# May I have your blessings for pigeons in Hong Kong



## longlive_pigeon (Aug 17, 2012)

Pigeons here are facing the worst situation even since the feeding ban in 2004. The so-called experts say that the avain flu viruses have mutated from H5N1 to H7N9. This stirs up public hatred towards pigeons, who are already hypersensitive and extremely hostile to pigeons. Tonight I heard from the news that a 7-year-old girl returning from Shanghai has got fever since 31-march and hasn't recovered since then. Her mum told the media that she had fed wild pigeons in Zhangsu Province in Mainland China. She has been tested for H7N9 and results will be released soon. The government says if the result is positive, and if there is even only one proved case of avian flu in HK, the government will immediately raise the alert level to the highest, strengthen enforcement of the feeding ban and station officers at places where pigeon flocks are found. 










Pigeons in HK lead one of the most miserable life of ferals among the world. Feeding pigeons is not an offence formally, but they will treat any bread or seeds thrown on the ground as "rubbish" and people feeding pigeons will be charged of littering. While they can give a a fixed penalty of HK$1500, they can also make it a serious crime by using the """"Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances Regulation""""---- the highest consequence is six month imprisonment and penalthy up to HK$20000. One of our die-hard volunteers, a woman in her early sixty, has been sentenced to 2 week imprisonment with 3 years of suspended sentence last December. At that time there was no major avian flu outbreak. I cannot imagine how heavy will the penalty be now when the public are so eager to exterminate the pigeons. 

There are also lynch mobs who exert violence to stop us feeding. One of our feeders in her late 70s had been mauled, sprayed water at her face, drenching her whole body by a Philipino maid who claimed that the pigeons are dumping feaces in her private property. That maid also used a hose to shoot water attacking the pigeons and washed seeds into ditches, as requested by her master.

I have been feeding for 10 years now and I deem it to be the most dangerous crisis I have ever encountered. In the past few times when HK or regions in the proximity like Southern China experienced avian flu outbreak, the government clarified that pigeons have nothing to do with the plague and the public was still highly hostile to pigeons. This time a pigeon in Shanghai market is tested positive for H7N9 and we can no longer defend our right of feeding with the firm argument that pigeons don't spread Avian Flu. 

Now the remaining feeders are mainly old women with several middle-aged men and women. All the remaining feeders are very determined matyrs who have gone through all the assault, threatening and abusive tactics of the government departments, the neighbours and the security guards of private properties. Those who are not determined have already given up shortly after 2004. 

I can see how pigeons will be made even more miserable, with the exaggerating media amplifying public's hostility towards pigeons. ....All sorts of dirty means you can imagine...not only banning feeding to let them starve to death, but also caging, and means similar to that. And not only directly starve to death, but being too hungry and wander into the traffic foraging for food, or being too hungry that loses their alert to dangerous human beings approaching. The pigeons population has shrunk by over 70% after the ban in 2004. As the enforcement became more leniant, the pigeons had their way. But as this crisis reaches for us again, I can forsee massacre ahead. Very daunting for my fellow feeders too. I hope we'll get over soon, but things do not always turn to the bright side Pigeons are so lovely and innocent creatures and they really don't have to suffer from the human torturing. I just hope that the rumour will not spread to other countries to set up feeding ban elsewhere in the world. Please send your blessings.









This is Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui, one of the most popular tourist spots in Hong Kong. While tourists stop to appreciate and take photos of pigeons, this flock has become the focus of the media, the major target of the govn't. Fate of this flock is gloomy.


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

You have a tough situation.
The rumors spread here yesterday, but there was no say from where. They didn't even know the symptoms.

I strongly believe in corporations experimenting all kinds of viruses. I have done in the past a lots of research and i came out to the conclusion that all these new viruses are" manufactured" . Once the virus is spread they come out with the vaccine and there's good money they make out it. The governments may be oblivious to it, but the big corporations & World Health Organisation know it.


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## longlive_pigeon (Aug 17, 2012)

The rumour is luring the public to be even more hostile to pigeons. Today my friend was feeding the flock where a cage was set to trap pigeons as mentioned in my last thread. She witnessed a man holding an umbrella upside down, and lashed it at a pigeon's head with the umbrella wooden handle. (as if he is playing golf!) The poor pigeon struggled in pain for a while, then fell dead. My friend scolded him, and the man defended, " You feed the birds, and that's why I kill the birds. If I don't kill them, avian flu kills me" as if this slaughtering is a fully justified deed. My friend called the police, who arrested him. I don't know if the police will charge him cruelty towards animals, or just warn and release him. Very often police just don't see this matter worthwhile for investigation. And it reveals how pigeons are made more despairing under the current condition. All the people on the street want to take revenge and make sure pigeons suffer as much as possible, either indirectly killing them by starving or by directly killing them.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Have you ever gave it thought that feeding them is part of the problem? here is some quoted info.

"During a census in 1963 the City of Basel was found to have a pigeon population of 20,000 birds and in the following 24 years the city council used every means at their disposal to reduce the population, including killing over 100,000 pigeons by means of cage-trapping and shooting. In 1988, a pigeon head count revealed that Basel’s wild pigeon population was nearer 30,000 pigeons, an increase of 33% over and above the figure of 20,000 birds counted in the 1963 census. This dramatic increment in flock size confirmed that the city council’s lethal control policy, operated between 1963 and 1985, had not only been totally ineffective but had actually resulted in an increase in pigeon flock size of nearly one third. As a result, the city council realised that the problem had to be tackled at source. The source of the problem in Basel was the persistent feeding of the birds by residents in the city combined with the excessive use of lethal controls. 

Between 1988 and 1990 the City of Basel introduced a massive public information campaign to educate the public about pigeons and the relationship between feeding and resultant overpopulation. Alongside the public education campaign the city council asked the University of Basel to carry out a scientific study to find a solution to the problem of the overpopulation of pigeons in the city. This well-documented research concluded that killing pigeons had no effect on reducing pigeon flock size and in most cases resulted in an increase in pigeon numbers. Based on the view that lethal control could not reduce population size the research team looked at non-conventional and quite diverse methods of overcoming the problem. The connection had already been made between feeding and overpopulation"


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