport authority’s concerns.

“It was pretty obvious the airport had very serious safety concerns, so I wasn’t prepared to overlook that,” Mayes (St. Vital) said. “It seemed like a bad gamble to approve this and possibly set a precedent.”

The airport authority did not send a delegate to the hearing to answer questions about its concerns.

In an email, spokeswoman Kerillee Falloon said the top priority of the authority is the safety of people and birds.

Pigeons are formally recognized by Transport Canada as a Level 3 bird strike hazard to aviation safety and can cause engine damage, instrument failure, cracked windscreens, emergency landings, and aborted takeoffs,” Falloon wrote.

The committee heard during the appeal there is another backyard aviary within the airport authority’s protection area. Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) wants to find it and have it shut down.

She also wants to explore the legislative framework that allowed the coops to be approved within the regulated airspace and, possibly, propose amendments to ensure future variances of a similar nature don’t slip through the cracks.

“It’s about federal transportation safety, it’s not about livability. And the focus of that airport vicinity is to ensure that we are making the airport as safe as possible for 24-7 operations,” Rollins said. “When you’re looking at an injurious effect of a 300-passenger airplane and a bird strike, that’s the point of today.”

Rollins offered to help the family find homes for the birds.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca