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Pigeon Larceny

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There is a whole underworld of NYC pigeon theft that Gothamist did not know about: Apparently people have been poaching pigeons in order to be taken as targets for shooting events and the like! The Times describes the M.O.:
The reports are the same: around dawn, near a city park or plaza, two men jump out of a van, the license plate often concealed with tape. They toss a handful of seeds, and when pigeons descend, they swipe the birds up in a net...Once captured, the pigeons are then driven to Pennsylvania, investigators believe, and sold to private gun clubs for use in live bird shooting.
That is so dastardly! And while New Yorkers may not be fans of the huge, cooing masses that poop all over, no one messes with pigeons except New Yorkers...or at least the hawks that fly around the city to keep down both rat and pigeon populations, okay? It turns out that city pigeons are state-property, thus making it "illegal to harm them." The Times article also notes a number of small groups and clubs that are New York Companion Bird Club. Other great things we learned: Mention of Bernard Goetz's squirrel rehabilitation; pigeon lovers' surveillance of poachers ("Our aim is to unveil the mafia of netters."); it's hard to gather evidence, once the poachers pass state lines; of 311's 300 pigeon-related calls, half are complaints about people feeding them, and the other are about pigeon poop.

Gothamist's friend JW insists that pigeons are part of the dove family and are also called rock doves. Yeah, but just sometimes. And there is a classic pigeon scene in High Anxiety that is a take-off from The Birds.

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Comments [rss]

  • Chung

    It's better that we asians eat Dogs instead of fornicating with them.

  • Kimberly

    Chung, you are disgustingly sick!!!!

    How can you asians eat a dog?!! It's a pet not meat.

  • Chung

    Well excuuuse me, Kimberdly! I didn't think you were going to be so sensative towards eating dog meat, which is actually quite tasty if you ask me. You can benifit alot from eating dog meat. My friend John ( White boy ) always complained about how his dog Pappy never disobeys him, behaves rudely and cannot be trained. After John ate at my aunt's restaurant in china, John came back home to his dog pappy and said to me that Pappy has been acting really strange lately. That's because after Pappy smelled his own species on his owner's breath he never disobeyed his owner ever again.

  • Kimberly

    Chung you are a disgusting person. How can you talk about eating dog meat like that. My family had our family dog "spot" stolen out of our yard by our asian nieghbors who cooked it and brought it over to the nieghborhood barbeque and didn't tell us about it until everyone finished eating at the barbeque. That's

  • Chung

    DoL, Pigeon meat tastes almost like dog meat. They both taste like the way rotten meat smells like. If you are really that curious about how pigeon and dog meat tastes like, then you should eat at a chinese restaurant.

  • Jesus

    they are just homeless people looking to catch the birds for a meal. Leave them alone.

  • DoL

    I wonder what pidgeon meat tastes like. Do they have enough meat in them to make it worthwile to shoot them?

  • The Pigeon

    Leapt out of a car for one bird? That was probably me or one of my dastardly cohorts. We leap out of bushes, buses, cars and taxis to swipe a bird off the street.

    Why?

    Probably:

    It's sick or injured.

    Has hair or string or some other human trash entangled in it's toes crippling it.

    It's an orphaned baby.

    So what?

    So some of us are cursed with an inability to pass by a fellow creature suffering and in need of assistance.

    Call us crazy I guess.

    I'd do the same for you even you harbour this disproportionate hate of the peaceful Rock Dove.

    Yep - I'm crazy alright.

    These social birds could teach us a lot about the reality of

    humanity's "humaneness". When you see a filthy bedragled Pigeon in the street you should feel shame, not hate, for directly and indirectly we all are the cause of it's pitiful condition.

    In this day and age we have the technology to do something positive about it.

    Somewhere else I posted:

    I think all those with negative attitudes toward the Rock Doves (Pigeons) ought to take a deep look inside themselves...

    How on earth could an intelligent human being hate the venerable Pigeon?

    It is simply one of the most benign creatures on the planet - people who know them love them - why? - because they are adorable. There's not a bad bone in their bodies. They harm nothing, no one. They play a role in the propagation of trees and other vegetation, upon which we all depend. (Albeit not in a city, but hardly their fault)

    Bear in mind:

    Man brought them here - to eat their babies.

    Tall buildings are the closest to thier natural enviroments.

    They are dirty because we are filthy, and they just can't shake off human filth. A pigeon shielded from human filth is a very clean bird indeed. Quite beautiful close up, shimmering fluorescence.

    All poop carries disease. Pigeons get worms from dog poop in the street. (BTW Dog urine is IMHO much worse than anything Pigeons secrete.)

    Pigeons are not carriers of H5N1 (bird flu) or West Nile.

    We should be asking how that is... Not kill them all for being immune!

    It's speciesism - pure and simple. You've been ingrained to condemn certain creatures without any knowledge of them, without any personal experience with them.

    The old ladies need a little control and guidence in their feeding patterns for sure - they invariably grow a flock that ends up condemned.

    We should embrace our Pigeons, look after them and manage them with "Dovecotes" (Pigeon appartment buildings) where we can substitute their eggs to keep the population at a comfortable healthy level where the Pigeons will have a better quality of life and be appreciated and enjoyed by everybody.

    It's a 24th century Gene Rodenbery pipedream, but I love it.

    It's called PICAS, and it is happening in some places in Europe.



    "Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Albert Schweitzer

    The Pigeon

  • My ex-boyfriend was going to work before sunrise, last year. He was walking to the subway and he actually saw a guy jump out of a car and swipe a pigeon outside of the 2nd Ave train station! We were completely stumped as to why the man did it, but now I know!! ahahaha

  • My ex-boyfriend was going to work before sunrise, last year. He was walking to the subway and he actually saw a guy jump out of a car and swipe a pigeon outside of the 2nd Ave train station! We were completely stumped as to why the man did it, but now I know!! ahahaha

  • My ex-boyfriend was going to work before sunrise, last year. He was walking to the subway and he actually saw a guy jump out of a car and swipe a pigeon outside of the 2nd Ave train station! We were completely stumped as to why the man did it, but now I know!! ahahaha

  • This city needs more hawks.

  • Bert

    I can't believe how many people approve of Pigeon-icide. I hate you all.

  • bee-bau

    I have no problem with pigeon thieves rounding them up for shootin' competitions. I mean, there are a lot of nasty pigeons in this city--and the clay ones seem to be getting along just fine despite their participation in the shooting contests....

  • ryan

    I like pigeons... I think they're cute.

  • Paul

    Yes, kill them all and let RA claim them.

  • Striver

    Rock doves? We call 'em flying rats.

  • ryan

    kill them all! there are few more apt times to use that phrase.

  • Dirk

    No pigeon is safe. What kind of world do we live in? The terrorists have won.

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