how can i be more kind to pigeons?

Posted by Odd-Library-2741@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 17 comments

i see a lot of pigeons with injured feet in my city. sometimes they have stringfoot or gum stuck to their feet. other times they have their beaks open presumably due to thirst, and i want to care for them, but i don’t know how to approach them without frightening them away. i’d be happy to handle them if they’d let me, but i don’t want to do more harm than good without realising. does anybody have experience with things like this? is there anything i should look out for, or even carry around in my bag just in case? thank you!!

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Warm_Stress_1654@reddit

That is nature happening in front of you in an urban environment. There is an overpopulation of pigeons - they're considered to be vermin - to such an extent that individuals who wouldn't be viable in the woodlands where the species evolved can still stagger around feeding on discarded human food.

May I humbly and seriously suggest that you get in touch with one of the many wildlife charities? If you want to direct your energies to helping wildlife, many species are in decline or even endangered due to human activity and helping an individual which is injured would be more a matter of redressing the balance than of making an infestation even worse.

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EmploymentOpening632@reddit

OP didn't ask about feeding pigeons. They wanted to reduce suffering for injured pigeons. I think it's fair to want that.

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Warm_Stress_1654@reddit

And I didn't mention feeding pigeons in my reply.

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Cold-Kaleidoscope974@reddit

See to be fair, feral pigeons are "rock doves" whose natural environment is cliff faces, so to them our modern built environment is much closer approximation to what they are evolved to live in than the woods, which is why they don't live there.

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Dependent_One6034@reddit

So, The towns and cities are constantly fed by new pigeons, from the rock faces at the coast or the woods. The issue is when they find a town or city, food is abundant so they don't leave.

Pigeons have many colours, but in towns and cities, they are mostly grey? Why? And sometimes you see reddish brown one?

Well basically, If you see a reddish brown pigeon there is a high chance it's new to the area, just flew in. The colours stay with them for around 3 generations. But they all eventually turn grey.

This is because they are adapting to the colours around them, to defend from predators. From above, A grey pigeon on a grey tarmac road would be harder to see.

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BobMonroeFanClub@reddit

Is it true that all the pigeons we see about are the ancestors of homing pigeons ie pets?

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frumentorum@reddit

Yes. It's why pigeons are classed as feral rather than wild

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Ok-Woodpecker4059@reddit

I love to think of all pigeons as descendants of those carriers. They were once loved as companions and messengers. We then replaced them with technology, but they never left us, and decided to be loyal. So they are gentle neighbours, perhaps waiting patiently to be loved again as they used to be!

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Glad-Pomegranate6283@reddit

I can’t remember the names off the top of my head (I can check for you if you like), there are accounts on Instagram which explain how to do the process. Sometimes it can actually be safer to leave some of the string attached bc removing it can cause further injury

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11Kram@reddit

If they are missing toes they likely have bumblefoot which is an infection.

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Few-Toe6525@reddit

you get them shoes🤣. On a more serious note there's not much you can do for them.

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missOmum@reddit

There are lots of tik tokers that do this and they show their process, you can start by watching their videos and maybe try yourself?

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International-Cow770@reddit

use a stitch unpicker if ur gonna fix string foot cause that wont cut them like scissors would if not used carefully

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porcelain_toenail@reddit

this guy has lots of videos on removing the string from pigeons ♥️

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olivinebean@reddit

If you're confident in cutting the tangled string off them then go for it. They're surprisingly easy to catch, they'll approach you if you're feeding them and then just pick them up and transport them to wherever it's safe for them and not too stressful.

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karennotkaren1891@reddit

https://www.stringfootpigeon.com/destring-101.html

I've seen groups of people in cities do this

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