People for the Preservation of Pigeons

How Smart Is This Bird?

2011-12-23T04:23:00.002-05:00

How Smart Is This Bird? Let It Count the Ways
By James Gorman

By now, the intelligence of birds is well known. Alex the African gray parrot had great verbal skills. Scrub jays, which hide caches of seeds and other food, have remarkable memories. And New Caledonian crows make and use tools in ways that would put the average home plumber to shame.

Pigeons, it turns out, are no slouches either. It was known that they could count. But all sorts of animals, including bees, can count. Pigeons have now shown that they can learn abstract rules about numbers, an ability that until now had been demonstrated only in primates. In the 1990s scientists trained rhesus monkeys to look at groups of items on a screen and to rank them from the lowest number of items to the highest.

They learned to rank groups of one, two and three items in various sizes and shapes. When tested, they were able to do the task even when unfamiliar numbers of things were introduced. In other words, having learned that two was more than one and three more than two, they could also figure out that five was more than two, or eight more than six.

Damian Scarf, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Otago, in New Zealand, tried the same experiment with pigeons, and he and two colleagues report in the current issue of the journal Science that the pigeons did just as well as the monkeys.

Elizabeth Brannon, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, and one of the scientists who did the original experiments with monkeys, was impressed by the new results. “Their performance looks just like the monkeys’,” she said.

Score one for the birds. The pigeons had learned an abstract rule: peck images on a screen in order, lower numbers to higher. It may have taken a year of training, with different shapes, sizes and colors of items, always in groups of one, two or three, but all that work paid off when it was time for higher math.

Given groups of six and nine, they could pick, or peck, the images in the right order. This is one more bit of evidence of how smart birds really are, and it is intriguing because the pigeons’ performance was so similar to the monkeys’. “I was surprised,” Dr. Scarf said.

He and his colleagues wrote that the common ability to learn rules about numbers is an example either of different groups — birds and primates, in this case — evolving these abilities separately, or of both pigeons and primates using an ability that was already present in their last common ancestor.

That would really be something, because the common ancestor of pigeons and primates would have been alive around 300 million years ago, before dinosaurs and mammals. It may be that counting was already important, but Dr. Scarf said that if he had to guess, he would lean toward the idea that the numerical ability he tested evolved separately. “I can definitely see why both monkeys and pigeons could profit from this ability,” he said.

No testing has been done with numbers greater than nine, so whether a pigeon can count large numbers of bread crumbs or popcorn kernels is a question still open to investigation.

12 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know About Pigeons

2011-09-28T14:36:00.005-04:00

by EVOLVE! Campaigns

How old are pigeons?

Pigeons have lived alongside man for thousands of years with the first images of pigeons being found by archaeologists in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and dating back to 3000 BC. It was the Sumerians in Mesopotamia that first started to breed white doves from the wild pigeon that we see in our towns and cities today and this undoubtedly accounts for the amazing variety of colors that are found in the average flock of urban pigeons. To ancient peoples a white pigeon would have seemed miraculous and this explains why the bird was widely worshipped and considered to be sacred. Throughout human history the pigeon has adopted many roles ranging from symbols of gods and goddesses through to sacrificial victims, messengers, pets, food and even war heroes!

Biblical references

The first biblical reference to the pigeon (or dove) was in the Old Testament of the Bible in the first millennium AC and was the story of Noah and the dove of peace. Later, in the New Testament, the pigeon was first mentioned during the baptism of Christ where the dove descended as the Holy Spirit, an image now used extensively in Christian art. These early biblical references have paved the way for the many different ways that the urban pigeon is viewed in modern societies worldwide. Perception of the pigeon through the centuries has changed from God to the devil and from hero to zero!

Pigeon poop – foul or fantastic?

Although pigeon poo is seen as a major problem for property owners in the 21st Century, it was considered to be an invaluable resource in the 16th, 17th and 18th century in Europe. Pigeon poop was a highly prized fertiliser and considered to be far more potent than farmyard manure. So prized in fact that armed guards were stationed at the entrances to dovecotes (pigeon houses) to stop thieves stealing it! Not only this, but in England in the 16th century pigeon poop was the only known source of saltpetre, an essential ingredient of gunpowder and was considered a highly valued commodity as a result. In Iran, where eating pigeon flesh was forbidden, dovecotes were set up and used simply as a source of fertilizer for melon crops and in France and Italy it was used to fertilize vineyards and hemp crops.

The pigeon as a war hero

In modern times the feral pigeon has been used to great effect during wartime. In both the first and second World Wars the pigeon saved hundreds of thousands of human lives by carrying messages across enemy lines. Pigeons were carried on ships in convoys and in the event of a U-boat attack a messenger pigeon was released with details of the location of the sinking ship. In many cases this lead to the survivors being rescued and lives saved. Mobile pigeon lofts were set up behind the trenches in the First World War from which pigeons often had to fly through enemy fire and poison gas to get their messages home. The birds played a vital role in intelligence gathering and were used extensively behind enemy lines where the survival rate was only 10%. In the Second World War pigeons were used less due to advances in telecommunications, but the birds relayed invaluable information back to the allies about the German V1 and V2 Rocket sites on the other side of the Channel.

The pigeon as a messenger

The earliest large scale communication network using pigeons as messengers was established in Syria and Persia about 5th Century BC. Much later in the 12th Century AD the city of Baghdad and all the main towns and cities in Syria and Egypt were linked by messages carried by pigeons. This was the sole source of communication. In Roman times the pigeon was used to carry results of sporting events such as the Olympic Games and this is why. Games and this is why white doves are released at the start of the Olympic Games today. In England, prior to the days of telegraphs, pigeons were often taken to soccer matches and released to carry home the result of the game. Their use as a messenger in war time resulted in many pigeons being awarded honors by both the British and French Governments. Incredibly, the last ‘pigeon post’ service was abandoned in India in 2004 with the birds being retired to live out the rest of their days in peace.

'Rock Dove' or 'Pigeon

The feral pigeon that we see in our towns and cities today is descended from the Rock Dove (Columba livia), a cliff dwelling bird historically found in coastal regions. The word ‘pigeon’ is actually derived from the Latin word ‘pipio’ which meant ‘young bird’. The word then passed into Old French as ‘pijon’ and thus the English name ‘pigeon’ was derived and is now used the world over as a common name for the Rock Dove. Other common names include ‘domestic pigeon’ and the ‘feral pigeon’. In 2004 British and American Ornithologists officially re-named the bird the Rock Pigeon.

Mating habits of the pigeon

The feral pigeon mates for life and can breed up to 8 times a year in optimum conditions, bringing two young into the world each time. The frequency of breeding is dictated by the abundance of food. The eggs take 18/19 days to hatch with both parents incubating the eggs. Young dependant pigeons are commonly known as ‘squabs’. Both parents feed the young with a special ‘pigeon milk’ that is regurgitated and fed to the squabs. Each squab can double its birth weight in one day but it takes 4 days for the eyes to open. When squabs are hungry they ‘squeak’ whilst flapping their wings and as a result they are also commonly known as ‘squeakers’. At approximately 2 months of age the young are ready to fledge and leave the nest. This much longer than average time spent in the nest ensures that life expectancy of a juvenile pigeon is far greater than that of other fledglings.

How do pigeons navigate?

There are many theories about how pigeons manage to return ‘home’ when released 100’s of miles from their loft. A champion racing pigeon can be released 400-600 miles away from its home and still return within the day. This amazing feat does not just apply to ‘racing’ or ‘homing’ pigeons, all pigeons have the ability to return to their roost. A 10-year study carried out by Oxford University concluded that pigeons use roads and freeways to navigate, in some cases even changing direction at freeway junctions. Other theories include navigation by use of the earth’s magnetic field, visual clues such as landmarks, the sun and even infrasounds (low frequency seismic waves). Whatever the truth, this unique ability makes the pigeon a very special bird.

Pigeons as lifesavers

Although pigeons are one of the most intelligent of all the bird species man has found limited uses for the birds other than for the purposes of sport, food and as a message carrier. A team of navy researchers, however, has found that pigeons can be trained to save human lives at sea with high success rates. Project Sea Hunt has trained a number of pigeons to identify red or yellow life jackets when floating in the water. The pigeons were not only found to be more reliable than humans but they were also many times quicker than humans when it came to spotting survivors from a capsized or sinking boat. The pigeon can see color in the same way that humans do but they can also see ultra-violet, a part of the spectrum that humans cannot see, and this is one of the reasons they are so well adapted to lifesaving.

Pigeons in the news

One of the world’s most famous news agencies, Reuters, started its European business by using trained homing pigeons. The service was started in 1850 with 45 pigeons carrying the latest news and stock prices from Aachen in Germany to Brussels in Belgium. Although a telegraph service between the two countries existed, numerous gaps in the transmission lines made communication difficult and slow. The birds travelled the 76 miles in a record-breaking two hours beating the railway by four hours.

Why do you never see a baby pigeon?

Most small birds rear and fledge their young in 2/3 weeks with young birds sometimes leaving the nest after only 10 days of life, but pigeons are different, their young remain in the nest for up to 2 months before fledging. This gives the young pigeon an advantage over many other species of bird. It leaves the nest as a relatively mature juvenile, allowing the bird to cope better in the first few days of its life, a dangerous time for all youngsters. Juveniles can be told apart from adults but it takes an experienced eye. A juvenile’s beak often appears to be far too long for the size of its body and the cere (the fleshy area at the top of the beak) is white in adults and greyish pink in juveniles.

Are Pigeons Intelligent?

Pigeons are considered to be one of the most intelligent birds on the planet with pigeons being able to undertake tasks previously thought to be the sole preserve of humans and primates. The pigeon has also been found to pass the ‘mirror test’ (being able to recognise its reflection in a mirror) and is one of only 6 species, and the only non-mammal, that has this ability. The pigeon can also recognise all 26 letters of the English language as well as being able to conceptualise. In scientific tests pigeons have been found to be able to differentiate between photographs and even differentiate between two different human beings in a photograph when rewarded with food for doing so.

Rachel Trachtenburg "Pigeon Song"

2011-09-02T23:31:00.000-04:00

Pennsylvania Senate committee approves bill to ban live pigeon shoots

2011-04-13T10:24:00.004-04:00

Referenced from US Humane Society:

The Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11 to 3 today in favor of legislation to end target shoots with live pigeons once and for all. Pennsylvania holds the dishonor of being the last place where such cruel spectacles are regularly and openly allowed. SB 626, Sen. Pat Browne – District 16, now goes to the full Senate.

Pigeon shoots are bloody, wanton events where trapped birds are launched from boxes. Prizes are granted for shooters who kill the most.

“We thank Sen. Patrick Browne for tirelessly pushing this legislation to end cruel contests outlawed in most states, and Sen. Stewart Greenleaf and members of the Judiciary Committee for passing this legislation onto the Senate,” said Heidi Prescott, senior vice president for the Humane Society of the United States.

Today’s committee approval represented the first legislative vote on the issue in 11 years despite widespread opposition to these events.
Sen. Browne’s measure specifically states that traditional hunting activity is not included in the ban.

About pigeon shoots:

•Other supporters of SB 626 include the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Federation of Humane Societies, The Pennsylvania Bar Association and the ASPCA.
•A small circuit of pigeon shoots exists in Pennsylvania, attracting out-of-state shooters who cannot participate in the activity considered animal cruelty in their home states.
•In pigeon shoots, the birds are launched one at a time from traps in front of shooters who blast away at close range.
•Typically, 70 percent of the birds released in pigeon shoots are wounded rather than killed outright, with some wounded animals escaping into the area to suffer for hours or days before dying.
•Like dogfighting and cockfighting the shoots are invitation-only events with participants said to bet large sums on the outcomes.
•In 1999, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that pigeon shoot participants could be prosecuted for animal cruelty leading to the ending of the annual Hegins Labor Day Pigeon Shoot. But shoots have continued at private clubs.

Living at Peace with Pigeons (pigeon lofts)

2010-12-01T15:52:00.011-05:00

Living at Peace with Pigeons

How pigeon lofts are good news for birds – and also for cities
By Marleen Drijgers.

(Editor’s Note: In her previous post, Marleen Drijgers, the founder of the European Council for Humane and Effective Pigeon Control, described how many cities across Europe have stopped treating pigeons as pests and started to treat them as the beautiful birds they are. Now she explains how to create a good living space for them.)

In the late 1990s, the city of Rotterdam, Germany, laid out a plan to kill all its pigeons. I had already had success in persuading several town, in Holland, where I live, that mass killings do not reduce the population in the long term and are not only cruel but a waste of taxpayer money. So I was invited to address the council in Rotterdam. The majority of the council agreed with me and they vetoed the plan.

At the same time, I met a German artist, Stefan Gross, who was living and working in Rotterdam. Stefan told me that in two cities in Germany, pigeons were not being killed anymore. Instead, they were living in pigeon lofts donated by well-wishers. After our meeting, Stefan proceeded to design a modern loft for the pigeons of Rotterdam, and local bird associations began organizing with city councils, volunteers and private donors to have them installed and maintained.

When pigeons get a beautiful loft where they can eat and sleep, they also get a makeover in peoples’ minds. Because the lofts are good-looking, modern and practical, people stop thinking of their inhabitants as dirty, ugly, flying vermin. Good food results in good-looking, healthy birds of which a city can be proud. And the lofts themselves are artistic pieces of architecture.

The pigeon lofts

The lofts are made of aluminum, so they are not heavy. They are also insulated, so they’re cool in summer and warm in winter. And they’re attached to the rooftop of a building in a way that ensures they are storm-proof.

Not every city pigeon needs a loft. Lofts are for places where the birds gather in flocks, creating a nuisance. A pigeon loft is a humane solution that reduces complaints that droppings and nests are polluting buildings and apartment blocks.

The loft must be built close to places where the pigeons are already sleeping and nesting. A loft in a park does not solve the problem. Pigeons like sitting high on rooftops, so rooftops are good places for lofts.

Caring for the pigeons

To prevent a pigeon loft from becoming overcrowded, volunteers remove eggs and replace them with plastic eggs. Only when female pigeons brood very often do they leave a single egg that will hatch. In a loft where 150 pigeons sleep and brood, more than 300 eggs and more than 600 pounds of pigeon droppings will be removed each year. (Pigeon eggs are edible by humans, so I like to think the pigeons are paying the “rent” for their house in eggs.) We also provide them with a good mixture of cereals and seeds and fresh water daily.

Caring for the pigeons obviously takes some work. As I mentioned in my previous post, I became interested in pigeons through my neighbor, who used to put out food for them on her roof. I began to do the same thing, putting out a big bowl of drinking water and a small tub for bathing. It was lovely to see the pigeons splashing in the water and also grooming and looking after each other. Once a week, I had to clean my rooftop of pigeon dung, but I didn’t mind – the pleasure exceeded the nuisance.

In some European cities where pigeon lofts are taking hold, the people who look after the pigeons and clean the lofts are paid for their work. In others, this work is done by volunteers who love pigeons. It just takes a little organization to make sure the routine is maintained. And the small investment of paying someone to do this work is far less than the cost of pigeon extermination.

The new lifestyle we provide for the pigeons also increases their lifespan. Without a loft, a pigeon’s life expectancy is about 3 years. Pigeons living in a loft live longer because of the good food and the shelter from rain, snow and wind.

Also, for racing pigeons who get lost during the races, the lofts are a true sanctuary where they can live for the rest of their lives. (Most pigeon keepers are not interested in having them back, because there are no longer any prizes to be won with them.)

Here in the Netherlands, there are now pigeon lofts in five cities, and plans are in motion for three more cities. In Germany, there are lofts in almost 40 cities and there are also some in Belgium, France, Italy and the U.K. I’ve also had some inquiries from Athens in Greece.

More and more cities are seeing that this humane method is also effective, and more and more cities are discovering that installing lofts is far preferable to the senseless and cruel killing.

I hope that cities in the U.S. choose for pigeon lofts as well. They are peaceful birds, so we should let them live in peace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marleen Drijgers is the founder of the European Working Group for Effective Pigeon Control. You can contact her directly there for more information about creating a pigeon loft, or introduce her work to your local bird protection group.

There are no organized city programs in the United States yet to create lofts for city pigeons. For more information about helping pigeons in the United States, visit the New York Bird Club.

World's Largest Pigeon!

2010-11-11T08:08:00.001-05:00

Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Avitrol Corp Discontinues Sale of Avitrol

2010-11-03T08:17:00.006-04:00

Several sources including the Humane Society of the United States as well as the Avitrol Corporation have reported the shutdown of the company that manufactures Avitrol. See the link for details.

A poison, Avitrol was used to reduce the number of birds at industrial, agricultural and urban sites. Use of the product was limited to licensed pest applicators and usually resulted in dead or dying birds. Introduced more than 25 years ago, Avitrol has long been opposed by animal welfare and conservation groups.

See letter from Avitrol Corp:
http://ovocontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Avitrol-Letter.pdf

The Ford Motor Company

2010-10-09T11:28:00.002-04:00

Please flag this video as violent and inappropriate.

Canned Pigeon Hunt Exposed on CNN Headline NEWS show

2010-10-01T07:57:00.001-04:00

15,000 Domestic Birds to be Shot for Target Practice
Thank you CNN Headline News for covering this story:
"Issues: With Jane Velez-Mitchell"

Activists travel to Pennsylvania almost every week to attend the pigeon shoots and document the event. They point out that Pennsylvania’s Animal Cruelty Law, Title 18, section 5511, prohibits a person from wantonly or cruelly ill-treating or abusing any animal. The law also prohibits neglect, abandonment, and deprivation of food, drink, shelter, or veterinary care. Pigeon shoots violate every one of these prohibitions. All of the information including videos can be downloaded below or at PigeonShoots.com.

Pigeon shoots are competitions wherein hundreds to thousands of live birds are shot at to win prizes. A typical 3-day shoot contest can kill and injure up to 15,000 birds. The next canned pigeon shoot event is scheduled for October 3, 2010.

The pigeons are captured and collected for weeks ahead of time, then released from trap boxes only yards away from the so-called “sportsmen”. The birds are generally dazed and suffering from dehydration or starvation as they are sprung out of the boxes.

Rather than mercifully being given a quick death, 70% of the birds are injured when shot and either left to suffer slow deaths or collected and killed by pigeon shoot “trapper boys” or “wringers”, traditionally children, who break their necks, step on them, tear off wings, suffocate them, or cut off their heads with garden shears, among other abuses.

Pigeon shoots are nothing more than a vile excuse for entertainment for the dull-witted or psychopathic. Illegal in other countries and in all but a couple of American states, most people realize the despicable nature of these bird-killing contests.

Activists vow to take the war against Pennsylvania’s remaining live pigeon shoots directly to the people, aided by a $1 million gift from former television personality Bob Barker.

Contact: Steve Hindi – President/Founder
Email: info@sharkonline.org
Phone: 630-557-0176
Visit: www.FreeAnimalVideo.org/breaking-news to get all the video.

The Fascinating Life and Times of the Humble Pigeon

2010-08-30T15:41:00.002-04:00

If you´re a city dweller, chances are you see them everyday - strolling down the sidewalk with their friends, having lunch at a local cafe, or just hanging out in the park. But for as much as we share with our urban lifestyles, few animals are as misunderstood or as maligned as the humble pigeon. They are such a part of life around the world that it´s not so strange to hear otherwise sensible animal-lovers refer to pigeons as ¨rats with wings,¨ offering nary a word on their unique history or simple beauty. Perhaps the time is nigh to better understand our feathered city-dwelling neighbors who´ve been pigeonholed too long.

Of the 309 different species of pigeon, Rock Pigeons are the ones most acquainted with urban life - but despite the advantage they take of human infrastructure, there was a time that even they had to rough it. In fact, the species has been coolly strutting around for about 20 million years, long before the advent of bread crumbs or bronze statue perches. In the wild, the animals´ original habitat was on the rocky cliff sides of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Although nowadays many people aren´t big fans of the birds, one reason they´re so numerous today is that once pigeons were highly regarded. Between 5,000 to 10,000 years ago, the birds were first captured and raised by humans - primarily for food, but also to carry messages over long distances. The animals´ feathers, too, were prized for their attractive feathers and unique coloring. Selective breeding in centuries past is one reason that pigeon color patterns are so varied today.

Early on, humans took note of pigeons´ uncanny sense of finding their way home and employed them with carrier duties, giving rise to Messenger Pigeons. Even Julius Caesar took advantage of these clever birds, using pigeons to send war reports from the front line. The birds were used in a similar capacity for centuries, before radio and telephone communication made them pretty much obsolete. But some pigeons enlisted to aid in war efforts turned out to be quite brave as well.

One popular story from World War I surrounds a pigeon named Cher Ami, stationed with American troop fighting on the front-line in France. When soldiers from New York´s 77th Division found themselves under siege from friendly-fire, they tried sending a note via Messenger Pigeon to inform the other troops that they weren´t the enemy, but the bird was shot down. Another bird was sent, but it too was killed. In a desperate third attempt, the soldiers tied a note to Cher Ami: "Our artillery is dropping a barrage on us. For heaven's sake, stop it!" The bird was shot too, several times, but managed to keep flying until the message was delivered. For this bravery, Cher honors back home. His body can be seen at the Smithsonian Institute.

Despite occasionally being honored for their service in war-time, pigeons as a symbol are have quite a different reputation under their more flattering pseudonym - the dove.

But even the humble pigeon, as a city-dweller, doesn´t get credit where credit may be due, in part because of certain misconceptions that the birds spread disease to humans. Although they can carry parasites and viruses, like West Nile, pigeons are thought not to be transmitters of it. Still, many urban areas have gone to great lengths to dampen their presence about town.

London´s Trafalgar Square was once famed for its vibrant pigeon population, considered a tourist attraction in and of itself. In 2003, however, the city´s mayor banned the sale of pigeon food, hoping the birds would move on. Activist groups, like Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons, sought to keep the birds around and continued to feed them anyways.

Other cities have taken a more drastic approach to combating pigeons, even resorting to the use of poisons, though the practice isn´t preferred since it can pose a threat to other animals too. Selectively removing fertilized eggs from specially installed coops and even birth control are amongst the other creative, slightly more humane solutions to too many pigeons in cities across the world.

It´s only been a few centuries since the birds were first brought to the Americas, but now the Rock Pigeon can be found in nearly every city in the world with a population numbering in the tens of millions. Some other pigeon species, however, haven´t fared quite as well. Eleven species of pigeon have gone extinct - like the famous over hunted Dodo bird - while several others are considered threatened.

City pigeons, though clearly outside of their natural habitat (just as we are, I suppose), are animals of unique talent a beauty - even if they may eat our refuse and occasionally sully our memorialized forebearers. Even pigeon loving groups have been established, like Cornell University´s Project Pigeon Watch, aiming to redefine how the world looks at the bird.

Who knows, with an open mind and little understanding, perhaps one day the pigeon will be thought of with a bit more respect, and even adoration. You´ve got to admit, they are pretty darn coo.

Pigeon Racing is a Cruel Blood Sport

2010-08-06T09:46:00.001-04:00

August 4, 2010

Pigeon racing is a cruel blood sport
By Times Wire

Thank you for exposing the pigeon racing industry for what it is - a cruel and possibly illegal enterprise operating under the guise of an innocent hobby.

In response to Zig Vanderwall's denial of culling (killing) racing pigeons by wringing their necks, and his statement that "I don't know where (PETA) got that," I could offer many sources, but here's just one: A commonly used Gulfcoast Homing Pigeon Club sponsor's reference book states that "in most cases, birds not up to standards are culled." It describes the killing as a "necessary evil" to maintain the quality of the racing pigeons, and notes that the most common method of doing this is by "wringing the neck."

This aspect aside, many birds are killed when they have no choice but to race the hundreds of miles back to their lofts and mates through storms or are attacked by predators en route. If they must land due to injury or exhaustion, they can starve to death because they were born in captivity and do not know how to fend for themselves.

The county commissioners are in a unique position to ensure that the restrictions on keeping pigeons are kept and enforced, and to limit the number of birds exposed to this violent blood sport.

Jenny Lou Browning
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Panama City

Pigeon Population Decline with OvoControl P

2010-07-27T04:24:00.005-04:00

Pigeon population problems pooping out?
June 9, 2008

In today's This Week Ahead column, we catch up on what's happening in Hollywood--not with celebrities but with pigeons:

How have the efforts to shrink the pigeon population in Hollywood using birth control gone since announcing it last July?

Since August, some of the area's estimated 5,000 pigeons have been eating pill-shaped kibble known as OvoControl P from feeders on rooftops, making Hollywood the first area to try the contraceptive since it was given state approval in late July.

