I can’t find an article on it (probably because it is not the sort of PR a city wants) but, IIRC, Chicago (where I live) has (or had) a program for the wholesale capture and killing of pigeons in the city. They are a serious pest. Pigeon crap everywhere.
The city also got some falcons with the notion to kill pigeons. And the falcons do kill the pigeons. But there are nowhere near enough falcons to do any sort of serious population control on the pigeons.
The falcons are fun to see when you catch a rare glimpse of one zooming through the city. Not something you expect in an urban area. I had one fly a few feet over my head with a dead pigeon in its talons. My mom’s building had a nesting pair on the roof of their building (which had to be closed so the falcons could nest in peace).
Pigeons are basically flying rats. But, as you mentioned, those kept by people as pets/homing birds are fine. Pet rats are fine too (indeed, they make really good pets). The wild ones though? No thanks.
Had a pigeon shit on my head once too as I was going in to work. Had to call in late because I had to go home and shower again.
My buddy who is a pigeon fancier had a contract to trap feral pigeons in some abandon building for a local town. He used radio controlled traps that he designed/built and is paid a certain amount to clear out the building.
He then boxes the birds up and transports them to a bird dog club that buys them from him for a buck a bird! Not a bad deal. In his spare time he was paid $500 by the town then colected an additional $300 from the club.
This is what I came in to post about. One of my favorite Lehrer songs. My sister, big wheel in the local chapter of the Audobon Society, is not so amused.
I see you’re new here. You have heard Tom Lehrer songs before, right? If not, and you liked that one, you’re in for a treat. For certain definitions of “treat”.
Eh, so long as there aren’t too many of them, i enjoy both wild pigeons and wild rats. I especially enjoy the rats when I’m bored waiting for the subway. They are cute. And the pigeons are especially cute during their breeding season, when the males put on a fancy display and the females act bored.
This line always bothered me. I’m sure the Jains, who take such extraordinary care to avoid harming even insects, would seriously object. Mahayana Buddhism forbids the killing of animals. Many Hindus avoid killing, and Catholics who identify with Francis of Assisi would take a dim view of offing pigeons.
Someone once told me that which of those two attitudes one expresses was a proxy variable for which side one was on in the 1968 French revolution, but I am not 100% sure which is which…
Cats terminate a lot of them where I live (more than falcons, anyway); not much I can do about it, but once I caught one in the act of dismembering a pigeon so what was I supposed to do?
Well, the vet charged me $250, but next time/if it’s not in bad shape I can drop them off at the volunteer wildlife place outside the city.
