Arkansas City ? The Wild West returned briefly to downtown Arkansas City, when shooters on rooftops of several commercial buildings opened fire.

The shooters were after pigeons, and they had the city’s blessing.

But some residents are upset by the pigeon shoot, particularly because the city did not publicize the event beforehand.

City officials say the pigeon shoot has been used in the past to thin out the birds, which they say can cause health problems. And they acknowledge they unintentionally forgot to publicize the event beforehand.

Eighteen people who are certified hunters stood atop buildings with 20-gauge shotguns and shot at the birds from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Sunday. The downtown streets were not blocked off during the shoot.

No accidents or injuries were reported, police Chief Dan Givens said.

Givens said the Police Department monitored the event and animal control workers picked up the pigeons that were shot. The chief said other methods used to control pigeons generally don’t work because they just force the birds to fly to somewhere else in the area.

City Manager Curt Freeland said pigeons’ droppings create a health nuisance and their roosting inside buildings and under eaves also are a problem.

“This town has always had an Old West, frontier kind of solution,” he said. “When I got here, (20 years ago) I didn’t do anything to discourage it. I thought it was as humane and effective as anything.”

One downtown building owner, John Bryant, doesn’t like the idea. He said the shooting scares people. Besides, he said, some people, including him, like the birds.

“You’re trying to attract people to downtown, and you’ve got people shooting guns in downtown Ark City?” Bryant said Monday.

But Luke Schmidt, owner of Schmidt Jewelers downtown, said pigeons are a problem at his building, and he would like the shoots more often.

Mayor Patrick McDonald supports the shoot and said he would have liked to participate.

Shooting pigeons in a city area is unusual, said Don Moler, executive director of the Kansas League of Municipalities. He noted companies can be hired to control pigeons.