About 300 pigeons flock every morning at daybreak to eat up the contraceptive kibble, which contains nicarbazin, an ingredient that stops an egg from developing. OvoControl P has been registered with the state Department of Pesticide Regulation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and is approved by PETA and the Humane Society.

Laura Dodson, president of the Argyle Civic Assn., a neighborhood group leading the effort called Citizen Pigeon, said that they raised enough money from local businesses and residents -- over $50,000 -- to install five rooftop automatic feeders. They’ve also installed cameras to monitor the birds eating online.

After four months, the 438 pigeon regulars in one spot dropped to just below 40. Some through attrition, but pigeons are "just having less babies now," Dodson said.

The original date to reduce the pigeon population by 50% was 2012, but Dodson said that pest control and wildlife officials think it could happen within the next two years.

The pigeons are disliked in the area, currently under millions of dollars in renovation efforts, because of the messy droppings.

Italy, though, is taking a different approach on cracking down on the birds.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Passenger Pigeons Deserved Better Fate

2010-07-05T11:59:00.003-04:00

The last passenger pigeon passed on in 1914. He lived in a zoo in Cincinnati.

That’s pretty pathetic, considering that, at one time, their numbers were estimated to be in the billions. This particular breed of squab was fairly large, at 17 inches length. And, apparently, tasty. When the Europeans arrived, the passenger pigeons’ days were numbered. They were slaughtered by the thousands. For a time men actually made a living traveling to pigeon breeding grounds and killing them for market. By the mid-1800s they were thinning out. By 1914 they were gone.

The eastern Indians — ours included — were fond of these passenger pigeons as well. Sometimes their winter hunting camps were aimed as much as putting them near the pigeons’ nesting grounds as any other game. They used the pigeons for meat and even as a kind of butter.

Explorer John Lawson wrote about his first experiences with passenger pigeons:

“(They) were so numerous in these Parts, that you might see many Millions in a Flock; they sometimes split off the Limbs of stout Oaks, and other Trees, upon which they roost o’ Nights. You may find several Indian Towns… that have more than 100 Gallons of Pigeons Oil, or Fat; they using it with Pulse, or Bread, as we do Butter… The Indians take a Light, and go among them in the Night, and bring away some thousands, killing them with long Poles, as they roost in the Trees. At this time of the Year, the Flocks, as they pass by, in great measure, obstruct the Light of the day.”

You’ve got to admit, that’s a lot of pigeons. The ground beneath the trees, where they roosted, was covered by a half-foot layer of dung. Think of parking your newly-waxed car in the shade and discovering that the next morning!

And, Lawson avowed, this was only a small portion of their population: in 1701, when he was exploring the westernmost part of the Carolinas, he saw “infinite Numbers of these Fowl…(that) would fly by us in such vast Flocks, that they would be near a Quarter of an Hour, before they were all pass’d by; and as soon as that Flock was gone, another would come; and so successively one after another, for great part of the Morning.”

It is sad that spectacles like this can only be experienced through history — and that we are the reason this is so.

Sun Journal article
Bill Hand can be contacted at newbernhistory@yahoo.com.

Humane Society of the US Supports Pigeon Birth Control

2010-05-12T19:12:00.003-04:00

As the pigeon population steadily is declining on its own most likely due to extreme difficulties pigeons are facing surviving on our planet, the HSUS is in full support of the birth control drug for pigeons OvoControl P. The following article is in their newsletter:

‘Birth Control’ for Pigeons Now Available Without a Prescription
EPA reclassifies OvoControl P® as general-use

WASHINGTON — The Humane Society of the United States praised the recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the "restricted-use" classification for OvoControl P, a promising birth control agent for use in pigeons.

"We are extremely pleased with the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to ease restrictions on OvoControl P," said John Hadidian, director of Urban Wildlife Programs for The HSUS. "General-use approval will make OvoControl P more readily available to communities and businesses that want to control pigeon populations humanely and effectively."

OvoControl P is an edible pellet treated with nicarbazin, a chemical that effectively reduces egg hatching rates in birds when used in combination with exclusion and other humane measures. It was originally registered by the EPA in 2008 as a "restricted-use" product, a designation that limited the sale and use of the product to licensed applicators only.

The new classification means that it will no longer be necessary to have a special license to purchase and use OvoControl P. OvoControl is also registered for use in Canada geese and Muscovy ducks under the more stringent label restrictions.

The HSUS' Wild Neighbors program promotes nonlethal solutions to conflicts between people and wildlife. For many years, pigeons have been subject to lethal control through poisoning, trapping, shooting or other inhumane methods. The HSUS supports the use of birth control technologies as a way to humanely control animal populations and decrease the likelihood of conflicts.

OvoControl is available through distributors or directly from the manufacturer, Innolytics, LLC. Visit ovocontrol.com for more details. Click here for more information from The HSUS on solving problems with pigeons.

Mike Tyson Pigeon Racing Show Ruffles PETA's Feathers

2010-03-22T10:02:00.003-04:00

Mike Tyson Pigeon Racing Show Ruffles PETA's Feathers

NEW YORK — An animal welfare group wants New York City prosecutors to investigate Mike Tyson's reality television show about pigeon racing.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the Brooklyn-based show is cruel to animals and its races could involve illegal gambling.

The show will follow Tyson as he competes in pigeon races. The former world heavyweight champion has raised pigeons all his life but is a racing rookie.

The show airs next year on Animal Planet. A spokeswoman says there have never been plans for wagering on the races. She says the pigeons will be "cherished and respected by their owners," including Tyson.

PETA sent a letter dated March 18 to the Brooklyn district attorney's office requesting an investigation.

District attorney spokesman Jonah Bruno says the office is looking into the allegations.

additional link (added 3/29/10)

Pigeons Beat Humans at Solving Puzzle

2010-03-06T12:51:00.003-05:00

Birds adept and solving 'Monty Hall problem' named after game show host
By Charles Q. Choi

Pigeons might do better than humans at game shows, at least on "Let's Make A Deal."

These new findings — involving the pigeons superior ability to solve a perplexing statistical problem — might in turn shed light on why humans are bad at solving certain kinds of problems, scientists added.

The so-called Monty Hall problem is a well-known puzzle named after the original host of the game show "Let's Make A Deal," who presented contestants with three doors, one of which held a prize, the other two only goats. The prize and the goats were placed randomly behind the doors beforehand, and stayed where they were throughout. After the contestant made a guess, Monty Hall would always open one of the remaining doors that he knew did not contain the prize. The player was then always given the option of staying with their initial guess or switching to the other unopened door.

Most people opted to stay with their initial guess, despite the fact that switching actually doubled the chances of winning.

To see why the apparently illogical choice of switching is actually better, one must understand that before the host opened one of the three doors, the contestant did not know the location of the prize, and thus when he or she chose a door, the contestant had a 1-in-3 chance of being right. That does not change even after the host opened a door. If the probability of the first door the contestant chose remained the same, and there were only two doors left, that meant the remaining unopened door must have had a 2-in-3 chance of being right — that is, it had twice the chance of holding the prize.

The fact that people do badly at this problem is true across cultures, including Brazil, China, Sweden and the United States. Indeed, when the Monty Hall problem appeared in the "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade magazine along with an explanation of the solution, the columnist received some 10,000 letters, 92 percent of which disagreed with her solution. This failing holds true even of many statisticians and mathematicians who should know better, including Paul Erdos, perhaps the most prolific mathematician in history.

Pigeons know better
To shed light on why humans often fall short of the best strategy with this kind of problem, scientists investigated pigeons, which often perform quite impressively on tasks requiring them to estimate relative probabilities, in some cases eclipsing human performance. Other animals do not always share the same biases as people, and therefore might help provide explanations for our behavior.

Scientists tested six pigeons with an apparatus with three keys. The keys lit up white to show a prize was available. After the birds pecked a key, one of the keys the bird did not choose deactivated, showing it was a wrong choice, and the other two lit up green. The pigeons were rewarded with bird feed if they made the right choice.

In the experiments, the birds quickly reached the best strategy for the Monty Hall problem — going from switching roughly 36 percent of the time on day one to some 96 percent of the time on day 30.

On the other hand, 12 undergraduate student volunteers failed to adopt the best strategy with a similar apparatus, even after 200 trials of practice each.

Why people don't get it
One possible reason people are worse than pigeons at the Monty Hall problem might be due to how people learn.

Past research with university students found they almost universally believed that staying and switching were equally likely to win, while younger students believed this less. Only in the youngest group tested — a bunch of 8th graders — did a significant although small fraction of students figure out switching was the best strategy. It may be that education leads people to acquire ways of thinking that, while efficient, can interfere with certain kinds of performance.

"During 'education,' which I would take to encompass not just formal education, but also one's general life experience, we acquire heuristics — rules of thumb that, either consciously or unconsciously, allow us to respond to a complex world quickly," said researcher Walter Herbranson, a comparative psychologist at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. "But while these heuristics are fast and generally accurate, they're not correct 100 percent of the time."

The scientists propose the curious difference between pigeon and human behavior might be rooted in the difference between classical and empirical probability. In classical probability, one tries to figure out every possible outcome and make predictions without collecting data. In empirical probability, one makes predictions after tracking outcomes over time.

Pigeons likely use empirical probability to solve the Monty Hall problem and appear to do so quite successfully.

"Different species often find very different solutions to the same problems," Herbranson said. "We humans have ways of tackling probability-based problems that generally work pretty well for us, the Monty Hall dilemma being one notable exception. Pigeons apparently have a different approach, one that just happens to be better suited to the Monty Hall dilemma."

Empirical probability is a slower, less elegant, brute-force method that can be tricked by the kind of random fluctuations seen in real data, Herbranson said, but it doesn't employ any mental rules of thumb that can lead to traps such as the Monty Hall problem. In a similar way, the visual systems we depend on to quickly make sense of the world around us can lead to our susceptibility to visual illusions, he added.

Indeed, the aforementioned mathematician Paul Erdos demonstrated the power of empirical probability nicely as well. According to his biography, Erdos refused to accept the explanations of colleagues for the correct solution, and was eventually convinced only after he was shown a simple computer simulation than ran the problem hundreds of times. In other words, "after Erdos approached the problem like a pigeon, he was able to embrace the right answer," Herbranson said.

Herbranson and his colleague Julia Schroeder detailed their findings in the February issue of the Journal of Comparative Psychology.

Feed Mayor Bloomberg, Breed A Rat

2010-02-25T15:54:00.002-05:00

Feed Mayor Bloomberg, Breed A Rat
Originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ

Mayor Bloomberg, Breed A Rat
The criminal known as Mayor Bloomberg thinks he can sidestep the people and buy himself a third term. He hates pigeons because they would tell on him in a New York Minute. The logic that Scumberg presents that by feeding pigeons will only bring on rats is flawed. Rats don't need pigeon food to find sustenance. Don't feed the mayor and his one man political machine. It's time for a real change in New York City. It's time to end his reign of arrogance.

Bob Barker Donates $1 Million to Save PA Pigeons

2010-01-27T20:14:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Bob Barker donates $1 million to save PA pigeons
A TV icon is taking a stand for the pigeons of Pennsylvania.

Bob Barker, the former game show host and one of the nation's most generous animal philanthropists, has donated $1 million to stop pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania and says he will be joining protestors outside a Bensalem gun club where shoots are being held regularly.

Barker said the donation will go to SHARK, an Illinois-based animal activist organization dedicated to putting a stop to these shoots.

The organization plans weekly demonstrations at the Philadelphia Gun Club in Bucks County which two years ago began holding pigeon shoots despite a cease and desist order issued by Bensalem Township. In 2002 the township said the shoots violated local firearms laws and constituted animal cruelty. The club recently filed suit against activists and neighbors for harassment.

Barker also said he will support legislation being considered in both the state House and Senate that would ban the use of live pigeons for targets and make organizing or operating the shoots a crime. Animal rights activists in Pennsylvania have been fighting to win passage of anti-pigeon shoot legislation for two decades.

Pennsylvania is the only state where live pigeon shoots are openly practiced, according to the Humane Society of the United States. The contests - held at gun clubs, most of them in Berks County - involve launching pigeons from spring-loaded boxes where shooters fire on them at close range. Many wounded birds are scooped up - often by children - their necks broken and the carcases disposed of. But other injured birds end up outside of the clubs only to suffer a slow death from their wounds.

“The very characteristics of a live pigeon shoot are such that the event cannot be held without causing extensive animal suffering,” said Barker. “Live bird shoots are held under the guise of ‘sport’ target practice But they offer neither sport nor hunting.”

The Humane Society of the United States estimates that about 22,000 live birds are used as targets every year in Pennsylvania.

Avitrol Kills Blackbirds in New Jersey

2009-11-25T11:37:00.005-05:00

Health Officer Exterminates Wrong Birds in NJ

It was NY parks commissioner Thomas P. F. Hoving who dubbed pigeons "rats with wings," a term that fourteen years later was popularized by Woody Allen in his 1980 flick “Stardust Memories.” So surely there's some blood on their hands in the war on the pigeon community in New York (only recently was a National Pigeon Day established to combat the haters).

There are a lot of pigeons around though, and everything from Robo-Hawk to Pigeon Czars have been considered in controlling the population, but it's sort of rare that we hear the words "pigeon extermination." Turns out some folks across the Hudson (specifically, Fort Lee Health Officer Steven Wielkotz) turned to the chemical Avitrol "to get rid of more than 100 pigeons that descended on the area around town hall two months ago," according to WCBS. Avitrol, by the way, "kills the pigeons by first causing them to suffer seizures and then cardiac arrest."

Wielkotz's master plan to wipe out the pigeons didn't quite go as planned, however, because the grackles ate the seed instead. 30 of those birds have since died—and Mayor Mark Sokolich says children were seen trying to save the dying birds.

Pigeons -- the most intelligent of the bird species

2009-09-01T11:19:00.005-04:00

Birds of a feather drink together: The three clever pigeons who help each other sup from a water fountain

They obviously have a better class of pigeon Down Under.

Instead of pecking around on the filthy pavements among cigarette butts and chewing gum, they prefer to sip filtered water and go to great lengths for a bath.

The trio pictured in the article, in Brisbane, Queensland, appear to have worked out a clever system of adapting the water fountain built by humans for their own pigeon purposes.

Coo-l: drink: As one pigeon sucks up water (left), another stands on the lever (right) and the third keeps watch

After waiting for the fountain to be free, one bird jumped on the lever and pushed it down to fill up the bowl, while another kept watch and the third splashed in.

When it had drunk its fill and cleaned its feathers, the third pigeon hopped up to the handle and let his friends have a go.

The three birds continued their bathing ritual for ten minutes, entertaining passers-by in Post Office Square, in Brisbane's bustling business district.

Unlike other birds, who take a sip of water and throw back their heads to swallow, pigeons suck up water using their beaks like straws.

Though they aren't very popular in this part of the world and are referred to as rats of the sky, pigeons - even the English ones - are considered among the most intelligent of all the bird species.

Reading the Brains of Pigeons in Flight

2009-07-02T00:48:00.002-04:00

New York Times
June 30, 2009
Observatory
Reading the Brains of Pigeons in Flight
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Ever wonder what goes on inside the minds of pigeons?

No? Researchers in Europe have.

Alexei L. Vyssotski of the University of Zurich and colleagues have studied the brain activity of homing pigeons as they fly over visual landmarks.

How homing pigeons find their way back to a starting point is not completely known. Studies have shown that the birds variously use the position of the sun and the earth’s magnetic field as a compass, and sense of smell and visual cues as navigation aids. But the use of visual cues has been difficult to study, because if a bird flies over a landmark and doesn’t change its course, it’s impossible to know whether the bird has not perceived the cue or is ignoring it.

The researchers developed tiny neurologgers, to record electrical activity in the pigeons’ brains as they flew. The birds also carried small global positioning system units to track position. By matching brain activity to location, the researchers could determine the effect of flying over a landmark.

The birds’ flights began over water, a relatively featureless environment, and then continued over land to a homing point. This enabled the researchers to determine brain activity as the birds reached the coastline and then flew over other landmarks.

They found that activity in both high- and mid-range frequencies occurred as the birds passed over a landmark. The researchers, who reported their findings in Current Biology, suggest that the mid-range frequencies are linked to the perception of visual information, while the high-frequency activity may be related to cognitive processing — perhaps the recognition of a landmark as something the bird has seen before.

The researchers also observed strong brain activity at two rural locations where there were no significant landmarks. On visiting the sites, the researchers found that both had colonies of wild pigeons, which was probably what caught the homing pigeons’ interest.

Pigeon Oral Contraception Legalized in New York State

2009-06-24T10:14:00.007-04:00

"Birth Control" for Pigeons Now Available in all 50 States

RANCHO SANTA FE, CA - Innolytics, LLC announced today that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation ("NYDEC") became the 50th and final state to grant registration for OvoControl® P in pigeons. The first of its kind, the new product effectively controls egg hatchability in pigeons and essentially represents non-hormonal oral contraception for birds.

OvoControl P (nicarbazin) was registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency in May 2007. Following a federal registration, each state requires its own State Registration and the registration process in New York can be especially thorough.

"Support for the approval of OvoControl in New York spanned a cross-section of stakeholder groups," said Erick Wolf, CEO of Innolytics.". The company collaborated with the office of State Senator Eric Schneiderman (D-31st) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to support the approval of the new technology in New York."

"Other communities and businesses across the US are adopting birth control to help reduce the population of these invasive birds thereby reducing what they leave behind," said Wolf. "New York represents a very large market where the pigeon problem is widespread and has limited control options. Pest Management Professionals and their customers are increasingly adopting low-impact solutions that effectively control the underlying local pigeon population."

"Pigeons are a fact of life for New Yorkers," said James Freedland, a spokesperson from Senator Schneiderman's District Office in Northern Manhattan. "This technology is a safe, humane and effective tool to help manage pigeon overpopulation in and around our city and state."

Birth control for birds is also advocated by animal welfare organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States. "The Humane Society of the United States supports non-lethal wildlife management because it works," said Laura Simon, Field Director for Urban Wildlife Programs with the Humane Society of the the United States in Connecticut. "Simply killing birds is not a long-term or effective solution. A comprehensive program to reduce conflicts with pigeons should include reproductive control with other proven non-lethal approaches," added Ms. Simon.

In addition to exclusion and control of feeding, OvoControl P represents yet another component in an integrated program of pest bird management. The new product is available through licensed pest control professionals in New York. In combination with other mitigation measures, OvoControl P results in a more comprehensive and effective, long-term control program.

Established in 2003, Innolytics, LLC is a privately held company which focuses on developing humane population management technology for wildlife. For further information see the company website at www.ovocontrol.com.

# # #

Contact: Erick Wolf, CEO, Innolytics, LLC Tel: 858.759.8012 -- email erick.wolf@cox.net

National Pigeon Day? New York Bird Club Looks to make it happen

2009-06-14T09:20:00.001-04:00

Amos Latteier in his pigeon suit talks to Anne-Marie Richard about her gallery's pigeon-inspired art, as they advocate for the establishment of National Pigeon Day on June 13.

State Bird of New York -- the Manhattan Pigeon?

2009-06-11T15:21:00.002-04:00

Copied from the Random Objects blog; you're gonna live this one!

"Pigeons Love NY" is one of our newest designs, but I wanted to shed some light on the inspiration for this design.

Recently NY councilman Simcha Felder has proposed that the city impose a $1,000 fine for anyone caught feeding pigeons.... come on? He figures that this will control the population of pigeons in New York? If I were to list the top 5 things that people identify with New York -- our dirty feathery friends would have to be on that list!

Here's my list:
1. Times Square
2. horrendous traffic
3. street meat and pretzels
4. skyscrapers and...
5. PIGEONS !!!

Did you know that our state bird is the Eastern Bluebird... WHAT? I have never seen an eastern bluebird walking around on the sidewalks of New York, but I've seen plenty of pigeons! These foul birds have been a fixture here in NY for over a century. Our new state bird should be the Manhattan Pigeon! Send a letter to City Hall demanding to make the pigeon our new state bird.

elenabella: Complicated Worlds of Feather: Passenger Pigeons

2009-06-03T14:17:00.000-04:00

elenabella: Complicated Worlds of Feather: Passenger Pigeons

Pennsylvania -- the last state left

2009-05-28T14:44:00.002-04:00

Cruel & unusual: Stop turning pigeons into sitting ducks

In an attempt to broaden perspectives on and coverage of statewide issues that concern our readers, we'll be occasionally running editorials from papers around the commonwealth. Today's editorial first appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

PENNSYLVANIA is only state left in the nation allowing live pigeon shoots.

Opponents who have tried for decades to ban pigeon shoots are now are asking legislators to ban two particularly appalling practices: Launching and tethering.

Pigeons are put into mechanical launches and placed about 30 yards away from shooters. The birds are propelled and shot while they are still in the air. In another type of contest, they are tethered in place and shot.

The mechanical launch and tethering at bird shoots continue to be an embarrassment to our commonwealth. Other states have wisely banned the contests, leaving us with the lone reputation of enabling them. In fact, many of the people who participate at pigeon shoots come from other states.

Fortunately many pigeon shoots - Hegins comes to mind - have ended because of court rulings or organizers' bowing to public opposition. But many persist and the mechanical launch has become a popular and cruel tool for the shoots. The Humane Society of the United States says that typically 10 percent of birds manage to escape, 20 percent are killed outright and 70 percent are wounded and later die.

Some pigeon-shoot supporters have tried to tie the practice to hunting. But real hunters know shooting a bird from a launch or one that is tethered isn't real hunting.

Bills have been introduced in the House by Reps. Eugene DePasquale (D-York) and John Maher (R-Allegheny) and in the Senate by Sen. Patrick Browne (R-Lehigh). The legislation would ban shoots in which captive birds are tethered or launched in front of the shooter. And the bills specifically say they can't be used to restrict traditional hunting regulated by the state Game Commission.

More than 22,000 birds are used as targets every year in the state for these shoots.

Pigeons aren't puppies. Putting the face of the birds on a poster might not stir the same emotions in people as did the sad-eyed dogs displayed last year during the successful fight against puppy mills.

But people should be no less outraged and the outcome should be the same. Legislators should end this cruel practice. *

A New Commandment for Pennsylvanians: Thou Shalt Not Kill....Pigeons

2009-05-28T14:36:00.001-04:00

A NEW COMMANDMENT FOR PENNSYLVANIANS: THOU SHALT NOT KILL...PIGEONS
-Lebanon Daily News

Perhaps Pennsylvania's Legislature can only handle one dog-and-pony (or dog-and-pigeon) show per term. Last session, there was considerable focus on legislation changing dog laws to prevent so-called "puppy mills."

While that debate was going on, another piece of animal-related legislation came and went (again).

Pigeons don't have quite the same fun-and-furry reputation as puppies. People will get considerably more wrought up about a baby Rottweiler than even the most attractive squab.

But that's no reason to trap them elsewhere, haul them to Pennsylvania and blast them out of the air—and then call it a sport and expect Pennsylvania's many real sportsmen follow allow with the thinking.

The bill to finally ban live-pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania—the only state left standing when it comes to these senseless shoots—came and went again during the last legislative session. It's been about two decades that efforts have been ongoing.

We shouldn't be shooting live pigeons in Pennsylvania. It's not a sport by any definition. It's been done better with artificial targets for years. The efforts to ban it are written explicitly so that the shoot legislation cannot be used as a jump-off point against other blood sport.

This is an area where hunting is deep in the fiber of the community. We've had a busy outdoors page in our paper for years. We get plenty of photo submissions when it comes to deer and even bear season. We have written in this space of the significance of Pennsylvania's and the Lebanon Valley's hunting traditions. We do not now nor will we ever seek to undermine that.

The legislation banning pigeon shoots does not undermine the tradition. Don't make the argument; it's got no traction with us. Pigeon shoots, quite simply, are inhumane and not at all sporting. They are almost diametrically opposed to the philosophy of hunting, in that a caged animal is released under controlled circumstances and blown away at short range (or, too often, wounded and able to get far enough away to die in agony—that's also not a part of hunting philosophy. You shoot to kill, and if you don't kill it, you track it.

The new legislation has been written for both the House and the Senate. It's HB 1411 and SB 843. Rep. RoseMarie Swanger has signed on as a co-sponsor of the House bill, and we think that's the proper move.

Get real, Pennsylvania. Pigeon shoots aren't for real hunters, and no real argument can be made to continue them. If they're no good in Texas, Colorado, West Virginia and other hunting states, they certainly aren't any good here.

Pennsylvania -- the only state allowing live pigeon shoots

2009-05-26T18:32:00.001-04:00

Take aim at banning cruel pigeon shoots
by Patriot-News Editorial Board
Sunday May 24, 2009, 6:01 PM

Pennsylvania sadly still has the distinction of being the only state left in the nation allowing live pigeon shoots.

