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This photo made available Wednesday Nov. 21, 2012 by The Gavle Church Community shows pigeon droppings in the church tower in Gavle after a hatch was accidentally left open for at least 30 years. (AP Photo/The Gavle Church Community)

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2 tons of pigeon droppings in tower

Updated: Thursday, 22 Nov 2012, 1:23 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 22 Nov 2012, 1:23 PM EST

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A hatch on a Swedish church tower inadvertently left open for some three decades resulted in 2 tons of pigeon droppings amassing in the tower.

The church's property manager says the layer of droppings was 30 centimeters (12 inches) deep when it was discovered during a May inspection of the Heliga Trefaldighets Kyrka in Gavle, 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Stockholm.

Lennart Helzenius said on Thursday that church staff had been shocked by the sheer number of bags of excrement cleaners were removing from the tower. He says the droppings filled 80 bags in the first round of cleaning, and then just as many in the second round.

Helzenius says the hatch had probably been left open since the 1980s.

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