Swedish city dumps chicken poop on park to deter holiday celebrations

April 30 (UPI) -- Officials in a Swedish city said they are dumping more than a ton of chicken poop on a popular park to deter revelers from gathering to celebrate a popular holiday.

The city of Lund, which annually draws crowds numbering in the tens of thousands to celebrate Walpurgis Night in its central park, said chicken manure is being spread across the park to prevent revelers from gathering to celebrate the Thursday night holiday amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walpurgis Night, a spring festival that has roots in ancient pagan tradition, is celebrated annually on the last night of April.

Gustav Lundblad, chairman of the Lund council's environmental committee, said the chicken poop serves multiple purposes.

"We get the opportunity to fertilize the lawns, and at the same time it will stink and so it may not be so nice to sit and drink beer in the park," Lundblad told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

He conceded the effort might have some unintentional side-effects for nearby residents.

"I am not a fertilizer expert, but as I understand it, it is clear that it might smell a bit outside the park as well," Lundblad said. "These are chicken droppings, after all. I cannot guarantee that the rest of the city will be odorless. But the point is to keep people out of the city park."