Opponents of the practice have tried for decades to ban pigeon shoots and now are asking legislators to ban two particularly appalling practices.

Here's what is allowed to happen in our state: Pigeons are put into mechanical launches and placed about 30 yards away from shooters. The birds are propelled, in some cases they are shot while they are still in the air, other times they fall to the ground and are shot. In another type of contest, the birds, including turkeys, are tethered in place so they cannot escape and shot.

The mechanical launch and tethering at bird shoots continue to be an embarrassment to our commonwealth. Other states have wisely banned the contests leaving us with the lone reputation of enabling them. In fact, many of the people who participate at pigeon shoots come from other states.

Fortunately many pigeon shoots -- Hegins comes to mind -- have ended because of court rulings or organizers bowing to public opposition. But many still persist and the mechanical launch has become a popular and cruel tool for the shoots. The Humane Society of the United States says that typically 20 percent of the birds that are launched are killed outright, 10 percent manage to escape and 70 percent are wounded and later die.

Some pigeon shoot supporters have tried to tie the practice to hunting. But real hunters know shooting a bird from a launch -- in some cases they are weighted down -- or one that is tethered is not real hunting.

Bills have been introduced in the House by Reps. Eugene DePasquale (D-York County) and John Maher (R-Allegheny) and in the Senate by Sen. Patrick Browne (D-Lehigh). The legislation would ban shoots in which captive birds are tethered or launched in front of the shooter. And the bills specifically say they cannot be used to restrict traditional hunting regulated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

More than 22,000 birds are used as targets every year in the state for these shoots. The birds are captured on state land and on the streets of New York City. The HSUS says because Pennsylvania has become a repository for so many pigeons, organizers of underground shoots in states where the contests are banned buy their pigeons in the commonwealth -- giving us yet another black eye.

Pigeons aren't puppies. Putting the face of the birds on a poster might not stir the same emotions in people as did the sad-eyed dog photos displayed last year during the successful fight against puppymills.

But people should be no less outraged and the outcome should be the same. Legislators should end this cruel practice.

Birds in Paradise: Pigeons Share Similar Mating Process to Humans

2009-05-25T20:46:00.004-04:00

New York Post
May 24, 2009

Love them or hate them, rock doves are surely New York's unofficial feathered mascot. To honor them on National Pigeon Day (June 13), the New York Bird Club and United Poultry Concerns will host an event from noon to 4 p.m. at Pilgrim Hill in Central Park, featuring an appearance by singer-songwriter Nellie McKay, among other attractions. But since sex sells, the sponsors might want to add a discussion on pigeon porn to the program. I, for one, wouldn't have to attend a demo -- the airshaft adjacent to my apartment is a veritable lovers' lane for pigeons.

Their cooing is more than just ordinary urban background noise: It's proof that pigeons have more in common with us humans than we might think, especially in the mating department.

Rita McMahon, who rescues birds in distress and runs the Wild Bird Fund, concurs. But while human females won't marry a guy after just one pass or memorable meal -- especially if he throws up on the date -- female pigeons will. After initial coos, the male regurgitates his meal into the female's beak during a ritual called "billing."

As is often the case with humans, a female pigeon's sex drive is higher than a male's. "Some of the ladies are very horny, and will begin the mating process again immediately after sex," McMahon says.

But perhaps they're just worried the male might leave them. Because while most pigeons are renowned for their monogamy, there are exceptions. "Males will divorce a female if she's infertile," McMahon allows.

Before, I viewed the feathered occupants of that dark, gloomy airshaft as live entertainment for my cats. Now I realize that what I have is an enlightening window into the stimulating sex lives of pigeons. If only I could get past the fact that they relentlessly use my air conditioner as a litter box.

js@pet-reporter.com

On Memorial Day, thank a pigeon.

2009-05-24T18:06:00.004-04:00

Tampa Exotic Pets Examiner
On Memorial Day, thank a pigeon.
May 24, 7:39 AM

Where there are humans, there are companion animals. Even in war zones. During World War One, the 'state of the art' method for sending messages was by pigeon. Some pigeons even earned medals, although I don't know if this impressed the pigeon at all. Historically, camels, mules, and horses have transported soldiers and supplies. Soldiers also kept animals simply because they liked them, including tortoises, doves, larks, thrushes, blackbirds, and rabbits.

Right now in Iraq, despite all our modern technology, we depend on dogs for finding dangers, dolphins to find underwater mines, sea lions to patrol for enemy divers, and pigeons to serve as early warnings of chemical attacks. According to the website (www.travlingdogs.com) the dolphins are smart enough to avoid the mines once they've found them.

The more I study and learn about different species, the more I realize that humans do not have any truly unique capabilities. Everything humans do, at least one other species does, if in its own way. We are not the only species whose conflicts expand until they harm others who were in no way involved in the original conflict. Human war is, however the most extreme example of this behavior.

You want soldiers to have everything that will help them survive the hard work they're doing. Anything that makes their lives a little easier or safer is good. On the other hand, you have to seriously question what the dogs, sea lions, pigeons, and dolphins have to do with human political problems, and why they should be taken from their own business or put at risk over human wars. For now, the best solution I can think of is to 'pay our debts forward'. Protect habitats for sea lions and dolphins and birds. Go out of your way to make life good for domestic animals. Most important, try to find ways to keep all conflicts and the damage they cause under control, instead of letting the conflict control us.

For more info:
www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Animals_at_War/Animals_at_War_00.htm

www.awm.gov.au/kidshq/animals/animals.asp

www.travelingdogs.com/wariniraq.html

Pigeon Killings Anticipated in So. Korea

2009-05-21T19:17:00.010-04:00

May 21, 2009, 3:30 am
The New York Times

Dwaedulgi
A Korean term for fat pigeons – literally, pig pigeon (dwaeji + bidulgi).

South Korea’s capital, Seoul, is plagued by pigeons. (This follows a decision in the 1970s to introduce the birds in an attempt, it seems, to mimic the pigeons in cities like London.) Faced with increasing public concern about the environmental and health consequences of this infestation, officials are planning to make pigeons easier to cull, as Sung So-young reported for The JoongAng Daily:

“Pigeons could be added to the list of harmful animals by early next month,” said Cho Gap-hyun, officer in charge of the pigeon portfolio at the ministry [of environment]. It usually takes 45 days to approve an amendment, Cho said, so D-Day for the members of the bird family that many people regard as a rat with wings could be June 10.

“A large number of citizens want us to do something about their problems regarding pigeon droppings and feathers but there is no relevant law to control pigeon-related problems,” Cho explained by way of background to the proposed amendment.

Once designated feral, harmful animals, pigeons will be fair game for capture or killing, with full approval of the authorities.

Discussing the unpopularity of these urban birds, Sung So-young wrote:

The nicknames given to pigeons reveal the levels of antipathy, especially to weighty ones that swagger from bench to bench looking for scraps of food.

One is dakdulgi, a compound of dak, or chicken, and dulgi, a shortened word for bidulgi, or pigeon in Korean. Another is dwaedulgi, a compound of dwaeji, or pig, and bidulgi.

"National Pigeon Day" to protest pigeon hunts....

2009-05-18T12:06:00.003-04:00

Club to stop pigeon shoots; police withdraw citation
TEXT SIZE By: JAMES MCGINNIS
Bucks County Courier Times
Various groups have planned "National Pigeon Day" in New York to protest pigeon hunts.

The Bensalem Police Department said it has withdrawn animal cruelty and hunting citations against the Philadelphia Gun Club president after police said the organization promised to stop shooting birds.

On March 14, club president Leo Holt was cited for allegedly participating in live pigeon shoots at the club's headquarters on River Road in Bensalem.

The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching John Van Luvanne, attorney for the club, for comment, after calls to his office Wednesday and Friday.

Township officials cited local laws against such hunts, but the gun club has argued that its organization predates all such ordinances. Pigeon shooting is legal in Pennsylvania.

Regardless, Public Safety Director Fred Harran said the gun club has agreed to stop shooting birds. With those assurances, he said the township felt comfortable dropping the charges.

"Our goal here was not to collect a fine for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Harran said. "Our goal here was to stop this activity."

The fine for Holt's alleged violations of the township's animal cruelty and hunting ordinances would have been about $160, according to court records.

Bensalem said it issued a cease-and-desist order against the shoots in 2002, after videos sent to the newspaper appeared to show pigeon hunting at the gun club off State Road.

The gun club denied that any such cease-and-desist order was issued. Club members also questioned whether the township had legal authority to shut down the pigeon shoots.

Advertisement Chartered in 1877, the gun club pre-dates any township laws. Pigeon shoots on the Bensalem waterfront have been a subject of legal disputes going back more than 119 years.

In 1890, a Bucks County judge ruled that gun club member A. Nelson Lewis was guilty of animal cruelty.

According to a Jan. 27, 1890, report in the New York Times, Lewis "fired with a gun upon certain pigeons, liberated from a trap, killing one and wounding another.

"The bird so wounded alighted upon a tree, and as soon as its wounded condition was discovered, it was killed," the report said. "The birds so killed were immediately sold for food, according to the rule and custom of said club."

The Pennsylvania Legislature is considering a ban on pigeon shoots. There were two earlier attempts for a statewide ban in 1999, but both failed.

Animal rights groups will hold a "National Pigeon Day" in New York City next month to rally for the rights of birds and protest pigeon shoots.

Activists said they are rallying against pigeon trafficking to Pennsylvania for the purposes of pigeon shoots. They also oppose pigeon control methods, including contraceptives and sterilization.

A number of writers, actors and musicians are scheduled to perform from noon to 4 p.m. June 13 on Pilgrim Hill in Central Park.

For more information on the protest, visit the Web site for the Humane Society of the United States, www.hsus.org.

May 17, 2009 02:00 AM

Dear President Obama,

2009-05-13T18:16:00.004-04:00

May 13, 2009

President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

There is a hero that deserves to be honored with a special holiday ~ this hero saved countless lives in World Wars I and II, and possesses a gentle nature and exemplary characteristics and traits, including loyalty and devotion to family. Yet, like many heroes, this particular one is often undervalued and disregarded and, worst of all, sometimes unfairly persecuted. It is time for the truth about this hero to be to be made known and celebrated. This hero is…..the Rock Dove, also known as the pigeon.

Try to imagine any large city without this ubiquitous bird. A city devoid of pigeons lacks character and animation. For city children, pigeons are often one of their first contacts with nature. For the elderly, feeding the pigeons in the park gives them both purpose and pleasure when they have little else left.

Pigeons are considered to be one of the most intelligent bird species, being capable of learning tasks previously thought to be understood only by the higher forms of humans and primates. They are one of 6 species – and the only non-mammal – that can recognize its reflection in a mirror, and scientific tests have determined that they can understand all 26 letters of the English language and differentiate between images in photographs. They can be trained to save lives at sea, by recognizing the color of life jackets of survivors floating in the water.

Of course, the pigeon’s ability to navigate and fly great distances and return home is its most unique skill. It was this skill that made pigeons war heroes, as flying messengers – carrier pigeons - a usage that goes back to ancient times. Many pigeons in World War I and II saved the lives of soldiers by getting messages or locations through when there was no other means of communications. Some of these birds were shot up so badly by enemy fire that it is incredible that they made it back to their home base. In 1946, a pigeon named G.I. Joe was the only American bird awarded the prestigious Dickin medal (a British medal that is the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross) for service in World War II. The US Air Force was to bomb the city of Calvi Risorta in Italy at 11:00 a.m. on October 18, 1943; however, British troops captured the city at 10:00 a.m. and attempts to cancel the raid by radio failed. G.I. Joe had been borrowed from the American airfield earlier and was released with a message to stop the raid. He landed as the bombers were about to take off. An estimated 1,000 British troops would have died if the bombing had gone on as planned.

We propose the date of June 13th as National Pigeon Day. June 13th was the anniversary of the death of Cher Ami, the most famous and legendary of the carrier pigeons of wartime. Cher Ami was a pigeon in World War I who, on October 4, 1918, flew 25 miles in 25 minutes -despite being horribly wounded - to deliver a message that saved 200 American soldiers in Europe, who were fighting to help the French allies. The Americans were surrounded by the German enemy and the message gave the location of the American soldiers so they wouldn’t be killed by American bombs trying to destroy the surrounding Germans. The French government awarded Cher Ami their highest honor – the Croix de Guerre. The bird was patched up and tended by medics and General John J. Pershing himself saw the pigeon off when he departed Europe for home. At the time, Cher Ami’s story became one of the most famous wartime hero stories.

Cher Ami died of his multiple war wounds, including being blinded in one eye, shot through the breast and loss of a leg, on June 13, 1919, less than a year after he had completed his service to the United States Army Signal Corps. When he died, a taxidermist preserved the pigeon for future generations, and today, if you visit the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History, you can see Cher Ami preserved for history alongside the French Croix de Guerre that was awarded to him by the French government. It was rumored that Cher Ami had also been awarded the American Distinguished Service Cross, but although there is substantial documentation that General John J. Pershing did, in fact, award some sort of silver medal to the heroic carrier pigeon, there is no record of the Distinguished Service Cross specifically being awarded. Perhaps this is another oversight that you could investigate and correct.

In recent years, the pigeon’s talents, loyalty and friendship to humans has been sadly forgotten, and this remarkable bird is now often called a pest or described as a rat with wings (this last comment is thanks to an infamous line in a Woody Allen movie). Nothing could be further from the truth. The bird is not a carrier of disease (no more so than any wild bird, such as a cardinal or bluebird), and is relatively harmless. They tend to live near humans and in areas that are natural to them – in the wild they live on cliffs; in urban areas, they find buildings and bridges that mimic their natural homes. Pigeons are the first ones blamed when there is a bridge collapse (i.e., their droppings corroded the metal) yet, investigation has always found human error or design defect to be the true fault.

Worst of all, in some areas, pigeons are used as live targets in shooting clubs, most notoriously in Pennsylvania. Legislation is pending to outlaw this, but the erroneous perception of the pigeon as an undesirable – perpetrated to no small degree by pest control companies as a way to boost their business – continues to denigrate this species.

It is time for the pigeon to be respected for its remarkable traits and for how it has helped mankind. Many young Americans are alive today because a pigeon’s message saved his or her grandfather in World War I and II! The pigeon deserves a special day in recognition of its contributions. Please help make June 13, National Pigeon Day, a reality.

Respectfully yours,

Arlene B. Steinberg
Vice President
New York Bird Club

The Efficacy of OvoControl P

2009-04-27T16:44:00.004-04:00

One of the most common OvoControl® questions is, "how well does it work?" The answer to this question actually has two parts, 1) how well does OvoControl interfere with egg hatchability? and, 2) how quickly will OvoControl reduce the population of birds?

Egg Hatchability
The active ingredient in OvoControl, nicarbazin, interferes with egg development and acts as a contraceptive in birds. The egg hatchability effects of nicarbazin are well documented and characterized in the scientific literature and the data is indisputable - if a bird eats the bait daily and in an adequate quantity, the eggs will simply not hatch. As occurs frequently in nature, birds will abandon a failed nest and try again.

Population Effects
The rate at which a pigeon population declines depends on a range of variables, primarily related to site-specific characteristics. Controlling variables in a free ranging population of birds is obviously challenging. Nevertheless, the data reported in the US (Linda Vista) is consistent with what has been reported in Italy. The absence of successful reproduction, in combination with natural attrition, reduces the population of birds at a rate of approximately 50%, annually.

OvoControl reduces the population of birds - gradually and predictably - all without the risks of a toxicant or need to remove dead or dying birds.

For more details, see the new 2-page white paper for OvoControl Efficacy on the company website at www.OvoControl.com.

OvoControl® is a registered trademark of Innolytics, LLC, Rancho Santa Fe, CA.

The Death of the Passenger Pigeon

2009-04-04T11:12:00.002-04:00

The story of the Passenger Pigeon is one of the most tragic extinction stories in modern times. As recently as around 200 years ago they weren’t anywhere near extinction. In fact, they were actually the most common bird in North America, and some reports counted single flocks numbering in the billions.

During some migrations, the flocks flying overhead would stretch for over a mile and could take several hours to pass. It would have been impossible to imagine a North American skyline without them. Yet somehow the species went from being one of the most abundant birds in the world to extinction in only about 100 years. What happened?

Colonial hunters happened. The pigeon meat was commercialized and recognized as cheap food, especially for slaves and the poor, which led to a catastrophic hunting campaign on a massive scale. Furthermore, due to the large size of their flocks, the birds were seen as a threat to farmers. In fact, in 1703 the Catholic bishop of Quebec actually excommunicated the entire species.

The last known Passenger Pigeon, named “Martha”, died in captivity on September 1st, 1914, in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1896, the last flock of 250,000 birds were slaughtered by hunters despite the knowledge that it was the last flock of that size left.

How Pigeons Serve Mankind

2009-04-01T17:12:00.011-04:00

Messenger/Homing Pigeons

Homing pigeons are called messenger pigeons when they are used to carry messages. Messages have to be written on light, thin paper (such as cigarette paper) and rolled into a small tube that is attached to the bird's leg. This is called "pigeon post." Pigeons reach speeds between 60 - 80 miles per hour. They can fly up to 80 to 600 miles in one single day.

The Carrier of Messages:
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the Prussians had surrounded the city of Paris preventing mail from entering or leaving the city. During the course of the siege, pigeons and mail were regularly taken out of Paris by hot-air balloons. The letters that were sent to Paris were first reduced in size by photography, so that 30,000 letters could be carried on film placed inside a canister. These canisters were attached to pigeons and the pigeons then flew into Paris. Thirty-five pigeons carried the same letters, so that if any were shot down, at least one would reach Paris. In Paris, the film was projected on a screen, and the letters were copied by hand and delivered to homes in the city.

Pigeon have been used to transport short messages across long distances. In fact, historically well-known leaders, such as Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan, have used pigeons to carry important messages across long distances.

One of the world’s best known news agencies, Reuters, started its European business by using 45 trained homing pigeons to carry financial news on the continent in 1850. The pigeons carried the latest news and stock prices from Aachen in Germany to Brussels in Belgium. The homing pigeons travelled the 76 miles in a record-breaking two hours beating the railway by four hours.

The Chinese used homing pigeons to deliver mail as long ago as 1000 B.C.

Rescue Missions

A team of navy researchers trained pigeons to save human lives at sea as part of "Project Sea Hunt." Pigeons have better eyesight than humans and are, therefore, uniquely qualified for search-and-rescue missions. They were trained to identify the red or yellow life jackets of people floating in the water. The pigeons were carried by helicopters and when they saw a life jacket, they pecked a keyboard, which set off a light. Then the helicopter moved closer until the humans were able to see the life jacket.

The pigeons were not only found to be more reliable than humans but they were also many times quicker than humans when it came to spotting survivors from a capsized or sinking boat. The pigeon can see color in the same way that humans do but they can also see ultra-violet - a part of the spectrum that humans cannot see.

Wars

During the two World Wars, homing pigeons saved thousands of human lives by carrying messages across enemy lines. Pigeons were carried on ships and in the event of an attack, the messenger pigeon was released with details of the location of the sinking ship. Many lives were saved.

Pigeons also played a vital role in intelligence gathering. Hundreds of homing pigeons with the Confidential Pigeon Service were airdropped into northwest Europe to serve as intelligence vectors for local resistance agents.

World War I:
Homing pigeon "Cher Ami" was awarded the French Croix de guerre for delivering 12 important messages within the American sector at Verdun, France, despite being badly injured by enemy fire during his last trip. He carried with him an important message that led to the rescue of 194 American soldiers (now known as the "Lost Battalion," part of New York’s 77th Division of the U.S. Army), who would have otherwise perished.

World War II:
On 18 October 1943, the American homing pigeon "G.I. Joe" saved an Italian village that was scheduled to be bombed by British forces. "G.I. Joe" delivered a message about the planned attack in time to stop the bombing and his actions saved the lives of over a thousand people.

The Irish homing pigeon " Paddy" was awarded the Dickin Medal after being the first pigeon to arrive back in England with news of the success of the D-Day invasion, out of hundreds dispatched. He flew 230 miles across the English Channel in four hours and five minutes - the fastest recorded crossing.

Celebrations

White homing pigeons are released at weddings, funerals, and some sporting events. After the "release" - the pigeons will fly black to their lofts.

Letters to Mayor Bloomberg...National Pigeon Day in New York

2009-03-11T14:27:00.007-04:00

The following are emails send to Mayor Bloomberg, copied to the New York Bird Club. Please keep the letters coming.

mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

I would like you to be aware that NY pigeons have friends and admirers as far away as Calgary, AB, Canada.

I encourage you to make June 13th officially National Pigeon Day. As one of the world's great cities, your actions ring loud and clear across the world, and the message you send will be one of respect and consideration for another species of earthlings.

I look forward to hearing of your proclamation.

Regards,
Jonathan Martin
Calgary, Canada

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

I and my family are requesting that you officially designate to make it official and declare June 13th as National Pigeon Day in New York City.

It will be a fitting and deserving tribute to this bird of service during World War 1Thank you for this appropriate designation.

Diane M. Kastel

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

Please declare June 13th as National Pigeon Day in New York City. We know you love the pigeons as much as we do. Thank you for your time and attention to this most important matter.

Sincerely,
Patricia M. Nelson

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

As you know, Saturday, June 13th has been unoficially declared National Pigeon Day by the New York Bird Club.

June 13th is the day that Cher Ami, meaning "Dear Friend" in French departed the Earth. Pigeons have a noble history. As you will recall, Cher Ami served several months on the front lines during the Fall of 1918. He flew 12 important missions to deliver messages. Perhaps the most important was the message he carried on October 4, 1918. (reference: http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part1/3b_cherami.html).

Inasmuch as you have been paying tribute to this noble bird I ask that you now officially declare June 13th as National Pigeon Day in New York City. To impress you further on the attributes of this heroic creature, I cite the following: Cher Ami, a heroic pigeon who, against all odds, helped rescue a lost battalion of soldiers and left an unforgettable mark on American history. And in fact, Cher Ami was one of six hundred carrier pigeons used by the American Army during World War I. Pigeons are attractive, quiet, unobtrusive, have a calming, gentle voice, and are loyal, hardworking and devoted birds. And certainly worthy of our respect and admiration. They also serve the community well by cleaning our garbage away.

Homing pigeons are released at funerals, weddings and other significant ceremonies. Pigeons symbolize love, wonder and hope and the difficulties of life's journey. And you yourself have already paid tribute to pigeons by calling them "the often-overlooked winged heroes of conflicts past."

Therefore, please set this day aside for the pigeons once and for all. Thank you.

Richard W. Firth
Mechanicsville, Va. 23116

Hello Mayor Bloomberg,

My name is Anna Dove, and I am the founder of the New York Bird Club.

We have commemorated a day of recognition for the rock pigeon who, as you are aware, served mankind in times of unrest by delivering vital messages that saved many human lives in World War 1 and World War 11. Today many people still use them as messengers.

Pigeons are loyal and faithful birds deserving of respect. We feel they are remarkable birds that deserve a day of acknowledgement and recognition, and it is important that the legacy of the homing pigeons heroic war efforts be preserved and remembered.

With this in mind, the New York Bird Club has founded National Pigeon Day on June 13th. This is the day that Cher Ami passed away. Cher Ami was one of hundreds of homing pigeons used by American forces in France during World War I. And what better venue to hold National Pigeon Day than on Pilgrim Hill in New York's own beautiful Central Park.

The New York Bird Club would be delighted and honored if you would visit us on National Pigeon Day and say a few words on behalf of these loyal birds who served mankind so faithfully, and/or officially declare June 13th as National Pigeon Day in New York.

Please visit the National Pigeon Day blog @ www.nationalpigeonday.com which is regularly updated.

Respectfully,
Anna Dove
New York Bird Club

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

I was very pleased to learn that you have paid tribute to the pigeon war heros of the past. I have my father's diary from WW1 in which he mentions seeing soldiers in the trenches with cages filled with pigeons who valiantly risked their lives, often dying alone on the battlefield. They could easily have escaped the horrors of that most terrible of wars, but there is no record of it ever happening.

I hope that you will declare June 13th as National Pigeon Day in New York City, in appreciation of their many services throughout the ages to mankind.

Sincerely,

Marie L.
Queens, NY 11372

Thanks for PIGEON DAY!!!
To: mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov

Dear Mayor,

Thank you for such a decent, nice, lovable gesture toward the New York pigeons. I used to feed them for a long time when I was living in Queens and working in Manhattan and I sincerely wish more New Yorkers would take a couple of minutes of their very busy schedules to watch, admire and feed those adorable birds.

