# Pigeons are so hungry



## animallovercelal (Nov 18, 2013)

Whenever I go to Chicago my heart melt down to see hungry pigeons. Pigeons are no different than cats and dogs we own. They are part of us, but we the people do nothing. It is so sad. Some leaders in Chicago put a ban on feeding pigeons. Some good people out there can not even feed these beautiful animals. The evil exists when the good people fail to act. Please people feed the pigeons.


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## LisaNewTumbler (Jun 24, 2013)

It is not as simple as that.

I was always one to feed the pigeons and was very annoyed when they put a ban up in our capital city.

But I understand why they did it. The pigeon population was unmanagable and was causing a lot of damage to the historical buildings and monuments.

The difference between stray cats or dogs and pigeons is sterilization. While stray cats and dogs can be taken in and sterilized, even if they are released again into the street they will not aggravate the over population.

Pigeons as far as I know cannot be sterilized. What are you going to do, rehome the thousands of pigeons? Feed them and take care of them? But a population will only grow as far as the resources of its territory will allow. Endlessly feeding feral pigeon populations will cause a huge boom in already overpopulated cities.

And then the cities will cull them. Which to me is so much worse. Especially since it does not solve the problem. But only creates new space for a new generation.

Also remember, a huge population is not healthy for the pigeons either. Resources will run thin, whether food (however much you feed them), water or safe roosting sites and protection from cold weather. The birds will die off from starvation, sickness, predators and humans getting rid of pests.

I recently read a fantastic article (based in the UK i think) where researchers introduced a fantastic way of controlling a pigeon population in a problem area.

They created a pigeon loft!

They selected a suitable site and created a safe and cozy loft, (with food and water also I believe) and attracted the pigeons to it.

The local pigeons, who had been reeking havoc on the historical buildings of the site took to the loft amazingly. And were now roosting in a safe and did not cause more problems.

The pigeon loft was equipped with nest boxes and everything. And all they needed to do to control the population was once a week, replace the eggs they laid with fake ones! 

Happy, safe pigeons - controlled population - and Happy people who no longer had to find ways of keeping the pigeons off their buildings


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## LisaNewTumbler (Jun 24, 2013)

I'll also add that when I used to go feed the pigeons there were hundreds everywhere and many of them where skinny fledglings (that often would not survive a year).

Since they put in the ban, there are much fewer, but they are for the most part adults and mostly healthier looking, if you overlook things like mites and PMV.


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## animallovercelal (Nov 18, 2013)

I dare anyone is against pigeon feeding, to go to Istanbul Turkey or similar cities in Europe. People there feed the pigeons all year around and world do not come to an end. Those countries stand over 3000 years.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

I would call pigeons one of the "most successful" and "adaptive" birds ever to fly the skies. Its we humans that are responsible for explosion in pigeon population. Pigeons are originally rock/cliff dwellers and used to live in the wild where nature's odds/predators took their cause and populations stayed controlled. But we humans build structures/buildings that replicate their nesting spots/habitat. And they don't eat meat. If they were meat/insect eaters then they would still be living in the wild.
Its us,humans who always had and will have deepest impact on nature and creatures are the sufferers.
Pigeons moved to cities and found roosting,nesting and feeding places and hence they fly over our heads everywhere.
What I wanna say is that we humans are culprits and we think we can control nature artificially but we are nothing when nature comes down to show its will.
Controlling pigeons by starving,poisoning,hunting or scaring them is NOT A GOOD DEED for me. We have to repay for our karma. Yea,most have blurred visions because of materialism so we give a heck about God,karma and stuff but nature/God knows how to remind us fo his presence but still remain oblivious of the signs he send us.
Not only us but animals also have every right to live. 
Bottomline, Its us who made things go outta control,if we really call ourselves humans than we must find out humane ways to tackle with the problem not by doing massacres that we always do


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## wovenwoman (Jul 2, 2003)

In the 1990s a pigeon loft was built in the north-east corner of the Batman park in Melbourne Australia to encourage pigeons to roost away from the city buildings and streets, their eggs are captured and disposed of to curtail the population


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

They aren't as hungry as you think they are. Pigeons are natural foragers. That is why they have such a good homing ability, because they go out to find food and come back to their roost at night.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

http://www.duivenoverlast.nl/pigeonloft.htm

Terry


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Thnx for sharing the link, Terry.

I appreciate the move but I'm doubtful about this plan's success and global application.
But I'm affirmative


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

animallovercelal said:


> Whenever I go to Chicago my heart melt down to see hungry pigeons. Pigeons are no different than cats and dogs we own. They are part of us, but we the people do nothing. It is so sad. Some leaders in Chicago put a ban on feeding pigeons. Some good people out there can not even feed these beautiful animals. The evil exists when the good people fail to act. Please people feed the pigeons.


I think in the long run people who feed pigeons are doing them as a whole a diservice. yes they are feral but they can revert back to their natural ways as they should do, because it would keep populations down. which means less suffering. humans have taken foraging out of their lives where they should be flying afar to find seeds and grains and legumes on the outskirts. in which they get stimulation and excersize. feeding them handouts unbalances the natural outcomes. feeding them is an emotional response that really has to do with the human needing to fill something rather then thinking it through.


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## Abdulbaki (Jul 31, 2013)

People feed pigeons all over the world and we are still alive the only thing I want to say is : If you are able to feed feral and city pigeons go ahead and feed if you cannot do not tell people to stop feeding them, If they get over populated the weakest among them will eventually die and the number is "Automatically" controlled by nature.

talking about pigeons ... humans in the world are almost 7 Billions we should stop seeking for food to control this heck HUGE number of us, Shouldn't we?


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

brocky bieber said:


> Thnx for sharing the link, Terry.
> 
> I appreciate the move but I'm doubtful about this plan's success and global application.
> But I'm affirmative


It is successful and no doubt the best form of population control. It's just that only a few cities use the lofts. It would be great if all the big cities would utilize them. I wrote a paper on it in college. It could provide jobs or another form of community service. Assuming they are collected daily, maybe twice a day, the eggs are edible. I'm sure a homeless guy would enjoy a plate of scrambled eggs. The droppings collected could be utilized as fertilizer - sold to farmers or used in the city's flower beds, parks, etc. Plenty of opportunities.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

MaryOfExeter said:


> It is successful and no doubt the best form of population control. It's just that only a few cities use the lofts. It would be great if all the big cities would utilize them. I wrote a paper on it in college. It could provide jobs or another form of community service. Assuming they are collected daily, maybe twice a day, the eggs are edible. I'm sure a homeless guy would enjoy a plate of scrambled eggs. The droppings collected could be utilized as fertilizer - sold to farmers or used in the city's flower beds, parks, etc. Plenty of opportunities.


Sure, plenty of benefits this provides, volunteers are doing most of the work though.


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## Doig (May 18, 2013)

To be Honest, limiting feral pigeon population by not feeding them is the best way to keep them from overcrowding large cities. I would find it annoying to find my porch window filled with overnight droppings from pigeons. 

I thought the question was about their own pet pigeon(s).


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