Viewers in Scotland have been angered by a BBC TV program that depicted the Edinburgh council killing pigeons, The Scotsman newspaper reported Tuesday.

Animal groups received thousands of emails and phone calls from viewers who were angered by the show.

Guy Merchant, director of the Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS) told The Scotsman his email account was flooded by emails, and he continued to receive phone calls from people who complained about the cull.

"We have had a mass of e-mails and phone calls from people who were horrified by the footage of this slaughter."

Merchant said council officials assured him two years back that they were not interested in culling pigeons. "We have had contacts from people saying they were concerned the council was killing pigeons and we have been reassuring them, on the basis of what we had been told, that Edinburgh did not do that."