Yours truly,
Elsa Rosa Latheef
New Jersey Resident

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

Please make June 13, 2009 National Pigeon Day, to honor the hundreds of pigeons that played an important part in our history during World War I.

Aloha,
Alvin Wong
Pearl City, Hawaii

NYC Mayor Bloomberg pays homage to pigeons

2009-03-06T16:07:00.005-05:00

Please click here to see a copy of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's letter to Al Croseri, director of "The Flight". "The Flight" is an homage to the bravery of homing pigeons who saved thousands of lives in combat in the Great World Wars. Their achievements embodied the attributes of service, endurance, loyalty and supreme courage. Here, their memory is evoked by two present-day homing pigeons silently taking flight from the windows of a New York City apartment. The film dissolves to a forgotten past as we relive their ancestors' selfless heroism.

It is important that the legacy of the homing pigeons heroic war efforts be preserved and remembered.

"The Flight--a lovely tribute to the often-overlooked winged heroes of conflicts past."

Cruel Pigeon Control in Toronto

2009-03-05T15:25:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, Stilleposters were in a flap over what was perceived to be a cruel method of deterring pigeons being used at the TD Bank at Dundas and Ossington. Lara Williston posted photos of the location's façade, which appeared to have some pigeons' feathers stuck to it, followed by photos of a pigeon sitting on the sidewalk with its underside covered in some kind of thick, sticky substance. Williston explained what she had witnessed prior to snapping the photos:

The feathers that you see on the right side of the pillar are stuck in some of the glue and were ripped out a bird's wing that was dangling from the ledge. The pigeon that you see in the picture had fallen from the ledge and was glued to the front steps leading up to the door. He couldn't move his wings or walk because he was covered in this substance. I don't know if TD is specifically responsible or if it is the landlord of the building, but I suspect it is both, and either way it is an unacceptable and inhumane way of treating any animal, regardless of whether or not it is viewed as a pest.

The disturbing images prompted a generally negative reaction from Stilleposters, some of who wrote that they had placed calls to Animal Services, the Ministry of the Environment, City Hall, and the SPCA (apparently an agent was dispatched, though from what organization was not specified). Then, on Tuesday around noon, a new poster named mcram appeared on the boards, claiming to be a TD employee and offering this explanation:

Hello, I’m Matthew Cram from TD. On Sunday, a contractor we hired was installing a non-harmful pigeon deterrent (a device that dissuades pigeons from landing on our sign and making unsolicited “deposits” on customers). There was some extra adhesive from the installation of the device and unfortunately one pigeon did get stuck and died. The contractor came back yesterday to check the installation and remove any extra adhesive and we’re confident it’s now safe. This was a complete accident and we’re really sorry it happened. TD has been supporting wildlife and the environment for nearly 20 years through our TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (www.fef.ca) and this includes pigeons too!

There was some suspicion as to whether Cram was legit, but as his TD email address and this link prove, he indeed works in communications for the company. Over the phone, he explained that the pest control company Abell was hired to install metal spikes along the building to prevent pigeons from landing and thus making "deposits" on customers. Abell's installation job was sloppy, too much adhesive was used, and as a result a pigeon got stuck. "We talked to them, and they assured us this wouldn't happen again," Cram says. "As soon as I saw the thread, I thought, 'No, this can't be right.'" His story checked out: Torontoist dropped by the Dundas & Ossington branch yesterday and saw "porcupine wire" installed along the tops of signage and other popular pigeon-resting spots. Abell employees were at work, and there were no glue traps (or dead or injured pigeons) to be seen.

Cram's handling of the sticky situation seemed to satisfy Stillepost readers, and some commented that it was a good move on the part of TD to openly address the issue, especially on a message board. Though he's not too familiar with Stillepost (he was alerted to the pigeon thread by a bank employee), Cram notes that this sort of response speaks to the "new reality of news." "I read a lot of things, like Facebook, Twitter, and various blogs and websites. We like to know what people are saying about us, and it's interesting how we find out about a lot of things."

Could this be the future: corporate spokespeople like Cram responding to online criticism (even slightly misguided cries of "bird torture") in a timely and sensitive fashion? And to think, all it took to bring together indie-rock message board enthusiasts and a big soulless banking corporation was concern for flying rats.

See full article here.

All photos by Lara Williston.

Why Pigeons Are Able to Navigate so Superbly!

2009-02-28T12:26:00.002-05:00

The Magnetic Organ

In 1975, a researcher noticed that the bacteria he was studying always clustered at the north side of their culture dish. Even if he turned the dish so that they were at the south end and left it overnight, the next morning the bacteria were back at the north side. Each bacterium contained a chain of tiny magnets! The magnets were actually crystals of the natural magnetic mineral magnetite, the original lodestone of preliterate peoples. Somehow, the bacteria absorbed the soluble components from the water and put them together in their bodies as the insoluble crystalline chain. In 1971, another researcher reported on a lengthy series of experiments with pigeons. He found the same crystals of magnetite, as a submicroscopic mass located on the surface of the pigeon's brain. He found that the mass of crystals was full of nerve fibers that seemed to go into the brain. The magnetite crystals "tell" the pigeon's brain the exact direction of the Earth's magnetic field, and the pigeon uses this information to navigate with its amazing precision. The salamander has two separate magnetic navigational systems. One provides a simple compass, so that when traveling "cross country," it will go in a straight line. The other system enables it to return to the exact spot where it was hatched from its egg in order to mate and lay more eggs. The human "magnetic organ" has been found in the posterior wall of the ethmoid sinus, just in front of the pituitary gland. Humans have an innate ability to sense the direction of magnetic north, and this ability can be blocked by placing a bar magnet against a person's forehead for only fifteen minutes! The directional sense is disturbed for as long as two hours after application of the magnet. It is a sense organ that informs the organism of the direction of the Earth's magnetic field. Nature has provided us with yet another organ that also senses the field and extracts even more significant information from it.

Read the entire article here.

The Unethical Behavior of Chinese Scientists

2009-02-14T14:16:00.001-05:00

Chinese scientists said they have succeeded in an experiment to remotely control the flight of a pigeon with electronic technology.

Scientists with the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center of east China's Shandong University of Science and Technology say they implanted micro electrodes in the brain of a pigeon so they can command it to fly right or left or up or down.

The implants stimulated different areas of the pigeon's brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer, and forced the bird to comply with their commands.

It's the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world, said the chief scientist Su Xuecheng.

The electronic signals resemble the signals generated by the brain which control body movement, said Su.

Su and his colleagues are improving the devices used in the experiment ahd hope that the technology can be put into practical use in future.

Su conducted a similar successful experiment on mice in 2005.

Source: Xinhua

New York Pigeons Detected at PA Tourist Market

2009-02-03T14:47:00.001-05:00

Several license plate numbers have been observed and identified as belonging to New York pigeon netters at Roots Market which is located in the tourist area of Lancaster County, PA. where our pigeons are auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Please write to the following people and ask them to investigate the situation at Roots Market so they can put an end to this illegal activity. It is against the law to bait and trap pigeons without a license and against the law to traffic pigeons over state lines. The New York Bird Club has emailed Roots Market with an inquiry, but have received no reply.

Write to:

PA Senator Mike Brubaker (R-Lancaster) mbrubaker@pasen.gov.
He also serves as Committee Chairman of the PA Agriculture Committee

PA Governor Edward G. Rendell
ra-govnews@state.pa.us

Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau
info@padutchcountry.com

Root's Country Market & Auction, Inc.
705 Graystone Road
Manheim, PA 17545
(717) 898-7811
marketmaster@rootsmarket.com

Reference: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/230823

New York pigeons are also used as shooting targets at pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania.

Reference: http://www.hsus.org/wildlife_abuse/campaigns/contests/pennsylvania_pigeon_shoots.html

Do New York Pigeons Migrate

2009-01-24T11:02:00.001-05:00

New York Times
The City

Q. Here’s a thought for winter: Do New York pigeons migrate?

A. New York may have snowbirds, but pigeons are not among them.

After researching the question, Anna Dove, the aptly named founder and director of the New York Bird Club, replied: “Pigeons, unlike some other species of birds, do not migrate, and if removed from a nesting area they have a good homing ability and can return from long distances.”

When pigeons are a few months old, she said in an e-mail message, they imprint their location in their brain as “home” and will always return there, unless domesticated into a new home, like a loft.

“They can and will fly many miles away from their roost to find food, but at the end of the day they will always return home, or attempt to, and that is why they are so excellent at carrying messages,” Ms. Dove said.

Pigeon Shoots Terminated at Straustown Rod and Gun Club

2008-12-30T12:01:00.008-05:00

December 29, 2008
(source: SHARK)

Christmas came a day late for SHARK investigators, but the present Santa delivered was well worth the wait - the termination of pigeon shoots at the Straustown Rod and Gun Club. December 26 was supposed to be the first day of the annual three-day pigeon slaughter at the Straustown Club, located outside Strausstown, Pennsylvania. Yes, the Club is missing a "s" from its name - go figure. SHARK investigators spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day driving to Pennsylvania for this shoot.

Straustown has held hundreds of pigeon shoots for many years, with the late December shoot being the big end-of-the-year finale. You may recall that last November, SHARK investigators were on the scene to video document a shoot at the club when they encountered Pennsylvania State Police Corporal Kenneth Winter. Winter illegally ordered the investigators off public easement that had been used by shoot protesters and other observers for many years. See video here.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) came to SHARK's aid, contacting the Pennsylvania State Police and threatening court action if the police harassment continued. Interestingly, not a single police officer appeared on December 26, so apparently the police now agree with SHARK and the ACLU regarding the use of public easement.

Because of the ACLU's involvement, the pigeon shooters knew SHARK was coming for the end-of-the-year finale. They knew SHARK was going to video document not only the killing, but their faces and their automobiles and license plates, and SHARK was going to put it all on the internet.

These cowards, many of whom come from outside of Pennsylvania, don't want to be known as the animal abusers they truly are. They may have decided that feeding their bloodlust simply was not worth the certainty of exposure to the world. Shortly after SHARK's arrival on December 26, the first day of the three-day annual slaughter, the pigeon workers proceeded to dismantle the equipment used for pigeon shoots.

After three hours, all the equipment used for at least 15 years for the pigeon shoots was loaded onto pigeon supplier Don Bailey's truck and hauled away.

For two more mornings SHARK monitored the gun club, Don Bailey's house, and another gun club called Wing Pointe used for pigeon shoots. Nothing was happening. There was no massacre.

The end of pigeon shoots at the Straustown Rod and Gun Club is a historic event in animal protection. I can think of no club that had as many pigeon shoots as the Straustown club. Furthermore, the club is only about a mile from the home of Don Bailey, who supplies pigeons for pigeon shoots across Pennsylvania. This was the easiest and more profitable place for Bailey to produce his blood festivals. Every other place Bailey goes will be more difficult and expensive for him.

Pigeon shoots are under a great deal of pressure. There are ongoing lawsuits, and efforts to make pigeon shoots illegal in Pennsylvania, but still they persist. SHARK must continue to pursue these cold-blooded killers, not to mention other animal abusers involved in other cruel events such as rodeos.

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people who commit acts of animal cruelty before, during or after live pigeon shoots.

Heidi Prescott, The HSUS' senior vice president of campaigns, states "We encourage anyone with information related to supplying birds, gambling or specific acts of cruelty occurring at shoots to come forward."

Individuals with information may call the toll-free live pigeon shoot tip line at 1-800-637-4124. Individuals may request to remain anonymous.

World War 11 Pigeon Trainer Dies at 84

2008-12-14T18:25:00.002-05:00

December 14, 2008
Richard Topus, a Pigeon Trainer in World War II, Dies at 84
By MARGALIT FOX

In January 1942, barely a month after Pearl Harbor, the United States War Department sounded a call to enlist. It wasn’t men they wanted — not this time. The Army was looking for pigeons.

To the thousands of American men and boys who raced homing pigeons, a popular sport in the early 20th century and afterward, the government’s message was clear: Uncle Sam Wants Your Birds.

Richard Topus was one of those boys. He had no birds of his own to give, but he had another, unassailable asset: he was from Brooklyn, where pigeon racing had long held the status of a secular religion. His already vast experience with pigeons — long, ardent hours spent tending and racing them after school and on weekends — qualified him, when he was still a teenager, to train American spies and other military personnel in the swift, silent use of the birds in wartime.

World War II saw the last wide-scale use of pigeons as agents of combat intelligence. Mr. Topus, just 18 when he enlisted in the Army, was among the last of the several thousand pigeoneers, as military handlers of the birds were known, who served the United States in the war.

A lifelong pigeon enthusiast who became a successful executive in the food industry, Mr. Topus died on Dec. 5 in Scottsdale, Ariz., at the age of 84. The cause was kidney failure, his son Andrew said.

Richard Topus was born in Brooklyn on March 15, 1924, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. Growing up in Flatbush, he fell in love with the pigeons his neighbors kept on their rooftops in spacious coops known as lofts. His parents would not let him have a loft of his own — they feared it would interfere with schoolwork, Andrew Topus said — but he befriended several local men who taught him to handle their birds. Two of them had been pigeoneers in World War I, when the United States Army Pigeon Service was formally established.

Pigeons have been used as wartime messengers at least since antiquity. Before the advent of radio communications, the birds were routinely used as airborne couriers, carrying messages in tiny capsules strapped to their legs. A homing pigeon can find its way back to its loft from nearly a thousand miles away. Over short distances, it can fly a mile a minute. It can go where human couriers often cannot, flying over rough terrain and behind enemy lines.

By the early 20th century, advances in communications technology seemed to herald the end of combat pigeoneering. In 1903, a headline in The New York Times confidently declared, “No Further Need of Army Pigeons: They Have Been Superseded by the Adoption of Wireless Telegraph Systems.”

But technology, the Army discovered, has its drawbacks. Radio transmissions can be intercepted. Triangulated, they can reveal the sender’s location. In World War I, pigeons proved their continued usefulness in times of enforced radio silence. After the United States entered World War II, the Army put out the call for birds to racing clubs nationwide. Tens of thousands were donated.

In all, more than 50,000 pigeons served the United States in the war. Many were shot down. Others were set upon by falcons released by the Nazis to intercept them. (The British countered by releasing their own falcons to pursue German messenger pigeons. But since falcons found Allied and Axis birds equally delicious, their deployment as defensive weapons was soon abandoned by both sides.)

But many American pigeons did reach their destinations safely, relaying vital messages from soldiers in the field to Allied commanders. The information they carried — including reports on troop movements and tiny hand-sketched maps — has been widely credited with saving thousands of lives during the war.

Mr. Topus enlisted in early 1942 and was assigned to the Army Signal Corps, which included the Pigeon Service. He was eventually stationed at Camp Ritchie in Maryland, one of several installations around the country at which Army pigeons were raised and trained. There, he joined a small group of pigeoneers, not much bigger than a dozen men.

Camp Ritchie specialized in intelligence training, and Mr. Topus and his colleagues schooled men and birds in the art of war. They taught the men to feed and care for the birds; to fasten on the tiny capsules containing messages written on lightweight paper; to drop pigeons from airplanes; and to jump out of airplanes themselves, with pigeons tucked against their chests. The Army had the Maidenform Brassiere Company make paratroopers’ vests with special pigeon pockets.

The birds, for their part, were trained to fly back to lofts whose locations were changed constantly. This skill was crucial: once the pigeons were released by troops in Europe, the Pacific or another theater, they would need to fly back to mobile combat lofts in those places rather than light out for the United States. Mr. Topus and his colleagues also bred pigeons, seeking optimal combinations of speed and endurance.

After the war, Mr. Topus earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from Hofstra University. While he was a student, he earned money selling eggs — chicken eggs — door to door and afterward started a wholesale egg business. In the late 1950s, Mr. Topus became the first salesman at Friendship Food Products, a dairy company then based in Maspeth, Queens; he retired as executive vice president for sales and marketing. (The company, today based in Jericho, N.Y. and a subsidiary of Dean Foods, is now known as Friendship Dairies.)

In the 1960s and early ’70s, Mr. Topus taught marketing at Hofstra; the C. W. Post campus of Long Island University; and the State University of New York, Farmingdale, where he started a management-training program for supermarket professionals. In later years, after retiring to Scottsdale, he taught at Arizona State University and was also a securities arbitrator, hearing disputes between stockbrokers and their clients.

Besides his son Andrew, of Chicago, Mr. Topus is survived by his wife, the former Jacqueline Buehler, whom he married in 1948; two other children, Nina Davis of Newton, Mass.; and David, of Atlanta; and four grandchildren.

Though the Army phased out pigeons in the late 1950s, Mr. Topus raced them avidly till nearly the end of his life. He left a covert, enduring legacy of his hobby at Friendship, for which he oversaw the design of the highly recognizable company logo, a graceful bird in flight, in the early 1960s.

From that day to this, the bird has adorned cartons of the company’s cottage cheese, sour cream, buttermilk and other products. To legions of unsuspecting consumers, Andrew Topus said last week, the bird looks like a dove. But to anyone who really knew his father, it is a pigeon, plain as day.

World Animal Day

2008-12-08T10:00:00.012-05:00

In this photo released by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a Victoria crowned pigeon is seen at the Bronx Zoo in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/WCS, Julie Larsen Maher).

“World Animal Day was observed earlier this month - on October 4th. Started in Florence Italy in 1931 at a convention of ecologists, World Animal Day has since expanded its focus from its original intent, which was to bring attention to endangered or threatened species. The day is now set aside as a time to reflect on all of the animals we share this world with, and our involvement with them - and to spur action to commemorate that respectful relationship. Half the world’s mammals are declining in population and more than a third are probably threatened with extinction, according to an update of of the Red List (an inventory of biodiversity issued by the IUCN), released on October 6, 2008."

Hail to the Pigeon of Peace -- National Pigeon Day 2009!

2008-10-23T11:19:00.002-04:00

National Pigeon Day: Hail to the Pigeon of Peace -- National Pigeon Day 2009!

Two Pigeon Spies Are Arrested

2008-10-21T16:26:00.006-04:00

Iran arrests two spy pigeons near nuclear facility
by James Exelby
Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Pigeons have been flying military missions for at least 850 years. Two spy pigeons have been arrested in the vicinity of the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz, and handed over to the country's security services, local press reported on Monday.

Iranian paper E'temad-e Melli quoted an informed source as saying that one pigeon carrying a wired rod fixed to its body with the use of invisible threads had been caught near the Mihan Rose Water Company in Kashan, Isfahan province.

He added that the second bird, a black pigeon carrying a blue wired rod fixed to its back by invisible threads, had been caught at the beginning of the month.

The Natanz nuclear plant is alleged to be Iran's central facility for uranium enrichment to be used to build an atomic bomb, although there is some speculation that the site could be a front, while expansion of the centrifuge program goes on elsewhere.

The facility is located some 30km from the town of the same name, which itself is 70km from Kashan.

The use of pigeons in military operations dates back to at least the 12th century, originating in the Middle East.

The first recorded use of messenger pigeons was in 1150 in Baghdad and the great Mongol Genghis Khan made use of them soon after.

In 1860, Paul Reuter, who later founded Reuters press agency, used a fleet of over 45 pigeons to deliver news and stock prices between Brussels and Aachen. The outcome of the Battle of Waterloo was also first delivered by a pigeon to England.

In 1994, a medal awarded to a British pigeon working for British Intelligence during World War II sold for 9,200 pounds ($15,755).

The PDSA Dickin medal, the animal equivalent to the UK's highest military award for bravery, the Victoria Cross, was awarded to Commando the Pigeon, who had flown vital information, the location of German troops, industrial sites and injured British soldiers, out of occupied France in 1942.

Commando received his medal in 1945 for his "conspicuous bravery and devotion" before he was put out to stud.

Pigeons Deserve Respect

2008-10-18T12:14:00.003-04:00

Pigeons deserve respect: Animals in the News
Posted by Donna J. Miller/Plain Dealer Reporter October 17, 2008

Ever cursed a pigeon? Called the urban dwellers dirty and dumb? Shooed them away like dandruff on a lapel?

Maybe Mr. Pigeon will change your view.

He lived in a cage, in a house full of cats, with an elderly lady who died last year. Cleveland Animal Protective League humane officers took the cats, but wondered what to do with the caged bird. Winter was approaching. The pigeon was accustomed to indoor temperatures.

They called me, knowing I care for rescued chickens and other farm animals.

Mr. Pigeon moved into my semi-finished basement. He didn't seem to mind the cage, but I hated it. I let him loose in one room, where he flew about and perched on shelves and a ceiling fan.

Occasionally, a cat sneaked in. I panicked, but Mr. Pigeon strode up to full-grown felines without fear. He got beak to nose. He pulled tails. He scurried between their legs and pinched their bellies, sending them fleeing.

I stopped worrying about keeping him from cats and enjoyed the winter months watching him rule the room.

In spring, I let him go.

He wouldn't leave.

He soared from tree to tree to the garage roof. Ate cracked corn with ducks and geese. Slept on the door opener mounted to the ceiling of the garage. Hopped down steps and pushed through a cat door to nap in the cool basement on hot days. Ate face-to-face with cats, whom he could read.

He swooped away from Louie and Taxi, who would do him harm. He went for walks in the woods with Thomas. He wrestled with Bruno. Yes, wrestled. I wished I had a video camera.

When I got home from work, Mr. Pigeon would swoop into the garage and land on my car, cooing. One day, he didn't.

I scanned the trees. There sat a bird-eating Cooper's hawk.

But maybe Mr. Pigeon's story can bring better treatment to the birds of Cleveland this winter, where they struggle to survive, not among natural predators, but among people and cars.

Love a Pigeon Week

2008-10-09T14:13:00.004-04:00

A delightful article on pigeons by Alicia. Love a Pigeon Week surpasses National Pigeon Day.

I am definitely not a bird lover. I tolerate small birds, like house sparrows, finches, whatever. In fact small ones can be rather cute. I like how sparrows in public places have the guts to hop close and try to steal your lunch, or whatever you happen to be carrying. Parakeets are even okay as far as other birds; i think they’re really pretty and they are usually in cages which helps. But it seems to me that the sheer ominosity (is that a word?) of the bigger birds such as ostriches seems to drown the impact of the number of small birds present in the world. I mean, no matter how many small and harmless ones exist, the big ones just look so menacing that it totally disregards how few they are. (Have you ever had an emu chase you? I have * shudder * and that’s probably why i have this problem with birds. Even seagulls look threatening up close, good grief.)

But there is one bird that i think is largely misunderstood and under appreciated, and that is the pigeon. Now before you leave my blog for good, consider my arguments. Pigeons are not aggressive. They make a pleasant cooing sound (at least some think it is pleasant). It is not their fault that they poop all over your car either. They can be rather funny at times, since they are supposed to act like small birds but are quite fat. They add alot of atmosphere and character to a city (at least I think so - when my family went to Chicago, i cannot tell you how much cooler the city was to me just because it had pigeons running around everywhere). Feeding them from your hand is also like the biggest world tourist thing ever, so they also provide entertainment for many crowds - not only for the ones feeding them, but also for those watching people feed them. Without pigeons, the song “Feed the Birds” in Mary Poppins would not have been made possible in front of the Notre Dame. Okay, maybe it is just a movie, but that is my favorite song from that film and it was also one of Walt Disney’s personal favorites, so pigeons are VERY important.

Plus, anyone who has been subjected to the PBS kids version of Curious George loves pigeons automatically, all thanks to Compass the homing pigeon who doesn’t really home. Compass is a representative for the true will of pigeons everywhere; and the true will of pigeons really has nothing to do with bothering us bipeds.

So, i say we should declare a national holiday: “Love a Pigeon Week.” It should be a week long because some people need six days to find a pigeon to love, and others need six days to work up the courage and tenacity to love one they already found. (Pastor Kevin is a step ahead right now - he just needs to find the pigeon that is so “annoyingly” cooing outside his office every day and give it a big hug so it will coo louder.)

So, there is my thought for the day. Not very profound, granted, but hopefully interesting nonetheless. Now go out and love a pigeon!

Pigeon Intelligence

2008-10-04T13:05:00.004-04:00

Bird's-eye view of big pictures
Chris Fulton | October 02, 2008

ART critics beware: when it comes to appraising the works of Monet and Picasso, the humble pigeon can give you a run for your aesthetic money.

The surprising discovery by Japanese neuropsychologist Shigeru Watanabe at Keio University adds to earlier research revealing that the multi-talented birds can also hear the difference between Bach and Stravinsky.

Watanabe put the pigeons to the artist challenge as part of his study on how pigeons think and process information. He says the work may provide important clues to the mystery of how humans see and interpret art.

According to Watanabe, who reported his findings in the journal Animal Cognition, birds, like humans, rely on their eyesight to find food, make a home and avoid their predators. Such selective pressures give pigeons and humans a heightened visual ability, which by chance enables both species to appreciate the subtle nuances of artistic style.

"These observations suggest the visual functions of pigeons are comparable (with those of) humans," Watanabe says.

Commenting on the research, visual neuroethologist Jochen Zeil, from the Australian National University, says the findings are no laughing matter. "I'm not surprised that they found pigeons could distinguish the fine details of paintings," he says.

Zeil notes that people often underestimate how well other animals can see. "This research gives us a better appreciation of how amazing animals other than ourselves are in terms of their visual abilities," he says.

In order to tease out the critical faculties of pigeons, Watanabe and his colleagues first showed a pigeon 10 paintings by Monet. Then they asked the same pigeon to identify -- peck out -- a different work by the same artist from a mixture of paintings by Monet, Renoir, Matisse and Delacroix. The pigeons were able to do this for a range of other artists as well, including Picasso, Van Gogh and Chagall.

After testing 21-year-old psychology students with the same paintings, Watanabe found that pigeons and humans were on a par with their artistic detective work.

Even when the paintings were converted to black and white, both the pigeons and the students could still identify the artist correctly. And when other aspects of the images were changed, such as blurring of the finer brushstroke details, both groups got the answer wrong.

According to Watanabe, the results suggest that pigeons and people assess multiple characteristics of an object when making a judgment, such as the particular combination of colour and pattern.

NY Senator Krueger Urges PA Legislature to Ban Pigeon Shoots

2008-09-15T17:44:00.006-04:00

Source: The Humane Society of the United States

New York State Senator Liz Krueger (D-26) sent a letter (follows below) to the Pennsylvania State Legislature advocating a ban on live pigeon shoots, highlighting the burden that demand for New York City pigeons as live targets places on New York law enforcement agencies.

A Pennsylvania bill to ban live pigeon shoots is pending in the state legislature and is expected to be voted on this week. More info on the bill and issue is available at The Humane Society of the United States' website.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York Senator Urges Pennsylvania Legislature to Gun Down Pigeon Shoots

(Sept. 15, 2008)- New York State Senator Liz Krueger (D-26) sent a letter to the Pennsylvania State Legislature advocating a ban on live pigeon shoots, highlighting the burden that demand for New York City pigeons as live targets places on New York law enforcement agencies.

"I urge the Pennsylvania State Legislature to ban the cruel practice of live pigeon shoots," said Sen. Krueger. "If the demand for live birds to kill during Pennsylvania pigeon shoots were ended through legislation, these pigeon nettings would undoubtedly dramatically decline and most likely cease."

Recent media reports have highlighted the link between illegal pigeon capture in New York City and the trafficking of birds across state lines to be used in pigeon shoots. Pennsylvania is the last state to openly host these events. Sen. Krueger noted that New York banned captive live pigeon shoots in 1874.

City residents have witnessed individuals scattering seed or bait for birds, throwing a net over the animals and placing them in the back of vehicles. Birds reportedly arrive to the shoots already malnourished, dehydrated or dead.

"For the past 20 years, tens of thousands of birds have suffered while Pennsylvania citizens called for legislation banning pigeon shoots," said Heidi Prescott, senior vice president for The Humane Society of the United States. "Now the Pennsylvania Legislature's embarrassing failure to act on this reasonable measure has caught the attention of a legislator in another state."

The HSUS offers a standing $2,500 reward for information related to nettings, gambling and other illegal activity connected to live pigeon shoots. Individuals with information may call the toll-free live pigeon shoot tip line at 1-800-637-4124.

Facts

* The Pennsylvania Legislature has failed to pass any animal protection legislation this session.

* In pigeon shoots, birds are released one at time from boxes to be shot by individuals standing just a few yards away. The shooters are awarded prizes based on whether the wounded or dead animal lands inside a scoring area.

* During past live pigeon shoots, participants have snipped the heads off live birds with gardening shears, beaten wounded pigeons against barrels, buried wounded animals with dead ones in containers and abandoned wounded animals.

* At least 1,000 birds are typically used for a one-day shoot.

The HSUS works to stop wildlife abuse across the country. Visit http://www.humanesociety.org/wildlifeabuse for more information.

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization - backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty - On the web at http://www.humanesociety.org

The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20037
humanesociety.org
Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty

NY Senator Krueger's Letter to Pennsylvania Legislature

Dear Legislator,

On behalf of my constituents in the 26th Senate Legislative District of New York, I encourage you to support legislation to end pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania. It is my understanding that Pennsylvania openly hosts these events where captive birds are released or launched from boxes and shot within a ring for prizes and money. Unfortunately, it is not only Pennsylvania that is affected, the constant demand for animals to supply these events has spurred an associated animal cruelty issue in New York State in the form of pigeon poaching.

These poaching activities present an undue law enforcement challenge within my district, the Upper East Side of New York City, and other areas within the city. Capturing or netting pigeons is illegal, yet within my district residents repeatedly witness individuals scattering seed or bait for birds, throwing a net over the animals and placing these birds in the back of vehicle. The birds are then kept in crowded conditions and transported across state lines to shoots in Pennsylvania.

If the Pennsylvania pigeon shoot market for live birds to target in these competitions were ended through legislation, these pigeon nettings would undoubtedly dramatically decline and most likely, cease. I know of no other economic incentive for individuals to capture thousands of pigeons at a time, repeatedly throughout the year in New York. In fact, New York bannned captive live pigeon shoots in 1874.

As you might imagine, our city's law enforcement bodies would rather spend their time and resources on priorities that do not include investigating frequent reports of pigeon capture.

Finally, the cruelty inherent in shooting launched animals that do not have an opportunity to escape the gun and knowing that it is our own state's wildlife killed in such a manner, is quite distressing to my constituents who value the humane treatment of animals. Again, I urge you to pass legislation before the fall shoot season starts again and increases the demand for our birds.

I thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Liz Krueger
State Senator

Related press: The Daily Gotham

"Safe Feeding Zones" for Pigeons

2008-09-12T13:36:00.007-04:00

According to a recent article in the Columbia Spectator, the Humane Society of the US is negotiating with New York City lawyers to put into place pigeon "safe feeding zones" or restricted feeding areas. Can this be nothing more than pigeon discrimination, or will safe feeding zones for other wildlife follow in the future. I hope this plan is not an attempt to reduce the numbers of pigeons in Manhattan as pigeon populations have been declining steadily over the past several years and there is no need for pigeon control.

"As for those who enjoy playing with the pigeons, I think it is my duty to suggest that we follow the Humane Society’s plan for the city, called “safe feeding zones.” In negotiations with Councilman Simcha Felder (44th District, Brooklyn), the HS is working with city lawyers to draw up a plan that will allow the feeding of pigeons in parks, on the grass, away from the heavily trafficked areas.

We can do the same thing at Columbia. We can feed the pigeons only on the grassy areas and abstain from inviting them to dine on the steps or any concrete places where people may sit. At least on the grass, their poop can actually function as fertilizer, and those of us who relax on the grass generally do so in our casual clothes, not our Sunday finest.

The Humane Society also advises that we feed only as much as the birds will consume in five to ten minutes, rather than feed with the clockwork regularity that conditions the birds to appear at the same place, same time, every day—and attract more and more of their compatriots over time."

Here are some examples of how other areas have dealt with pigeons in their cities. (Source: PETA)

✔Basel, Switzerland: From 1988 to 1992, Basel halved its street pigeon population through an integrated management program. The city had previously tried trapping, shooting, and oral contraceptives, all of which failed to effectively reduce pigeon numbers. Identifying the limitation of food sources as the only solution, the world’s leading scientist in the field, Professor Daniel Haag Wackernagel of the University of Basel, recommended that the city mount a public education campaign emphasizing that public feeding was the root of the problem and explaining the ultimate harm to the pigeons. Basel built lofts in city buildings and established areas where feeding was permitted near the lofts. Eggs were removed from the lofts, and during the four-year period of Haag-Wackernagel’s oversight, the pigeon population was reduced by 50 percent.

✔Augsburg, Germany: Augsburg currently has seven pigeon lofts in the city and is close to completing an eighth. The number of lofts is expected to grow to 15 by the end of 2006. In 2002 alone, 12,000 eggs were removed from the new lofts. Augsburg has seen a marked reduction in damage to buildings because the pigeon droppings are collected largely in the lofts.

✔Aachen, Germany: After acknowledging that trapping and killing pigeons was not making “any noticeable change” to the pigeon numbers, Aachen has now installed seven pigeon lofts that are maintained by volunteer staff and activists. A spokesperson for the city said that the city wants to continue with the integrated program because the lofts are producing the desired results.

✔Paris, France: The city had tried conventional control methods but did not obtain satisfactory results, so in 2003, Paris put up its first pigeon loft. Paris has chosen to addle (shake) the eggs to prevent them from hatching. The program has the support of the French Society for the Protection of City Birds. A spokesperson for the city said that the new plan works to “improve relations between Parisians and these birds” and reduces the damage caused by droppings.

✔Nottingham City Hospital, U.K.: A good example of the effectiveness of the PiCAS method in a commercial setting, the 60-acre hospital started killing some of its 1,200-strong resident pigeon population in 1999 but stopped immediately because of a public outcry. The hospital then brought in PiCAS to devise a humane control program and reduced its pigeon population by 50 percent within a year. The population in 200 was further reduced to 360 birds, and a recent survey has counted only 62 resident birds on site. This massive reduction was achieved exclusively by using nonlethal methods of control. The hospital won the 2003Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (UK) Best Practice Award for its humane and effective program in association with PiCAS.

The PiCAS Method in Action: Proven and Ongoing Successes

Some examples of places where this method has worked and is working to reduce and manage pigeon populations in Europe include the following:

As an example of construction and maintenance costs, the German city of Augsburg found it more expensive, according to the city’s finance officer, to employ lethal controls and constantly clean buildings than to introduce an integrated program. Currently, the city spends about $2,000 on construction materials for each dovecote or $15,000 if it contracts to have the dovecote constructed. The dovecotes are cleaned and maintained two to three times a week, which takes approximately three hours for each visit. Augsburg also uses community volunteers to keep costs low, and PETA can work with communities to locate and organize volunteers to aid in
running the PiCAS program.

If the more intricate and picturesque dovecotes such as those found in Augsburg are not desired, simpler features such as wall-mounted nesting boxes that can cost as little as $40 to $60 each or pigeon “lofts” that cost $400 to $600 can be constructed. All these options are effective and can simply be tailored to suit the available budget and the aesthetics of the designated site. As long as the facility has been constructed with the needs and behaviors of the pigeons in mind and has been erected on an appropriate site, pigeons will begin to take up residence and can be managed from the site. Perhaps the biggest benefit for cities in adopting a PiCAS
program is the savings that PiCAS can arrange for commercial property owners in the city. As noted above, one of the key features of the PiCAS method is working with property owners to ensure that their buildings are adequately and properly pigeon-proofed in order to make that area as unattractive to pigeons as possible. Pigeon-proofing can be achieved through a range of deterrents such as anti-roosting spikes, and PiCAS has extensive experience working with property owners to determine how best to address their individual concerns. PiCAS can offer the client sources for a wide range of control options and deterrents that will not only be completely effective in the long term but also can be obtained at a fraction of the cost that a commercial PCO would charge. For example, PiCAS has a noncommercial relationship with a U.K. producer of antiroosting devices that, having established a presence in Florida, can supply top-quality stainless-steel anti-roosting spikes to U.S. clients for less than even the wholesale price. U.S. clients who confirm that they will solely use nonlethal controls to address pigeon issues can enjoy a further 15 percent discount on these products, making the humane pigeon control option even more cost-effective.

It is also worthwhile to consider the possibility of offering a franchise to sell high-quality pigeon feed adjacent to the designated feeding area. This would ensure that the right food was offered to pigeons (rather than large quantities of processed food that not only would be damaging to their health, but might also attract rodents and seagulls), and it would create revenue for the city to offset the costs involved in cleaning and servicing the site.

PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS
PIGEON CONTROL: PERMANENT AND HUMANE SOLUTIONS
Contact Information
Pigeon Control Advisory Service
29 Victoria Green
Witchford
Ely
Cambridgeshire CB6 2XB
United Kingdom
07981 945 662
enquiries@PiCAS.org.uk
www.PiCAS.org.uk

Stephanie Boyles, Wildlife Biologist
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
757-622-7382, ext. 8328
StephanieB@peta.org

Sources Cited
Batz, Jeannette. “Pigeons Dropping.” St. Louis Riverfront Times 13 Jan. 1999
.
Broughton, P.D. “Parisians Build Home for Pigeons in Suburbs.” London Daily
Telegraph 8 Mar. 2003.

Der Spiegel. “War Against the Messengers of Peace.” 6 Jun. 2003.
Haag-Wackernagel, Daniel. “Regulation of the Street Pigeon in Basel.” Wildlife
Society Bulletin 23.2 (2002): 256-60.

Kanigher, Steve. “Family Files Suit Alleging Exposure to Pigeon Poison.” Las Vegas
Sun 3 Dec. 2003 2003/dec/03/515959641.html>.

Nottingham City Hospital. “Pigeon Control Update.” Dec. 2000
.

Extinction (the sad fate of the Passenger Pigeon)

2008-09-03T11:41:00.002-04:00

AS I SEE IT HEIDI PRESCOTT
Extinction
Monday, September 01, 2008
The Patriot News

By the time they enter high school, most children have learned about the great bison herds of North America, and how men with guns brought these animals to the brink of extinction.

As students gain understanding of America's past, they are exposed to a second, even more troubling massacre. The passenger pigeon was once the most common bird on the continent, maybe in the world -- migrating in flocks that took days to pass overhead. Thanks to the unwavering zeal of shooters, the last known passenger pigeon, "Martha," died in Ohio on Sept. 1, 1914.

This condensed version of history, however, pulls up short after that, right where it counts.

Those responsible for the buffalo and passenger-pigeon massacres are portrayed as people who just didn't understand the power that humans could wield over nature. The tragic stories of these animals are chalked up as examples of ecological ignorance and unknowing people getting carried away with themselves. By this reckoning, we've learned the lessons of history. We're much more in tune with nature now.

But sadly there is more to it. These stories from our past are windows into something else, something darker in the human character. I'm speaking about bloodthirsty wantonness: The inexplicable lust to kill and kill and kill.

Unfortunately, the passage of time has not blunted this impulse in some of us.

Right here in 21st century Pennsylvania, gunfire rings out during the weekends from people engaged in orgies of killing that are even more gratuitous than the assaults on bison and passenger pigeon. That's right, not on the same epic scale but morally more repugnant. Back then, buffalo hides had economic value, at least. And passenger pigeons provided food, first to slaves and then to the underclass.

By contrast, today's pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania are without any purpose whatsoever. Nothing except competition killing for the sake of macabre trophy belt buckles.

These semi-tame pigeons are captured elsewhere, including the streets of New York. On any given Wednesday, they might be nibbling cracker crumbs out of grandma's hand in Central Park. Then they are trapped by a shadowy network of dealers and transported here. By Sunday, they could be stuffed into a box in front of shooter to be launched as living targets.

The "lucky" among these birds die swiftly. Their heads are snipped off by eager apprentices. The carcasses are discarded with the other garbage.

The less fortunate birds are wounded. They disappear into the trees and brush to suffer and die days later.

Don't be fooled by extremists who defend their blood-thirst as part of Pennsylvania's heritage. What grim heritage would that be? And if a zealot dares speak of "hunting" in the same breath as these shoots -- and sure enough, radicals like those of the National Rifle Association do -- please remind them that no traditional hunter kills for the sake of feeding garbage cans. No self-respecting hunter wounds animals and leaves them to die in the woods.

At The Humane Society of the United States we have a saying: Shooting pigeons and calling yourself a sportsman is like hiring an escort service and calling yourself a ladies' man.

THE GOOD NEWS is that we can end these savage displays of inhumanity. Ten years ago marked the end of the notorious Hegins pigeon shoot. Now a decade later, the Pennsylvania Legislature is considering catching up with the other 49 states in disallowing pigeon shoots. Let the shooters go play video games if they cannot find something constructive to do. The whole spectacle of pigeon shoots is just a ghoulish game anyway.

The trouble is, these few shooters and their extremist allies are a noisy bunch. To counter them, legislators need to hear that sensible voters are fed up. It is time for logic and decency to carry the day in the Capitol.

It requires not an iota of courage to shoot at a pigeon netted from the city park. It shouldn't require very much more for a legislator to decree that it's wrong to do so. A sensible law will send these contest kills into history's shameful dustbin along with stories of other human carnage against animals.

HEIDI PRESCOTT is senior vice president/campaigns for The Humane Society of the United States.

Pigeons Show Superior Self-recognition Abilities to Three Year Old Humans

2008-08-20T09:54:00.003-04:00

Pigeons Show Superior Self-recognition Abilities To Three Year Old Humans
see article in Science Daily

Keio University scientists have shown that pigeons are able to discriminate video images of themselves even with a 5-7 second delay, thus having self-cognitive abilities higher than 3-year-old children who have difficulty recognizing their self-image with only a 2 second delay. (Credit: Image courtesy of Keio University)ScienceDaily (June 14, 2008) — Keio University scientists have shown that pigeons are able to discriminate video images of themselves even with a 5-7 second delay, thus having self-cognitive abilities higher than 3-year-old children who have difficulty recognizing their self-image with only a 2 second delay.

Prof. Shigeru Watanabe of the Graduate School of Human Relations of Keio University and Tsukuba University graduate student Kohji Toda trained pigeons to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image.

Self-recognition is found in large primates such as chimpanzees, and recent findings show that dolphins and elephants also have such intelligence. Proving that pigeons also have this ability show that such high intelligence as self-recognition can be seen in various animals, and are not limited to primates and dolphins that have large brains.

Experimental method and results

The pigeon was trained to discriminate two types of video images in the following method. First, live video images of the present self (A) and recorded video images of the pigeon that moves differently from the present self (B) are shown. When the pigeon learns to discriminate these two images, the video image of (A) is shown with a temporal delay, so that the monitor shows the image of the pigeon a few seconds before. If the pigeon remembers its own movements, it can recognize it as self-image even with the delay.

The pigeon could discriminate (A) with a few seconds delay as something different from (B). This shows that the pigeon can differentiate the present self-image and the recorded self-image of the past, which means that the pigeon has self-cognitive abilities. Video image (A) matches with the movement of itself, whereas (B) does not. Being able to discriminate the two means that the pigeon understands the difference between movements of itself and movements of the taped image. In this experiment, movements of the pigeon itself are in question instead of the mark of Gallup’s mark test (see 2-(1) below for explanation). When there is a temporal delay in the image of the present self, the longer the delay, the more pigeon’s discrimination was disrupted, and this also shows that the pigeon discriminates the video images using its own movements. The important thing is whether it understands the difference between movements in the video image that match with itself and movements in the video image that don’t.

Method of testing self recognition on animals

(1) Gallup’s mirror test (self-recognition test)

The self-recognition test on animals using mirrors was developed by psychology Prof. Gordon Gallup Jr. at the State University of New York, Albany. His papers released in 1970 in the “Science” magazine explaining that chimpanzees have abilities for self-recognition attracted attention. This test is known as the first to test self-recognition on animals. He anesthetized chimpanzees and then marked their faces. When the chimpanzees were awakened, they were confronted with a mirror and they touched the corresponding marked region of their own faces. Most tests of self-recognition are a variation of the Gallup test, and are used to assess self-recognition in a wide variety of species. It is also called the mark test, or the rouge test.

(2) Assessment of self-recognition on pigeons

Self-recognition can be assessed with cross-modality matching. A typical example of cross-modality matching is waving your hand when you see yourself in a video image. With a mirror image or video image of oneself, when information of the propriocepter (how the arms and legs of oneself are moving) and visual information of oneself correlate, this can be considered self-recognition. The Gallup’s mark test is based on the precondition that the subject can touch itself. Unless the subject touches itself, it cannot be proved that it has abilities for self-recognition. However, the test conducted on pigeons is more advanced, as it is based on how the pigeons move, and by memorizing the shown images, pigeons proved that they have self-cognitive abilities.

Self-cognitive abilities tested in pigeons are higher than that of 3-year olds

Through various experiments, it is known that pigeons have great visual cognitive abilities. For example, a research at Harvard University proved that pigeons could discriminate people photographs from others. At Prof. Shigeru Watanabe’s laboratory, pigeons could discriminate paintings of a certain painter (such as Van Gogh) from another painter (such as Chagall).

Furthermore, pigeons could discriminate other pigeons individually, and also discriminate stimulated pigeons that were given stimulant drugs from none. In this experiment, pigeons could discriminate video images that reflect their movements even with a 5-7 second delay from video images that don’t reflect their movements. This ability is higher than an average 3-year-olds of humans. According to a research by Prof. Hiraki of the University of Tokyo, 3-year-olds have difficulty recognizing their self-image with only a 2 second delay.

More Pigeon Fowl Play in New York

2008-08-16T13:48:00.004-04:00

Fowl play: Sicko paints pigeon purple in Queens

By LISA L. COLANGELO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Updated Friday, August 15th 2008, 4:49 PM

A pigeon that was painted purple was discovered in a Queens park.
We heard it through the grapevine - Queens has a purple pigeon.

Theroyal-hued bird wasn't born that way, though. Someone with a sick sense of humor - or a problem with pigeons - painted him purple.

"Itwas terrible," said Joe Mora, an animal lover who rescued the birdThursday from a Long Island City playground, where onlookers weregawking at the oddly-colored columbine.

"It looks like this was done intentionally...it could have been blinded," Mora said.

Hetried coaxing the lethargic bird to eat while asking anyone andeveryone for advice on how to clean paint from its feathers and beak.

Friday,city Animal Care and Control officials transferred the pigeon to BobbyHorvath, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in Nassau County who hasextensive experience caring for injured birds.

The young pigeon, about three or four months old, might not survive the prank - if it was one, Horvath said.

"I have never seen anything like it," said Horvath, who is also a New York City firefighter.

"He's flightless at this point. His feathers are completely rigid," he said.

"His beak and mouth and eyes are clear of paint," Horvath said. "That's a positive thing."

Horvath said the bird has a better chance if the paint hasn't seeped through into his skin.

Morasaid he hopes someone in the neighborhood will come forward withinformation about the bird. He said he has heard stories about a man onnearby Roosevelt Island who dyed his dog's fur purple.

"If this was intentionally done to the bird, it certainly is animal cruelty," said ASPCA Assistant Director Joseph Pentangelo.

More Pigeon-Nappings in New York City

2008-08-08T08:13:00.006-04:00

New York Times article:

First, a confession. I am not a fan of pigeons. I have even eaten a pigeon, while on vacation in Egypt – more for the culinary adventure than revenge, but whatever the reason, I ate the bird and felt not a twinge of guilt.

Still, I was left rocked back on my heels this afternoon when I witnessed – for the first and hopefully only time – a pigeon-napping.

The curious incident happened in Columbus Park, a small oasis tucked behind the State Supreme Court complex on Centre Street, on the border of Chinatown.

The park itself is one of the more intriguing gathering spots in Manhattan. All day, elderly Chinese men play a Chinese version of chess as crowds gather to watch. There are other clusters of Chinese women playing card games. Little English is spoken. The lawyers and government functionaries who work nearby also swing through the small, unkempt grounds, but it is largely a Chinese crowd.

They sit not only on the benches and at the tables, but on rocks and the small slivers of earth surrounding the largely paved area.

In the western corner of the park, some men had hung cages with lovely songbirds in them, listening to their chirping as they sprawled out in the shade of the trees.

It was among this crowd that a burly white man in a blue shirt sat down.

He threw some crumbs on the ground in front of him and almost immediately, a flock of pigeons was at his feet.

Then, with a quick thrust of his right arm, he seized one of the birds. As the other pigeons scattered, he stuffed his captured prey into a large white box. We made brief eye contact. Then he bolted, thrusting his box with the rustling bird on his shoulder and disappearing into the crowded alley ways of Chinatown. I was mystified.

Was he capturing dinner? Taking the bird to his own flock to be raced or trained? Getting food for some voracious pet?

He was gone before I could ask, but a quick search on bird-napping revealed that it is topic that has come up in the past in the city.

The New Yorker reported last summer that residents in some neighborhoods were reporting a wave of pigeon robbers. A writer for the magazine was contacted by someone from “Bird Operations Busted, a self-styled pigeon-liberation outfit.” The man, who was not named in the story, said that generally, there were two kinds of birdnappers: “netters and hoopers,” referencing the tools used to capture pigeons.

There were enough incidents in Greenwich Village for The Villager, a community newspaper, to warn residents: “Someone is scooping up Village pigeons and no one knows why.”

But the man in Columbus Park was neither a netter nor a hooper, but rather a hand-scooper, and a deft one at that.

It calls to mind another man who captured pigeons in a public park to sustain himself during a particularly lean season: Ernest Hemingway.

In “A Moveable Feast,” Hemingway describes how he would wait for the gendarme at the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris to wander off for a break or a glass of wine and then seize a pigeon, dispatching quickly with a swift twist of the neck before taking it home to prepare to eat.

In New York City, it seems, there is no need to fear the law when it comes to pigeon hunting.

My estimable colleague Al Baker, who covers the Police Department, made a quick inquiry about the incident and was told there was no indication a crime had been committed.

Asked if a man grabbing a pigeon, stuffing it in a box and running was a crime of some sort, a straight-faced police spokesman said, “No, not really.” “There’s no real crime,” the spokesman said, adding that more facts would be needed. “Maybe he’s trying to save the pigeon’s life. You cannot say it is a crime, because there is nothing to conclude it is a crime.”

Pigeon Vendor Linked to Bird Shootouts

2008-07-27T19:49:00.002-04:00

Source: UPI.Com

Top News

NEW YORK, July 27 (UPI) -- Humane Society officials have accused a New York vendor of selling pigeons that end up at Pennsylvania gun clubs, where they are killed in shooting contests.

The Humane Society of the United States claims Broadway Pigeons and Pet Supplies sells pigeons to dealers who pass them off for a higher price to gun clubs in Pennsylvania, the New York Post reported Sunday.

Pigeon dealer Don Bailey one of those alleged to have bought birds from Broadway Pigeons, lawyers say

Bailey organizes what may be the biggest pigeon shootout in the country, which starts Thursday and goes until Monday at the Strausstown Rod and Gun Club in Pennsylvania, the Post said.

Officials have not said whether Bailey recently purchased birds from Broadway Pigeons.

The newspaper said thousands of pigeons can be killed during a five-day shooting tournament.

The attorney for Broadway Pigeons owner Joseph Scott said his client doesn't know where birds go after they leave his store.

New York City Birds Sold to Slaughter

2008-07-27T15:55:00.002-04:00

THEY SHOOT PIGEONS, DON'T THEY?
NYC BIRDS SOLD TO SLAUGHTER
By JAMES FANELLI
New York Post

Posted: 4:06 am
July 27, 2008

A Brooklyn pigeon purveyor acted as a conduit for delivering Big Apple birds to their doom as live targets in shooting contests, according to an animal-rights group.

The Humane Society of the United States has fingered Broadway Pigeons and Pet Supplies in Bushwick as having sold squabs to brokers who resell the birds to Pennsylvania gun clubs.

The organizations include the Strausstown Rod and Gun Club, which is set to host one of the country's largest and bloodiest shoots in just four days.

"The Humane Society of the United States believes that some of the pigeons who end up as living targets in the circuit of live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania come from the brokers at Broadway Pigeons in New York City," Heidi Prescott, a senior vice president at the animal-rights group, told The Post.

According to a lawyer for Broadway Pigeons, a pigeon broker named Don Bailey has purchased birds from the store in the past. Bailey is in charge of the invitation-only tournament at Strausstown this week, according to the Pennsylvania Flyers Association, a group that has fought to keep pigeon shoots legal in the state.

Bailey declined to comment for this story. It is unclear where the pigeons for this week's tournament were procured.

While pigeon shoots are illegal in New York and animal-rights groups have decried the sport, the century-old contests are legal and popular in rural corners of Pennsylvania.

Known as "the Large Calcutta," the Strausstown competition begins this Thursday and runs through Aug. 4. It offers cash prizes to competitors and allows onlookers to bet on who can shotgun the most birds.

Each competitor fires on 10 pigeons, which are loaded into spring traps and released in turn each time the shooter yells, "Pull!"

The winner is the shooter who kills the most birds within a 35-foot-radius shooting circle.

Tournaments can attract up to 100 competitors a day and go for several rounds.

Over a five-day tournament, the carnage can be in the thousands of birds.

Prescott said the birds are illegally netted by poachers from New York City parks and sidewalks and sold to a retailer or go-between for $2 a bird. That retailer generally wholesales the pigeons for up to $4.50 each to a broker, who then resells the birds for $9 each to a gun range.

In New York, to legally trap pigeons, a netting permit and a small-game license are required.

The attorney for Joseph Scott, the owner of Broadway Pigeons, acknowledged that the store buys pigeons without asking whether they were illegally poached.

"He's got no idea of whether any of the pigeons he's purchased were netted," said Scott's lawyer, Joseph Mure.

Mure added that Scott had no knowledge of his store's pigeons' being used in shoots.

"When someone comes in and buys pigeons, my client doesn't know where they go," Mure said.

He acknowledged, however, that Bailey, the pigeon broker, had been a customer.

"Don Bailey at one point bought some birds," Mure, said. "He hasn't bought any birds in a while . . . I think he goes to the auctions in Pennsylvania."

jfanelli@nypost.com

Pigeon King Collecting Birds from New York?

2008-07-26T12:42:00.013-04:00

Note in bold in the following article -- Pigeon King has been collecting 10,000 pigeons a month taken from New York, Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio. Collecting how? Aside from the squab and investment businesses, are they also in the bird netting business?

Pigeon Investors Discuss Options in Dealing With Birds
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 12:37pm.

Linda Williams
Southwestern Pa. Correspondent

MARTINSBURG, Pa. — An optimistic group of pigeon owners gathered in Martinsburg at the Community Meeting Room last Friday.

Leading the 50-60 in attendance was pigeon investor Robert Detwiler.

Participants came from various parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The discussion centered on what to do with the pigeons in which they had invested thousands of dollars with Arlan Galbraith of Pigeon King International, a Canadian-based company. All of the investors, many of them Plain Sect, had done so in good faith of having a market.

However, Pigeon King, or PKI, which claimed to be in the squab market, has gone bankrupt leaving the pigeon farmers without a market. Squab is an exclusive dish served in elite restaurants and, according to one participant at the meeting, can sell for $165 per plate. Squab is made from pigeons which are 30 to 40 days old. Pigeon owners are now left with thousands of birds which are growing older by the day and must be fed.

Detwiler opened the meeting by explaining that, like others present, he had invested in the pigeons and had reaped the benefits for a time. He asked for ideas on how to deal with the situation. One person was appointed to write down each suggestion that would be sent to the various people in attendance and others who might inquire later.

Detwiler noted that one person let 2,000 pigeons out of their cages hoping they might fly away and he would no longer have to feed them. However, they returned to roost on his barn roof.

Detwiler also noted that he himself had sold about 10 of his birds to a dog trainer.

“We need to learn how to market what we have,” he said.

One person suggested using the birds for animal feed. Someone had heard of a man from the Scranton area who might have a lead on this.

A latecomer to the meeting said he and his wife had been on the Internet and found a processing plant in the Philadelphia area, but the Website did not have contact information.

While most of the pigeons purchased from Galbraith seemed to be high fliers or homing pigeons, Silver King pigeons seem to have more of a market.

A representative from the Imler Poultry Company said he is willing to work on finding a processing plant and a market for the pigeons although he could make no guarantees. He added that if he did find a market, the individual farmers would be responsible for getting the birds to market.

“You find a market and we will get them there,” was the response.

Another suggestion was for the farmers to eat their own birds. Detwiler noted he had found an old cookbook recently which had pigeon recipes and perhaps this was an option for at least some of the birds.

A former manager from Pigeon King said they had been collecting about 10,000 birds a month from New York, Pennsylvania, and western Ohio prior to the collapse of PKI.

One couple had discovered a Website indicating the pigeon manure makes good fertilizer and thought this might be a possibility.

Another said he had found a processing plant in New Castle that would use the older pigeons for snake feed.

“I’ve got a buyer coming tonight who will give me 50 cents per bird to be used for dog training,” came a voice from across the room. “Should I take it?”
“No, was a quick response, send your buyer to me.” This comment brought a round of laughter.

International markets were discussed briefly but it was indicated that there are a lot of rules and regulations with regards to shipping out of the country.

A former pickup man for Pigeon King said he had met many wonderful people with his former job. “I saw them starting to earn a profit,” he said. “When I would go back month after month, I began to see a lot of good changes.

People were fixing up their places. I know it was a good thing. I would like to be a pickup man again.”

The general consensus of the group was that Arlan Galbraith never meant to harm anyone and this was not a scam. It was only an unfortunate incident.

Meanwhile, regardless, the birds have to be fed. Several indicated they could no longer afford to purchase feed with 200 pounds of wheat costing $42.50.

Detwiler indicated he had some folks growing wheat on his land and has been able to keep his birds going with this. Others found cracked corn to be the least expensive route to go.

Anyone who felt the operation was a scam was invited to write a letter to the Waterloo Regional Police Service. If they get enough complaints they will file an investigation. To date, they have received only about 13 letters. The address is P.O. Box 3070, 200 Maple Grove Rd., Cambridge, Ontario N3H5MI.
Detwiler has also made an appointment with a bankruptcy lawyer and will get back to the group with information gleaned from this.

Poor Pigeons All Around!

2008-07-12T15:51:00.004-04:00

Poor pigeons....shot when they allegedly got in the way; and in a separate incident, used by man for illegal prison activities... two incidents that occured within a few days of one another. One cannot help but feel sympathy for the poor species which man cannot leave alone to exist in peace.

News from BirdChannel.com

Pigeons Make Headlines at Wimbledon, Brazilian Prison
Birds shot, used for smuggling in separate incidents
By Katie Ingmire
Posted: July 11, 2008, 5 a.m. EDT

Pigeons might be ubiquitous in urban areas, but they remain largely absent from mentions in news stories. Recent events at the Wimbledon tennis tournament and a Brazilian prison, however, prove pigeons can make the headlines.

Wimbledon pigeon shooting draws ire from animal activists
Animal rights activists were up in arms last month after marksmen shot pigeons that were distracting players on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

According to an article published June 24, 2008 by Reuters news service, the All England Club hired two hawks to frighten away dive-bombing pigeons during the tennis tournament. Wimbledon called in marksmen after the hawks couldn’t deter the pigeons from the open-air media restaurant and players’ lawn.

Nick Kester, press secretary for the Hawk Board, a body representing all falconers in the United Kingdom, said the hawks might not have been able to scare the pigeons away because pigeons get used to bird-scaring devices, such as falcons and regular explosions.

“As the hawk cannot be flown whilst the tennis match is in progress, then there is no deterrent,” Kester said. “Thus, the more persistent pigeons will return.”

The reaction from Wimbledon came after bird droppings on restaurant tables were thought to pose a health risk, the article said.

Anna Dove, who writes the blog “People for Pigeons,” said she has received many comments pertaining to the Wimbledon incident. She said not one comment supported shooting the pigeons.

“When is any sport more important than a bird?” Dove questioned. “The birds aren’t dangerous … (Wimbledon) should have allowed the birds to stay there.”

Prison Pigeons Found Smuggling Drugs, Phones
A recent incident at a Brazilian prison gives new meaning to the term “pack rat.”

Pigeons, which often receive the unfortunate label of “rats with wings,” were found smuggling drugs and cell phones into the prison in Marilia, Sao Paulo state, according to a June 25 article published by Reuters news service.

Officials uncovered the reason behind the prison’s steep increase in the two contraband items when guards noticed some pigeons struggling to stay in the air. Inmates had been training the pigeons to bring in drugs and phones using pouches on the birds’ backs, the article said.

Prison officials said the pigeons lived on the jail’s roof, also the location where the pigeons delivered the goods. According to the article, the prisoners would take the items delivered onto the roof, then use friends and family to smuggle the pigeons out again.

Pigeon Netter Netted

2008-07-03T14:00:00.004-04:00

by Erik Baard
(see original article here)

One of the stupider “sports” people have come up with is pigeon shooting, where the birds are released from boxes into the line of yahoos’ ready fire. In a 1902 debate over a bill banning the sport from New York, a state senator compared that lack of humanity and sportsman-like behavior to shutting a doe up in a barn and then blasting her as she ran out the open door.

As nearby as Pennsylvania the practice persists, and New York City birds are being stolen to supply the madness. Fortunately, In Defense of Animals is part of the vanguard to stop it. This week the group conferred its first $2,500 award for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a person netting pigeons, also known as rock doves, in NYC. The recipient was Desi Stewart, a street sweeper with the Doe Fund. He spotted Brooklyn resident Isaac Gonzalez spreading seed and netting many pigeons on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officer arrested Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court on June 26, 2008.

It’s a shame Gonzalez didn’t go to prison, if only because we’ll miss the small ironic pleasure of letting him know of his idiocy in trapping for deathly amusement birds whose intelligence might have made them useful allies in alleviating the sufferings of confinement. Kindred criminal spirits in Brazil, at least, were smart enough to attempt to employ the birds as jailhouse smugglers, complete with little pigeon backpacks!

Pigeons have a growing fan base outside “the clink” (is my mother the only person who still uses that expression?) too. National Pigeon Day was Friday the 13th in June, appropriately enough for such a besotted bird. In Defense of Animals, the United Federation of Teachers Humane Education Committee, the New York Bird Club, and luminaries ate pigeon-shaped cookies…and perhaps scandalously snuck a few crumbs to their avian honorees. The contributions of this species, including astonishing heroics in war, rescue, and acts of touching personal loyalty were recounted.

City Councilman Tony Avella, who’s taken the lead on a number of animal rights issues, shared a moving observation. “They are often a city child’s first contact with nature and an elderly person’s only friends,” he said.

One might wonder why there isn’t a greater effort to control pigeon populations, for fear that they might crowd out other, indigenous species. To understand how little worry ecologists have in this regard, here’s a simple exercise: plant your own lush garden or grove of indigenous plants and trees and wait for the pigeons to show up. Or simply visualize the trees on your block being filled with pigeons. It simply won’t happen. The “rock dove” species feeds on the ground and prefers barren areas much like its ancestral cliff sides in Asia Minor. In other words, buildings and asphalt. Not that city life is kind to pigeons. In the wild they live about 14 years, but typically reach only two in urban areas. They do, however, breed a lot more.

If you’d like to get involved in the responsible care and control of pigeons in the city, try volunteering for Pigeon Watch. And remember, if you witness a pigeon netting in the five boroughs of New York City, call New York State DEC Officer Joseph Pane at 718-482-4941. If you need help in rescuing a pigeon of any age or condition, please visit New York City Pigeon Rescue Central. For the simple enjoyment of learning more about this species, one great place to start is Andrew Blechman’s book, Pigeons, which he calls “the world’s most revered and reviled bird.”

All this brings to mind that we’re at a sad centennial: it was in 1908 that zookeepers posted a $1000 reward (more than $23,000 in today’s dollars) for fertile, wild passenger pigeons. That awakening to the crisis was too late and the reward was never collected. Over-hunting and habitat destruction wiped out that species, which once filled North American skies in flocks of billions. Martha, the last of her kind, died in captivity in 1914. I’ll write more about this missing species of pigeons in coming weeks.

Pigeon King Bankruptcy Leaves Birds in Limbo

2008-06-28T11:31:00.003-04:00

Latest developments

Pigeon King Bankruptcy Leaves Birds in Limbo

Submitted by Editor on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 10:51am.
Lancaster Farming
Chris Torres
Staff Writer

Information is still sketchy on what will happen to thousands of pigeons in limbo as a result of the bankruptcy of Pigeon King International last week.

The company, which sold expensive pigeon breeding contracts to prospective buyers, filed for bankruptcy in Canada, with its controversial owner, Arlan Galbraith, declaring the company "dead."

Thousands of producers throughout Canada and the U.S., including many in Pennsylvania, are now left with hundreds if not thousands of pigeons they will have to either sell or destroy as a result of the filing. Many others have likely lost thousands of dollars as a result of their investments in the company.

Live bird markets in Pennsylvania have been inundated with calls from producers who want to get rid of their pigeons.

"We’ve been overwhelmed," said Lisa Laucks of Gingrich Animal Supply, Fredericksburg, Pa. She said the company has gotten requests to sell more than 20,000 pigeons to the live bird market. "There are way too many out there," she said.

The company sold multi-year contracts to prospective investors, some in the range of $250,000 or more, for the right to raise pigeons on the farm with the promise they would be paid for their offspring. The company stated it was stocking pigeons for the lucrative squab market and even trademarked a company, Hinterland Squabs, with the hopes of entering into the market.

But critics, including one former salesman for Pigeon King, claimed the company was operating a "Ponzi" scheme, recruiting new investors to pay off old ones, because they didn’t have a clear market for the birds.

Laucks said many of the pigeons she has seen lack the quality and size to be sold into the squab market.

"They are poor quality pigeons," she said. "The information (Galbraith) gave to producers about selling them as squab was not right."

A handful of states, including Iowa, Maryland and Washington, banned the company from doing business in their states.

The Waterloo Regional Police Department in Canada has opened up an inquiry into the company’s dealings.

But even in the face of bankruptcy, Galbraith defended his business practices in a letter sent out to producers last week. He claims the company was in good financial shape, paying out more than $12 million to purchase pigeons from its contract producers in 2007. He also claimed the pigeon business gave him strength in his fight against Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer.

He blamed many factors for the company’s downfall, including the weakening economy, high feed costs and increased building costs.

But he placed most of the blame in the hands of his critics, describing them as "fear mongers" and claiming they prevented the company from recruiting new investors.

"Had the fear mongers not targeted us, we would still be a thriving company establishing the first of several squab processing plants. Instead we have been reduced to ashes by fear. Fear is the strongest weapon in the world and it has been used since the beginning of time to manipulate and control people," Galbraith wrote in his letter.

He added that producers are free to do whatever they want with their pigeons and that a bankruptcy trustee has taken over the company’s dealings.

"This means my hands are now tied and that the trustee is responsible for everything," Galbraith wrote.

Apparently, not all of the company’s producers received his letter.

Robert Leister of Wellsboro, Pa., said Monday he was shocked to learn the company filed for bankruptcy. He had just ordered supplies from the company and was expecting a shipment any day. He even received the company’s latest newsletter, which contained a description of a slaughterhouse they were planning on building.

Leister spent $10,000 on 100 pairs of pigeons and thousands more on renovating a building to house the birds. He said the company honored the contract, but claims he has not made enough money to cover his initial investment. Now, he is left with hundreds of pigeons he doesn’t what to do with.

"I guess there will be a lot of pigeons flying around," Leister said.

Noah Peachey, a Plain Sect farmer from Belleville, Pa., said he knows many other producers in his community that made investments in the company. Five of his nephews bought birds from Pigeon King, all of whom, he said, have no idea what they will do now.

"There are people that are very devastated," Peachey said. "What can you do? We tried to warn them."

According to Dr. David Griswold, acting executive director of the state’s Animal Health and Diagnostic Commission, producers can legally incinerate, render or bury their animals, so long as they do it in a "humane fashion."

Griswold said pigeons carry few diseases and are extremely resistance to avian flu.

Chris Ryder, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, said there are at least six markets in the state exclusively for live birds, all of which are located in the Philadelphia area, that could take the pigeons. But he added the markets can only handle between 200 and 600 birds at a time.

Ryder said there are also other markets in the state that could possibly take some of the pigeons.

Source: Lancaster Farming

Wimbledon Uses Marksmen to Shoot Pigeons

2008-06-25T13:28:00.002-04:00

Wimbledon under fire for pigeon cull
Jun 24, 1:03 pm EDT

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) -

Wimbledon came under fire from animal activists on Tuesday for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons.

The tournament employs two hawks to scare away pigeons who had become a pest swooping down on Centre Court and distracting players in the middle of tense matches.

But the hawks failed to keep the pigeons away from the players’ lawn and the open-air media restaurant so marksmen were called in.

“The hawks are our first line of deterrent, and by and large they do the job,” Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins said.

“But unfortunately there were one or two areas where the hawks didn’t deter the pigeons, so it was deemed necessary to take a harder approach,” he explained.

The marksmen were summoned by Wimbledon as pigeon droppings on the restaurant tables were thought to be a health hazard.

The decision to call in the marksmen was condemned as “cruel and illegal behaviour” by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which complained to the tournament organisers and the police.

“Since the use of marksmen to kill pigeons appears to have been carried out as a first, rather than a last resort, and not out of a concern for public health, but rather because the animals were deemed inconvenient by players, you appear to be in clear violation of the law,” PETA vice-president Bruce Friedrich said.

(Reporting by Paul Majendie, Editing by Clare Lovell)

Pigeons Show Superior Self-recognition Abilities

2008-06-17T12:05:00.004-04:00

Pigeons Show Superior Self-recognition Abilities To Three Year Old Humans

Source: Science Daily

Keio University scientists have shown that pigeons are able to discriminate video images of themselves even with a 5-7 second delay, thus having self-cognitive abilities higher than 3-year-old children who have difficulty recognizing their self-image with only a 2 second delay.

Keio University scientists have shown that pigeons are able to discriminate video images of themselves even with a 5-7 second delay, thus having self-cognitive abilities higher than 3-year-old children who have difficulty recognizing their self-image with only a 2 second delay.

Prof. Shigeru Watanabe of the Graduate School of Human Relations of Keio University and Tsukuba University graduate student Kohji Toda trained pigeons to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image.

Self-recognition is found in large primates such as chimpanzees, and recent findings show that dolphins and elephants also have such intelligence. Proving that pigeons also have this ability show that such high intelligence as self-recognition can be seen in various animals, and are not limited to primates and dolphins that have large brains.

Experimental method and results

The pigeon was trained to discriminate two types of video images in the following method. First, live video images of the present self (A) and recorded video images of the pigeon that moves differently from the present self (B) are shown. When the pigeon learns to discriminate these two images, the video image of (A) is shown with a temporal delay, so that the monitor shows the image of the pigeon a few seconds before. If the pigeon remembers its own movements, it can recognize it as self-image even with the delay.

The pigeon could discriminate (A) with a few seconds delay as something different from (B). This shows that the pigeon can differentiate the present self-image and the recorded self-image of the past, which means that the pigeon has self-cognitive abilities. Video image (A) matches with the movement of itself, whereas (B) does not. Being able to discriminate the two means that the pigeon understands the difference between movements of itself and movements of the taped image. In this experiment, movements of the pigeon itself are in question instead of the mark of Gallup’s mark test (see 2-(1) below for explanation). When there is a temporal delay in the image of the present self, the longer the delay, the more pigeon’s discrimination was disrupted, and this also shows that the pigeon discriminates the video images using its own movements. The important thing is whether it understands the difference between movements in the video image that match with itself and movements in the video image that don’t.

Method of testing self recognition on animals

(1) Gallup’s mirror test (self-recognition test)

The self-recognition test on animals using mirrors was developed by psychology Prof. Gordon Gallup Jr. at the State University of New York, Albany. His papers released in 1970 in the “Science” magazine explaining that chimpanzees have abilities for self-recognition attracted attention. This test is known as the first to test self-recognition on animals. He anesthetized chimpanzees and then marked their faces. When the chimpanzees were awakened, they were confronted with a mirror and they touched the corresponding marked region of their own faces. Most tests of self-recognition are a variation of the Gallup test, and are used to assess self-recognition in a wide variety of species. It is also called the mark test, or the rouge test.

(2) Assessment of self-recognition on pigeons

Self-recognition can be assessed with cross-modality matching. A typical example of cross-modality matching is waving your hand when you see yourself in a video image. With a mirror image or video image of oneself, when information of the propriocepter (how the arms and legs of oneself are moving) and visual information of oneself correlate, this can be considered self-recognition. The Gallup’s mark test is based on the precondition that the subject can touch itself. Unless the subject touches itself, it cannot be proved that it has abilities for self-recognition. However, the test conducted on pigeons is more advanced, as it is based on how the pigeons move, and by memorizing the shown images, pigeons proved that they have self-cognitive abilities.

Self-cognitive abilities tested in pigeons are higher than that of 3-year olds

Through various experiments, it is known that pigeons have great visual cognitive abilities. For example, a research at Harvard University proved that pigeons could discriminate people photographs from others. At Prof. Shigeru Watanabe’s laboratory, pigeons could discriminate paintings of a certain painter (such as Van Gogh) from another painter (such as Chagall).

Furthermore, pigeons could discriminate other pigeons individually, and also discriminate stimulated pigeons that were given stimulant drugs from none. In this experiment, pigeons could discriminate video images that reflect their movements even with a 5-7 second delay from video images that don’t reflect their movements. This ability is higher than an average 3-year-olds of humans. According to a research by Prof. Hiraki of the University of Tokyo, 3-year-olds have difficulty recognizing their self-image with only a 2 second delay.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Journal reference:

Toda et al. Discrimination of moving video images of self by pigeons (Columba livia). Animal Cognition, 2008 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-008-0161-4
Adapted from materials provided by Keio University.
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:
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MLA
Keio University (2008, June 14). Pigeons Show Superior Self-recognition Abilities To Three Year Old Humans. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 17, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/06/080613145535.htm

Pigeons Are Smarter Than a Three-Year Old

2008-06-12T02:56:00.002-04:00

Pigeons: Smarter than a three-year-old

USA Today

News from Japan that may make parents scramble for their Baby Mozart CDs.

Scientists there have shown pigeons are better at self-recognition than three-year-old children. The birds can also tell a Van Gogh from a Chagall.

Prof. Shigeru Watanabe of Keio University and a grad student found the pigeons were good at identifying their own mug in a video image. The birds could distinguish between video self-images that showed their movements vs. video images that didn't show their movements. That was even with a 5-7 second delay in the video.

The average three-year-old child has trouble recognizing their self-image with just a two-second delay.

We know self-recognition isn't uniquely human. Chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants also have the ability. The pigeon finding suggests an animal doesn't need a large brain to know its own image.

And sorry, kids -- this self-recognition thing? It's for the birds.

By Jess Zielinski

New York Magazine - Pro-Pigeonism Article

2008-06-10T11:35:00.001-04:00

New York Magazine - Pro-Pigeonism Article

Pigeons are nature’s ambassadors to many young New Yorkers. Kids may grow up singing about Old McDonald, imitating farm animals, and reciting their “this little piggy”s, but those animals aren’t city dwellers. What parent hasn’t gotten a whine-free afternoon thanks to some birds and a few crackers? Nonetheless, pigeons have enemies: landlords, the bird-poop-phobic, and Woody Allen, who dubbed them rats with wings. But on June 13, bird lovers will spring to the underdog’s defense by hosting National Pigeon Day in Central Park. “We’re trying to promote a positive image,” says New York Bird Club founder Anna Dove via telephone, rescued canaries tweeting in the background. “There’s such negativity for no reason. They’re harmless, defenseless. They can’t attack; their beak is very soft.” Other members of the crusade against “anti-pigeonism” include Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns and Valerie Sicignano of In Defense of Animals. The day is equal parts class and party: Kids will learn cool pigeon facts (e.g., how the birds acted as wartime carriers and how they’re smart enough to recognize alphabet letters) as they nibble on pigeon-shape cookies, view pigeon-inspired children’s art, and take part in a candlelight prayer service. (Dove worries there might not even be urban pigeons in five years.) Meanwhile, she urges all New York families to “carry a bit of bread crumbs in your bag, a few seeds to show kindness and respect. The pigeon isn’t a threat or an enemy. It goes along with quality of life to show kindness and compassion to all living things.” That’s a lovely lesson for the children.

6/13, 4 to 8 p.m. Pilgrim Hill in Central Park, enter on Fifth Ave. at 72nd St. (212-369-1293 or nationalpigeonday.com); free.

National Pigeon Day - June 13th

2008-06-09T13:28:00.003-04:00

Friday, June 13

4 - 8 pm

Pilgrim Hill in Central Park
New York, NY
(enter on northwest corner of 5th Avenue @ E. 72nd Street)

Entertainment, political activism, materials distribution, candlelight prayer service with guitar accompaniment and pigeon shaped cookies. Learn how carrier pigeons Cher Ami, GI Joe and Winkie saved the lives of more than 1,000 men in wartime. Become part of Project Pigeon Watch and have fun learning about our fascinating NYC residents.

Amanda Tree will host and play her music for National Pigeon Day.

Special Guest Joe Franklin

Speakers include:

Council Member Tony Avella, Nellie McKay, In Defense of Animals, Deacon Joseph Dwyer, Janice Fredericks, United Poultry Concerns, Raghav K. Goyal and Ana A. Garcia, Amanda Tree.

The New York Bird Club wishes to thank In Defense of Animals who will provide a banner, Hanna Fushihara Aron who will bake pigeon shaped cookies, God's Creatures Ministry who will provide candles, the United Federation of Teachers Humane Education Committee who will bring Pigeon Watch materials for distribution, all speakers and contributors and all our pigeon friends who advocate on behalf of our beautiful birds.

Guest Speakers and Schedule:
(see blog)

Homing Pigeons' Wartime Accomplishments Celebrated on Anniversary of WW1 Battle

2008-06-02T10:56:00.004-04:00

Chicago Tribune

Homing pigeons' wartime accomplishments celebrated on anniversary of WWI battle
In Wheaton, enthusiasts tell of birds' role in WWI

By Gerry Smith
Tribune reporter

8:35 PM CDT, May 31, 2008

They're seen mostly as an urban nuisance, filthy birds who frequently defecate on the statues of war heroes, but pigeons still hold a special place in the hearts of veterans.

On Saturday, during the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cantigny, the first U.S. victory of World War I, homing pigeons were celebrated at Cantigny Park in Wheaton for their pivotal role in protecting soldiers during the war.

As a breeder released homing pigeons into the sky, visitors observed exhibits highlighting the birds' valor in the line of duty.

During wartime, some pigeons were fitted with cameras to take photographs of enemy positions. Their most important role was as messengers, carrying notes that were neatly folded into small canisters attached to their legs.

During World War I, before the two-way radio, field commanders carried carrier pigeons to communicate. The pigeons would instinctively fly back to their home and deliver messages to military planners.

"Some of those birds had to fly across the English Channel," said Bill Mitiu, 56, a member of the Greater Chicago Combine, a group of homing pigeon-keepers.

Perhaps the most famous of the World War I carrier pigeons was named Cher Ami. The bird was credited with saving the lives of about 200 American soldiers in the 77th Infantry Division by delivering messages across enemy lines.

Recent scientific research has found that pigeons are able to navigate hundreds of miles based on smell, disproving prior theories that they used Earth's magnetic field to find their way home.

On Saturday, Mitiu released several pigeons. Some flew from the park in Wheaton to Mitiu's coop in Brookfield, a 20-mile journey that takes them about 20 minutes.

Today, homing pigeons are typically used for racing and sometimes referred to as "race horses of the sky." They are bred in backyard coops and wear a band on each leg—one with an ID number, the other with a computer chip that registers when they cross the finish line.

"They're amazing little athletes," Mitiu said.

But they have an image problem. In response to complaints about feathers and droppings around local coops, the Chicago City Council in 2004 banned raising pigeons in residential areas, making Chicago the largest city in the nation to enact such an ordinance.

The birds receive more respect in Europe, Mitiu said, where residents of some countries still remember the role of pigeons on the battlefield. For example, there are an estimated 60,000 pigeon enthusiasts in Belgium, a nation of 10 million people.

"These birds helped save their lives during wars, and they respect that and recognize that," Mitiu said.

gfsmith@tribune.com

A Tribute on Memorial Day to our Forgotten Heroes

2008-05-26T13:17:00.019-04:00

Pigeons of war

In fierce fighting and deep in enemy territory, American pigeons carried life-or-death messages that radio and field phones could not.

This Memorial Day, when we commemorate the men and women who have died in war, we will also take a moment to reflect on how many pigeons and animals have also suffered and died for human military purposes.

Do you know that pigeons saved the lives of thousands of people during World War 1 and World War 11. Medals were bestowed upon the following pigeons for acts of bravery and for saving the lives of thousands of humans.

A complete list of pigeons awarded

"THE DICKEN MEDAL"

NEHU.40.NS.1 - Blue Cheq. Hen "Winkie"

MEPS.43.1263 - Red Cheq. Cock "George"

SURP.41.L.3089 - White Hen "White Vision"

NPS.41.NS.4230 - "Beachbomber"

NPS.42.31066 - Grizzle Cock "Gustav"

NPS.43.94451 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Paddy"

NURP.36.JH.190 - Dark Cheq. Hen "Kenley Lass"

NURP.38.EGU.242 - Red Cheq. Cock "Commando"

NPS.42.NS.44802 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Flying Dutchman"

NURP.40.GVIS.453- Blue Cock "Royal Blue"

NURP.41.A.2164 - "Dutch Coast"

NPS.41.NS.2862 - Blue Cock "Navy Blue"

NPS.42.NS.15125 - Mealy Cock "William of Orange"

NPS.43.29018 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Ruhr Express"

NPS.42.21610 - B.C. Hen "Scotch Lass"

NU.41.HQ.4373 - Blue Cock "Billy"

NURP.39.NRS.144 - Red Cock "Cologne"

NPS.42.36392 - "Maquis"

NPS.42.NS.7542 - 41.BA.2793 - "Broad Arrow"

NURP.39.SDS.39 - "All Alone"

NURP.37.CEN.335 - "Mercury"

NURP.38.

BPC.6 -

DD.43.T.139 -

DDD.43.Q.879 -

NURP.41.

SBC.219 - Cock "Duke of Normandy"

NURP.43.

CC.2418 - B.C. Hen

NURP.40.

WLE.249 - "Mary"

NURP.41.

DHZ.56 - "Tommy"

42.WD.593 - "Princess"USA.

43.SC.6390 - "G.I. Joe"

One can always observe pigeons on pictures with Kamadeva, one of the oldest Hindu love gods. Christian religion tells the story of Noah who sent a pigeon 3 times to look for a dry piece of land.

Greek and Roman history writers quote pigeons. Pigeons informed the home front on victories and defeats of kings and generals.

Pigeons were the newsmen between Iraq and at that time Syria in the 12th century. Sultans built pigeon houses. Belgian and Dutch newspapers depended for a great deal on pigeons for their information.

Napoleon's defeat in the battle of "Waterloo" was reported to England by Nathan Rotschild's pigeons.

From Wartime Hero to Modern-Day Nuisance (snippet: ABC News)

Felder's announcement Monday was somewhat timely, as Nov. 12 was the day we observed Veterans Day, honoring America's wartime heroes. But few remembered that thousands of American and allied forces were saved in World Wars I and II by pigeons. Pigeons?

For centuries, pigeons were used to carry important messages in wartime when communication lines were down, according to Andrew Blechman in his book, "Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird."

Blechman recounts one instance of the birds' heroism in the story of the U.S. Army's 77th Division, later known as the Lost Battalion, in World War I. The battalion was trapped behind enemy lines while American troops 25 miles away, unaware of the 77th's position, unleashed a massive artillery attack on them. The desperate soldiers wrote a message: "Our artillery is dropping a barrage on us. For heaven's sake, stop it!" and attached it to their carrier pigeon, Cher Ami.
----------------------

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_pigeon
http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/carrierpigeons.htm http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/pigeons_and_world_war_one.htm http://www.travelingdogs.com/pigeonsiniraq.html
http://www.pigeoncenter.org/militarypigeons.html
http://www.pigeoncote.com/books/others/wars1.html
http://www.faircountclub.com/faircount_facts_info_world_war.htm
http://www.helpinganimals.com/wildlife_living_with_pigeons.asp

Home of the Heroes

Cher Ami (Dear Friend)

The ability to communicate is essential to soldiers in the field. Without communications to their commanders or support units in the rear area, soldiers on the front line can't send messages about their progress, request needed supplies, or call for help when things reach their worst.

During World War I, messages were sometimes transmitted by wire (telegraph of field phone), but two-way radio communications had not yet become available. Sometimes a unit was ordered to attack over a broad and often difficult terrain, making it impossible to string the wire necessary for communications. In these situations, a field commander often carried with him several carrier pigeons.

Pigeons served many purposes during the war, racing through the skies with airplanes, or even being fitted with cameras to take pictures of enemy positions. But one of the most important roles they served it was as messengers. An important message could be written on a piece of paper, then that paper neatly folded and secured in a small canister attached to a pigeon's leg. Once the pigeon was released, it would try to fly to its home back behind the lines, where the message would be read and transmitted to the proper military planners.

The United States Army is divided among several different specialties, the men from each specialty trained for a particular kind of work. Infantrymen are trained to fight on the ground, artillerymen are responsible for the big guns, armor refers to the men who fight in tanks, and the Air Service was the name for the group of soldiers who fought in the air during World War I.

One of the oldest of these groups of soldiers was the members of the U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS. Since the birth of our Nation, it was these men that were responsible for insuring that messages between all units, (including messages to other branches of service like the Navy and Marines), got through. The Army Signal Corps identifies itself by a torch with two crossed flags. These represent SIGNAL FLAGS, a common way that messages were passed using code.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the Army Signal Corps was given 600 pigeons for the purpose of passing messages when it couldn't be done by signal flag or field phone. The pigeons were donated by bird breeders in Great Britain, then trained for their jobs by American soldiers.

During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the 2-month battle that finally ended World War I, 442 pigeons were used in the area of Verdun to carry hundreds of messages.

This is how the system worked:
When a commander in the field needed to send a message, he first wrote it out on paper, trying to be both brief and yet as detailed as possible. Then he called for one of his Signal Corps officers, who would bring one of the pigeons that went with the soldiers into battle. The message would be put in the capsule on the birds leg, and then the bird would be tossed high in the air to fly home.

The carrier pigeon would fly back to his home coop behind the lines. When he landed, the wires in the coop would sound a bell or buzzer, and another soldier of the Signal Corps would know a message had arrived. He would go to the coop, remove the message from the canister, and then send it by telegraph, field phone or personal messenger, to the right persons.

Carrier pigeons did an important job. It was also very dangerous. If the enemy soldiers were nearby when a pigeon was released, they knew that the bird would be carrying important messages, and tried their best to shoot the pigeon down so the message couldn't be delivered.

Some of these pigeons became quite famous among the infantrymen they worked for. One pigeon named "The Mocker", flew 52 missions before he was wounded. Another was named "President Wilson". He was injured in the last week of the war and it seemed impossible for him to reach his destination. Though he lost his foot, the message got through to save a large group of surrounded American infantrymen.

Cher Ami

Probably the most famous of all the carrier pigeons was one named Cher Ami, two French words meaning "Dear Friend". Cher Ami several months on the front lines during the Fall of 1918. He flew 12 important missions to deliver messages. Perhaps the most important was the message he carried on October 4, 1918.

Mr. Charles Whittlesey was a lawyer in New York, but when the United States called for soldiers to help France regain its freedom, Whittlesey joined the Army and went to Europe to help. He was made the commander of a battalion of soldiers in the 77th Infantry Division, known as "The Liberty Division" because most of the men came from New York and wore a bright blue patch on their shoulders that had on it the STATUE OF LIBERTY.

On October 3, 1918 Major Whittlesey and more than 500 men were trapped in a small depression on the side of the hill. Surrounded by enemy soldiers, many were killed and wounded in the first day. By the second day only a little more than 200 men were still alive or unwounded.

Major Whittlesey sent out several pigeons to tell his commanders where he was, and how bad the trap was. The next afternoon he had only one pigeon left, Cher Ami.

During the afternoon the American Artillery tried to send some protection by firing hundreds of big artillery rounds into the ravine where the Germans surrounded Major Whittlesey and his men. Unfortunately, the American commanders didn't know exactly where the American soldiers were, and started dropping the big shells right on top of them. It was a horrible situation that might have resulted in Major Whittlesey and all his men getting killed--by their own army.
Major Whittlesey called for his last pigeon, Cher Ami. He wrote a quick and simple note, telling the men who directed the artillery guns where the Americans were located and asking them to stop. The note that was put in the canister on Cher Ami's left leg simply said:

"We are along the road parallel to 276.4."Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us."For heaven's sake, stop it."

As Cher Ami tried to fly back home, the Germans saw him rising out of the brush and opened fire. For several minutes, bullets zipped through the air all around him. For a minute it looked like the little pigeon was going to fall, that he wasn't going to make it. The doomed American infantrymen were crushed, their last home was plummeting to earth against a very heavy attack from German bullets.

Somehow Cher Ami managed to spread his wings and start climbing again, higher and higher beyond the range of the enemy guns. The little bird flew 25 miles in only 25 minutes to deliver his message. The shelling stopped, and more than 200 American lives were saved...all because the little bird would never quit trying.

On his last mission, Cher Ami was badly wounded. When he finally reached his coop, he could fly no longer, and the soldier that answered the sound of the bell found the little bird laying on his back, covered in blood. He had been blinded in one eye, and a bullet had hit his breastbone, making a hole the size of a quarter. From that awful hole, hanging by just a few tendons, was the almost severed leg of the brave little bird. Attached to that leg was a silver canister, with the all-important message. Once again, Cher Ami wouldn't quit until he had finished his job.

Cher Ami became the hero of the 77th Infantry Division, and the medics worked long and hard to patch him up. When the French soldiers that the Americans were fighting to help learned they story of Cher Ami's bravery and determination, they gave him one of their own country's great honors. Cher Ami, the brave carrier pigeon was presented a medal called the French Croix de guerre with a palm leaf.

Though the dedicated medics saved Cher Ami's life, they couldn't save his leg. The men of the Division were careful to take care of the little bird that had saved 200 of their friends, and even carved a small wooden leg for him. When Cher Ami was well enough to travel, the little one-legged hero was put on a boat to the United States. The commander of all of the United States Army, the great General John J. Pershing, personally saw Cher Ami off as he departed France.
Back in the United States the story of Cher Ami was told again and again. The little bird was in the newspapers, magazines, and it seemed that everyone knew his name. He became one of the most famous heroes of World War I.

Years after the war a man named Harry Webb Farrington decided to put together a book of poems and short stories about the men and heroes of World War I. When his book was published, it contained a special poem dedicated to Cher Ami:

Cher Ami
by Harry Webb Farrington

Cher Ami, how do you do!
Listen, let me talk to you;

I'll not hurt you, don't you see?
Come a little close to me.

Little scrawny blue and white

Messenger for men who fight,

Tell me of the deep, red scar,

There, just where no feathers are.

What about your poor left leg?
Tell me, Cher Ami, I beg.
Boys and girls are at a loss,
How you won that Silver Cross.

how do you do! Listen,

let me talk to you;
I'll not hurt you, don't you see?
Come a little close to me.

"The finest fun that came to me

Was when I went with Whittlesey;

We marched so fast, so far ahead!'

We all are lost,' the keeper said;

'Mon Cher Ami--that's my dear friend--

You are the one we'll have to send;

The whole battalion now is lost,

And you must win at any cost.'

So with the message tied on tight;
I flew up straight with all my might,
Before I got up high enough,
Those watchfull guns began to puff.

Machine-gun bullets came like rain,
You'd think I was an aeroplane;
And when I started to the rear,

My! the shot was coming near!

But on I flew, straight as a bee;
The wind could not catch up with me,
Until I dropped out of the air,

Into our own men's camp, so there!"

But, Cher Ami, upon my word,
You modest, modest little bird;
Now don't you know that you forgot?
Tell how your breast and leg were shot.

"Oh, yes, the day we crossed the Meuse,
I flew to Rampont with the news;

Again the bullets came like hail,
I thought for sure that I should fail.

The bullets buzzed by like a bee,
So close, it almost frightened me;
One struck the feathers of this sail,

Another went right through my tail.

But when I got back to the rear,
I found they hit me, here and here;
But that is nothing, never mind;
Old Poilu, there is nearly blind.

I only care for what they said,

For when they saw the way I bled,
And found in front a swollen lump,

The message hanging from this stump;

The French and Mine said, 'Tres bien,'

Or 'Very good'--American.'
Mon Cher Ami, you brought good news;
Our Army's gone across the Meuse!

You surely had a lucky call!

And so I'm glad. I guess that's all.
I'll sit, so pardon me, I beg;
It's hard a-standing on one leg!"

"Cher Ami" and Poems From France

Rough & Brown Press, 1920

Cher Ami died of his multiple war wounds on June 13, 1919--less than a year after he had completed his service to the United States Army Signal Corps. Upon his death a taxidermist preserved the small pigeon for future generations, a bird with a story that became an inspiration to millions over the years.

Stolen Pigeons

2008-05-13T13:03:00.006-04:00

STOLE PIGEON
New York Post
January 13, 2008 --

On behalf of the Humane Society of the United States, I would like to commend The Post for highlighting the cruel practice of pigeon netting (“Fresh Pigeon Snit," Jan. 6).

Thousands of pigeons are netted in New York and sold to live pigeon shoots across state lines.

Similar to dog fighting, pigeon shooting exists so shooters can gamble against one another. Netted birds are stuffed into boxes and released 30 yards from shooters motivated by monetary prizes.

Most hunters condemn these seedy events, disturbed by the idea of blowing away thousands of animals launched out of boxes at close range.

New Yorkers can help end these events by reporting information about illegal pigeon nettings to 311.

The HSUS offers a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals illegally netting and transporting pigeons.

Heidi Prescott
Senior Vice President
The Humane Society of the United States
Washington, DC

The Last Pigeon

2008-05-09T16:16:00.009-04:00

A.M. Richard Fine Art is pleased to announce The Last Pigeon a group exhibition curated by Andrew Garn. Selected works by Vyahir Golub, Livan Pombo, Luis Piccione, Paloma Columbia, Piotr Peristeri, Dieter Tauben, and Dan Duif.

Since 1996, the common pigeon (columba livia) population has been steadily declining. According to the American Audubon Society, between 2002-2008, still-born pigeon death syndrome (SBPDS) has increased ten fold. While New York City councilman Simcha Felder has called for the criminalization of pigeon feeding, their population is decreasing. Targeted by various political agendas, the endangered species could well become but a memory in the collective city experience. The fate of the columba livia, may meet that of the ectopistes migratorius (passenger pigeon) which in the 1850s was the most ubiquitous bird living in the U.S. Commonly, passenger pigeons would darken the skies with dense flocks measuring a mile in width and up to three miles in length. Sadly, in 1913, the last passenger pigeon died in captivity.

The Last Pigeon, an exhibition concerned with the study of this specific bird, brings awareness to the issue of urban wildlife preservation.

Raised in Manhattan, Mr Garn was, from early times, well aware of the plight of the urban pigeon. Occasionally, he would prevent stumblebums from using sling-shots to wound or kill the feathery creatures. Pre-occupied with their rescue, Mr. Garn attempted to hatch abandoned eggs using a desk lamp as an incubator. Today a New York-based artist and photographer, Mr. Garn has invited a select group of artists to conceive a tribute to the much underappreciated columba livia.

Mr. Garn has created a captivating photographic portfolio of pigeon life - from birth to hoary age. To the uninitiated eye, the pigeon portraits reveal a beauty of subtle nature. Distinct personalities, peculiar character traits, odd signs of time and experience are unveiled. Rarely seen are photographs of baby pigeons. A short video montage features a Muybridge-like sequencing and morphing of pigeon types in motion. Standing on a wood platform before a slate grid, the birds slowly move and timidly bop to the sound of Thelonious Monk's Epistrophy. Actual pigeons, for the duration of the exhibition, can be seen living in a reconstructed Brooklyn rooftop diorama. A series of small sculptures conceived in the form of pigeons made of clear glass filled with feathers, are strewn in the main gallery space. One can only wish that these fanciful renderings not become the last flock of lost pigeons.

Press release

March 28th - May 11th, 2008
Gallery Hours: weekdays by appointment, weekends 1-6 pm
Gallery Contact: A.M. Richard (917) 570-1476

It's a Dove's Life: Celebrating American Pigeons

2008-05-08T19:47:00.000-04:00

It's a Dove's Life: Celebrating American Pigeons

Pigeons in the Military, Police and Trafficking Service

2008-05-05T08:27:00.005-04:00

Military

In the late 19th and early 20th century, homing pigeons were frequently used as message carriers within European battle zones. Equipped with a small message capsule, pigeons would carry messages between troops and allies, alerting people if soldiers were captured behind enemy lines. They would also provide important time sensitive information that couldn't be sent by other means. Pigeons were hard to detect, difficult to shoot down, and fast commuters.

In 1903, German Engineer Julius Neubronner combined a small analogue camera with a mechanical timer and attached it around a pigeon's neck. This innovative approach to aerial photography soon raised interest from the German military. Shortly thereafter, exploring the potential for secret aerial photography carried out by pigeons began in earnest.

By Word War II entire "Pigeon Corps" had been established, serving both the Army and Air Force of several countries including England, Germany, France and the United States. Pigeon fanciers were consulted and encouraged to donate special breeds, and to provide expertise in pigeon handling and training to the military. Collaborations between pigeon fanciers and military personnel started to occur more frequently. In fact, the human pigeon handlers dedicated to the war messaging service became fondly known as the "Pigeoneers" by American forces.

Several decades later during the Vietnam War, the US Military developed a small radio-tracking device for attaching to homing pigeons. The idea was to capture the birds belonging to the Vietkong and follow their flight path home. Knowing the pigeons’ destination would help the US find hidden enemy camps. Pigeons have continued to be used in military and other governmental efforts. More recent examples include their alleged use by Iraqi troops during the second gulf war in 1991, and as discussed briefly below, as messengers for the Indian police in the state of Orissa, and to traffic illicit goods across state borders in South Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mexico and the US.

Police

The state of Orissa in India has used homing pigeons as part of their police service for over sixty years. This remote state used messenger pigeons to send reports throughout the state and to the country's capital during floods and other environmental conditions that cut the region off from other means of communication. The pigeon courier service or "P-mail" was handed to the police by the army in 1946, one year prior to India's independence from England. In 2002 it was decided that the pigeon courier service was too costly for the state and that email would be a more efficient way of communicating in contemporary India.

Trafficking

While homing pigeons have largely been retired from official governmental and military purposes, they are still being used for less official underground activities such as transporting small amounts of precious goods across country borders. In South Africa, pigeons are reportedly used to smuggle diamonds out of the country, in Afghanistan, pigeons assist in sending small portions of heroin over to Pakistan, and in the United States pigeon-enhanced drug trafficking between the US-Mexican border continues to flourish.

Civic

According to the International Harold Tribune, pigeons continue to be used in remote parts of Britain and France to carry blood samples from one location to another.

PETA Offers $2,000 Reward for Information on Blow-gun Shootings of Pigeons in Seattle

2008-05-01T10:19:00.005-04:00

Monday, April 28, 2008 - Page updated at 06:02 PM

FRANZISKA EDWARDS/PETA

This pigeon was photographed in downtown Seattle. The bird is still alive because the dart did not hit any of its vital organs.

PETA offers $2,000 reward for information on blow-gun shootings of pigeons in downtown Seattle
By Sonia Krishnan

Seattle Times staff reporter

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced today it is offering a $2,000 reward for information on one or more shooters involved in impaling pigeons in downtown Seattle with metal darts.

Several Seattle residents have called PETA in the past two weeks to report seeing three injured pigeons fluttering around with needle-like projectiles — about three to four inches long — piercing their heads, said Tori Perry, cruelty case worker for the Norfolk, Virginia-based organization. The birds were spotted on the 1400 block of Third Avenue and at the corner of Third Avenue and Union Street, she added.

The darts were fired from a blow gun, lodging directly behind the birds' eyes without penetrating their brains, Perry said.

The longer the darts remain, the higher the chance for the injury to get worse and infection to set in, she said. The end result: "a very, very painful death," Perry said.

"This is just a horrifying case," she said. "Someone who would do this to an animal is a short step away from doing this to a human being."

Authorities at the Seattle Animal Shelter said they have also gotten several complaints about the darted pigeons. And, they add, it's been difficult to track and capture the birds to get them proper treatment.

"They are quite athletic, good fliers," said Don Baxter, enforcement supervisor. "They're not hanging around waiting for an officer to get close" and take it to a veterinarian, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Seattle Animal Shelter at 206-386-7387.

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com

Related Article

Pigeons are Doting Parents

2008-04-28T11:27:00.004-04:00

By Hannah Holmes

Maybe the old ones never die. My Portland flock could be the self-same bunch of birds that filched clams from the Abenaki Indians and pooped upon approaching Viking boats. In addition to adapting flawlessly to the total nature-fake of a human habitat, maybe pigeons have also adapted perfectly to life: It doesn't make them die.

But because that's improbable, and because I was terribly curious about what kind of guy intentionally associates with pigeons, I called John Heppner, president of the National Pigeon Association.

"Absolutely," he said in a sobering tone of voice when I asked if there is such a thing as a baby pigeon. "I've been raising 'em for fifty years." What he went on to tell me gave me a new respect for the grubby, shining, strutting, victorious pigeon.

First of all, unlike dippy little English sparrows or robins, pigeons hide their nests.

Heppner said that back when they emerged in Asia (evidently, they were nature-living animals, once), pigeons were cliff-dwellers. So now they balance their messy nests of sticks inside the guts of bridges, or atop tall buildings, or on top of your air conditioner. Secondly, pigeons are parents non pareil. They lay only two eggs at a time, and spoil those babies shamefully. "The parents will feed the babies until they're totally feathered out," Heppner reported proudly. "By the time they leave the nest, they'll be about the same size as the adults. You know when people eat squab, that's when they take 'em -- when they're nice and plump." Squab, for the culinarily challenged, being baby pigeon.

And the doting parents don't feed these butter-balls your typical bird baby-food.

These birdlets get something called "pigeon milk," and the faint-of-stomach may not wish to explore this paragraph further. Both parents manufacture in their crop, or throat, a rich, fatty "milk" that looks, Heppner says, much like yellow cottage cheese. They ralph this delicacy up and expel it into the throats of their darlings. "You can see this white stuff glowing in the crops of the squabs," Heppner says. "They're just full of it."
After eight or 10 days of this ambrosial diet, the parents begin mixing in solid food and water. "They'll eat heavily, then drink a lot of water to easily chuck up the grain," Heppner enthuses, and offering between these fascinating facts to send me photographs of fancy pigeons. "And did you know pigeons drink like horses? Hens will lift their heads up to swallow. But pigeons put their head down and just take a long draught."

And do the parents flinch at all this work, this cheese-making, this grain-chucking, this drinking-like-a-horse? Of course not. "If all's going along well with the first nest, they'll build another, right near by, and lay the next batch," Heppner says. "They'll take turns sitting on the next set, while the other feeds up the squabs." And they'll do that four to six times a season. So, not only are there baby pigeons, there are baby-pigeon assembly lines.

And when the fledglings do finally leave the nest, Heppner says, their plumage and size are so similar to those of the flock they hang around with that only the practiced pigeonophile would be able to pick out the babies.

Care to practice finding the youngsters? Look for them in the spring and summer.

They may have stray strands of down poking through their feathers.

They may retain a trace of the "lip" around their beak that gives the parents a wider ralphing target.

Their heads may be narrower.

They may be shy. "They're more timid," Heppner explains. "They won't be professional in going after the best food."
So if you really want to see a baby pigeon, throw down a fried clam. That'll separate the men from the boys.

Pigeons and Cheers for Pope Benedict XV1

2008-04-23T16:00:00.014-04:00

Cheers and pageantry for papal mass at Yankee Stadium
Karin Zeitvogel
Agence France-Presse

April 21, 2008

NEW YORK – Tens of thousands of Americans erupted in cheers Sunday, waving white and yellow handkerchiefs as they welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to Yankee Stadium for the final event of his US visit -- a huge outdoor mass.

"Most Holy Father, welcome to New York," New York's archbishop, Cardinal Edward Egan, said from the purple, white and yellow platform dominated by the Vatican coat of arms set up on the baseball diamond, drawing a deafening roar from the crowd.

The pope rose from the white papal chair decorated with a golden cross at the top of the platform, and raised both hands to salute the crowd.

White-robed Roman Catholic clerics sat alongside a rainbow of baseball caps; Asians and Hispanics prayed next to African-Americans and white descendants of European immigrants in the stadium, which had been converted from a shrine to baseball to an open-air church for the mass celebrated by Benedict.

"In this land of freedom and opportunity, the Church has united a widely diverse flock in the profession of the faith," Benedict said in his homily, as sunshine cut through the layer of cloud that had blanketed New York since the morning.

The prayer of the faithful after the homily underscored the ethnic diversity so lauded by the pontiff as it was intoned in English, Italian, Polish, French, Croatian, Tagalog, the language of the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines, and Igbo, a Nigerian dialect.

Benedict praised the United States as a land of religious liberty, and urged US Catholics to overcome differences and build on the foundation of the church left by their forebears, many of them "immigrants whose traditions have so enriched the Church in America."

"Today's celebration is ... a summons to move forward with firm resolve to use wisely the blessings of freedom, in order to build a future of hope for coming generations."

The rapt audience of more than 57,000 interrupted the homily to applaud as the pope urged them to defend all life, "including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother's womb."

The 81-year-old pontiff made no mention in his homily of the sex scandal that has rocked the US church, a subject he repeatedly raised during his US visit, urging priests and their flocks to help heal the wounds.

But outside the stadium, a handful of protesters were not letting the issue to be swept under the carpet.

They held up signs denouncing the church and the scandal of predator priests: "Roman Catholicism is the devil" read one sign, while another screamed out "Priests rape boys."

Secret Service agents, who had thrown a thick cloak of security over the stadium, were met by little more than calls of "Viva il papa" as they scrutinized the stadium bleachers during the homily.

New York City policemen on security detail folded their hands and bowed their heads as the pope gave his blessing.

After deacons and priests had served communion, Italian tenor Marcello Giordani sang a stirring "Panis Angelicus," struggling to turn the pages to hold the libretto as the wind picked up.

Earlier, nuns had clapped to the music as singer-guitarist Jose Feliciano belted out "Lean on Me" from the white, purple and yellow platform as part of the spiritual warmup for the mass.

A Mexican wave -- when row after row stand up and raise their arms in the air -- unfurled through the upper seating level, with Roman Catholic clerics joining in as readily as lay people.

*A flock of doves was released and soared skyward shortly before the pope arrived at the stadium in his popemobile, its windows open to allow him to wave at the crowd.

Benedict is the third pope to celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium, after Paul VI in 1965 and John Paul II in 1979.

As the mass ended, a radiant Benedict waved at the crowd as Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" echoed around the stadium and yellow and white handkerchiefs waved anew.

The mass was the last event on Benedict's six-day visit to the United States, which took him to Washington before New York.

*"I own a "white dove release" business. I have 15 "doves", white pigeons, all have names and birthdays, all love me and fly to me at will. True doves do not have the homing instinct."

Judy Miller
Armore Doves
Missouri

Related

Army Retires Carrier Pigeons

2008-04-09T12:49:00.001-04:00

ARMY RETIRES CARRIER PIGEONS
Published 7 April, 2008
Spain News

The Army bade farewell to its last carrier pigeons last week when the five members of the Army’s now defunct Carrier Pigeon Section released 300 birds, who promptly returned to their lofts on the army base at Pozuelo de Alarcon on the outskirts of Madrid. They were delivered the next day to the Spanish Pigeon-Fancier Federation. The Spanish Army started using carrier pigeons in 1879 and they played an important role in Jaén during the Civil War. Two hundred Guardia Civil who had joined Franco were holed up with 1,200 people in the Sanctuaury of the Virgen de la Cabeza and survived a 256-day siege by Republican forces thanks to the pigeons who were used to send information about needed food supplies to the Military Government in Government. One bird, No. 46.415, was wounded by a bullet but managed to get her message through before dying. She received a posthumous award for bravery and her corpse still reposes, somewhat desiccated, in the Army Museum.

Reduce Pigeon Numbers by Feeding?

2008-03-27T11:50:00.003-04:00

Reduce pigeon numbers? Feed them ’til they’re too fat to breed
Mar 26 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

COUNCILLORS want to cut the number of pigeons in Huddersfield town centre – by feeding them.

The new plan was discussed at a meeting last week and if the proposal goes ahead, Kirklees staff will feed the pigeons between 7am and 8am at two locations at opposite ends of the town centre.

Brook Street and outside Wilkinson’s on New Street are possible locations.

Clr Tony Brice was at the Huddersfield Town Centre Sub Group meeting where the plan was discussed.

The Lindley Conservative said: “By feeding them, the hope is we will have a few, well-fed pigeons that don’t lay as many eggs. It’s the same system that’s been used in Trafalgar Square in London.”

But members of the public who feed the pigeons will be slapped with a fine.

Clr Brice said: “There will be quite a few enforcement officers who will fine anyone caught throwing bread to the birds.

“The message will get through eventually and people will stop feeding them.”

Clr Brice – who joked that his preferred solution to the pigeon problem would be to release a hawk in the town centre – said the birds were no more than vermin.

He said: “They carry a lot of disease, they are rats with feathers. You wouldn’t feed a rat if you saw it but people do feed pigeons.”

The plan is expected to go to Kirklees Council’s Cabinet for approval soon.

It is the latest idea to rid Huddersfield town centre of pigeons.

In July 1997 council officials suggested a cull by shooting the birds or catching them in traps.

But the council backed down after an Examiner poll found 64% of people against the idea.

Two years later the council spent £6,000 on netting at the railway bridges on John William Street and Fitzwilliam Street in a bid to stop pigeons roosting there.

In 2001 Kirklees decided to build special nests for the birds, and then remove the eggs before they hatched.

Later that year, councillors decided to fix five-inch long steel spikes to the balcony of Huddersfield Town Hall to stop pigeons nesting there.

New York Daily News Article: National Pigeon Day

2008-03-25T18:04:00.010-04:00

Please visit National Pigeon Day for information.

BY LARRY McSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, March 25th 2008, 4:00 AM

Pigeons deserve own national holiday, says New York Bird Club founder

The average New York pigeon is not, as its legion of detractors contend, diseased. Or destructive. Or in need of Depends.

The oft-vilified denizen of city parapets and parks is simply plagued by public relations problems - and that's where Anna Dove swoops in.

The aptly named founder of the New York Bird Club believes the pigeon - like Abraham Lincoln and Christopher Columbus - deserves its own holiday. Her choice: June 13, the anniversary of World War I carrier pigeon Cher Ami's 1919 death.

"Pigeons are very friendly birds," says Dove, who provides feed for her feathered friends on the upper East Side. "They're getting a bad deal. It's terrible - people pick on them."

Some of it, she says, is simple pigeon slander - "rats with wings" is a typical slur.

A pigeon's life can turn quickly from cooing to cruelty - there's kidnapping for live pigeon shoots in neighboring states.

And just last month, a city worker was arrested after running down three pigeons with a golf cart.

"Little defenseless birds," says the self-appointed defender of the pigeon population, a lone voice among the many who see the birds as head-bobbing, wing-flapping pests.

Even with her bird blinders on, Dove can't deny the biggest complaint about pigeons: their ubiquitous droppings.

The typical urban pigeon, during its four-year lifespan, leaves about 100 pounds worth. Given that New York is home to an estimated 1 million pigeons ... well, you do the math.

From the Henry Hudson Expressway to Midtown Tunnel to the Lorimer St. el station in Brooklyn, the pigeon poop has created vile odors, layers of moldering filth and escalating cleanup tabs.

City Council member Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), tired of the endless droppings, proposed legislation last year to make feeding pigeons in public illegal.

The still-pending bill, similar to one in place in London, would make Dove and other pigeon enablers liable for a $1,000 fine.

Felder had no opposition to Dove's holiday campaign - but still offered little love for its potential honorees.

"You can name a day anything," Felder said. "Regardless of what day it is, you shouldn't be feeding pigeons in public."

Dove's pigeon promotion has caused some personal aggravation. She was recently feeding the pigeons near her apartment when a neighbor approached, asked her to stop "feeding the rats" - and then punched her in the arm.

Dove wasn't surprised. And she's certain of one thing: The pigeons are a lot cleaner than a lot of their critics.

"I see a little bit of pigeon poop," she says. "But I see a lot more pizza boxes out there."

lmcshane@nydailynews.com

New York Daily News
Letters to the Editor
March 28, 2008

Feather in her cap

Manhattan: Anna Dove's work to bring respect to pigeons ("She's for the birds," March 25) is an admirable civic enterprise. Pigeons are beautiful and relatively harmless members of the community of living creatures of our city. Simcha Felder, who would want to fine anyone who feeds pigeons, needs to cultivate more joy ("simcha" in Hebrew) in his dealings with our nonhuman fellows. All success to Ms. Dove!

Mark Stephen Caponigro

Flocking to their aid

Manhattan: Are we to consider pigeons service animals during war but a nuisance during peace? That same mind-set sent countless thousands of horses to slaughterhouses when they had outlived their usefulness. Our pigeon friends are due some compassion and gratitude.

Alice Liu

Department of Conservation Replies to Pigeon Nettings

2008-03-20T10:06:00.014-04:00

Department of Conservation responses to pigeon nettings:

(a) Please be advised that ECO Buckley will be contacting Inv. Lucas of the ASPCA to assist with this investigation.

(b) Hello,

I am the regional wildlife biologist for the Department (DEC).

William Dunn ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement (212 876 7700 ext 4450) has asked for all witnesses to contact him and assist him in the legal case against these individuals. ASPCA has the lead because the humane aspects offer the most feasible venue for an enforcement case.

Thank you for being alert.

Joseph Pane

Related: Correspondence sent to list.

Pigeon Shoots No Better than Cockfighting or Dogfighting

2008-03-18T18:41:00.002-04:00

March 15
Times Leader.com
Pigeon shoots no better than cockfighting or dogfighting

It is a rare occurrence to open the paper and see a letter defending animal cruelty, yet a recent letter to the editor did just that and attempted to defend the indefensible game of launching live pigeons from box traps to be shot from 30 yards away.

Like dogfighting and cockfighting, pigeon shoots are largely underground practices that are not only associated with wanton animal cruelty, but also trafficking of animals and gambling. Prizes and money are awarded to shooters who shoot and drop the largest number of animals within a scoring ring.

Although the number of participants is dropping, several dozen shooters can still kill and wound at least 1,000 birds at each event. Birds are trafficked from states such as New York to meet the demand, despite efforts of law enforcement in New York to shut down the illegal netters.

Legislators have addressed dogfighting and cockfighting in Pennsylvania by making them felony crimes. It is time to also send this seedy practice to the history books.

For more information on live pigeon shoots visit www.humanesociety.org.

Heidi Prescott Senior vice president, campaigns The Humane Society of the United States Washington, D.C.

Family Files Suit Alleging Exposure to Pigeon Poison

2008-03-17T16:52:00.002-04:00

December 03, 2003

Family files suit alleging exposure to pigeon poison
By Steve Kanigher
steve@lasvegassun.com
LAS VEGAS SUN

Shortly after moving into a Henderson apartment complex three years ago, Lisa Casey got light-headed whenever she stood up. Her headaches and dizziness led to vomiting. And it got just as bad for her youngest son, Shawn, who became so ill he missed 60 days of school and was held back a grade. Her other two sons also developed aches and pains.

Dr. Michael Casey, Lisa's husband and a surgical resident at University Medical Center, escaped illness. But his concern over his family's health led him to discover what he believed to be the culprit -- a controversial odorless bird poison that is legal in Nevada and throughout much of the country but banned in New York City and San Francisco, as well as in Great Britain.

In a lawsuit filed on Nov. 17, the Casey family alleged they were unwittingly exposed to Avitrol, which is commonly used in Nevada to ward off pigeons. The product is designed to scare off pigeons but kills many of them by attacking their nervous systems.

After first becoming ill in 2000, Lisa Casey had menstrual cycles every three weeks and, because of excessive hemorrhaging, underwent a complete hysterectomy in February 2001, the lawsuit stated. She also went from 130 pounds to 104 pounds in a single month.

Even now, she said she cannot pursue her hobby as an abstract acrylic painter because of low energy and depression.

"I still tire real easily," she said in her Las Vegas home. "I still have seizures and I get stressed out." Shawn Casey, who is now 12, was ill the entire winter of 2000-2001 and was found to have parasites in his gastrointestinal tract. The result was painful cramping. He missed so much school he was forced to repeat fourth grade.

He and his brothers, Benjamin, 16, and Scott, 14, still suffer aches and pains and are no longer able to participate in scouting activities, their parents said. "When Scott runs he starts to blank out and lose his vision," Michael Casey said.

While the chemical agent in Avitrol has been used experimentally to treat multiple sclerosis patients, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported in 1999 that no human poisonings had occurred through "ordinary use" of the toxic substance.

Unique civil lawsuit

What makes the civil lawsuit unique is that the family is attempting to prove that the illnesses were caused by the "ordinary use" of Avitrol -- to ward off pigeons -- but that the bird poison was applied improperly and without their knowledge.

There had been only two reported cases of humans who became ill after accidental exposure to the chemical agent contained in Avitrol, the EPA stated in 1999 in its latest update on the substance.

Those involved two Virginia adults who ingested the poison in 1978, believing it was an aphrodisiac. Both experienced abdominal discomfort, nausea and dizziness and one had seizures and needed a ventilator. They recovered after three days, the EPA reported.

The Casey lawsuit names as defendants Phoenix Pest & Termite Control of Nevada Inc. and the family's former residence, Galleria Palms Apartments at 625 Whitney Ranch Drive in Henderson.

The family alleges that the apartment management initially lied about the use of bird poison on the property.

"I just felt we were treated like cattle," Lisa Casey said bluntly. Phone messages for officials of the pest control company weren't returned. Craig Walsh, senior vice president of operations for apartment manager Standard Management Co., one of the defendants in the lawsuit, said "it was an incident we were aware of" but he had no further comment.

Legal strategy

Attorney Ronald Serota of Las Vegas, who is representing the family, said he purposely did not sue Avitrol Corp., the Tulsa, Okla., manufacturer of the toxic substance, because of legal strategy. But he said he would not be surprised if the lawsuit forced Nevada to ban Avitrol.

"I'm hoping the lawsuit raises public awareness of the dangers of Avitrol," Serota said. "There is a need to use certified applicators of Avitrol on a more consistent basis. Property managers also should tell residents what they're doing when they use Avitrol."

But Avitrol Corp. president Kelly Swindle said he is confident the plaintiffs will be unable to prove that his product caused their illnesses.

"We've actually never had a case against the product," Swindle said. "I feel quite confident that Avitrol was not the problem here."

Avitrol was developed by Phillips Petroleum Co. in the early 1960s and soon became the most widely used pigeon poison in the country. A white powder with the scientific name of 4-aminopyridine, it is added to grain baits such as corn kernels. It is most commonly applied on rooftops after the area has been pre-baited with untainted grains.

The intent, according to the manufacturer, is for a few birds to exhibit abnormal reaction immediately after eating the tainted kernels, scaringoff other members of the flock. The birds who eat the toxic kernels are expected to die, although it can take several hours for that to happen.

Avitrol has been criticized by animal rights activists who claim that too many birds are killed by pest control companies that apply maximum doses and that the slow death by poisoning is inhumane.

The criticism extends to the fact that many of the affected birds go into convulsions and appear to hallucinate before they die and that the poison is indiscriminate because it can kill other birds and mammals.

And the critics argue that pigeons will often return to the same location within months.

"There are more humane ways to solve conflicts with pigeons," John Hadidian, urban wildlife program director for the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, said.

Heinous Acts of Cruelty in Pennsylvania

2008-03-01T18:08:00.015-05:00

March 12
Lawyer needs to gain compassion and common sense

In his Feb. 28 letter to the editor, Attorney Paul M. Perlstein states that anyone who devotes time to the welfare of pigeons is selfish and/or ignoring widespread human suffering and needs.

He is entitled to his opinion, and here is mine. If the ground opened up and swallowed 90 percent of the Earth’s attorneys, this world would be a better place (and Satan would have to build an addition).

Every so often, the news media report stories of extreme animal cruelty, and there is always someone like Mr. Perlstein who says that they should be focusing on child abuse instead. Common sense and compassion tell us that it is perfectly justified and logical to be concerned with preventing and prosecuting both types of abuse.

Attorney Perlstein states that neck-wringing and decapitation are legal and humane methods of euthanizing birds. Common sense and compassion tell us otherwise. Hanging is the equivalent of neck-wringing, yet society does not allow us to hang or decapitate our most heinous criminals, because these execution methods are considered brutal and inhumane. Why should pigeons be denied such mercy?

Mr. Perlstein assures us that a pigeon shooter “has looked into his heart and is pleased with what is there.” No doubt the Boston Strangler was quite content with his deeds and had no trouble sleeping either, but anyone with compassion and common sense would feel otherwise.

Marie Marinakis
Newtown Square

March 11, 2008
Times Leader
Pigeon shooting contests mindless, reflect poorly on state

I am compelled to disagree with Paul Perlstein’s letter of Feb. 28 denouncing the efforts of organizations trying to put a stop to pigeon shoots.

Speaking as an observer of one of these events, I am convinced that it is the contests themselves – not the organizations and individuals trying to put a stop to them – that are “wrong and reflect(s) poorly on Pennsylvania.”

These mindless contests have blackened the state’s reputation among virtually all the non-participants who are aware of them, whether they are among the 5 percent of the population that hunts or the 95 percent of the population that does not.

To see these birds shot as they are released from the confinement of the cages in which they have been transported, or blasted at short range if they choose to walk instead of fly, is not a pretty sight. To see an escaped pigeon return to assist a wounded mate is heart-rending. Pigeons are a sector of the dove family (Columbidae), which has had a pleasant association for humans through much of history. Phrases such as gentle as a dove, dove-eyed, dove-like, and lovey-dovey come to mind.

The dictionary gives “a gentle woman or child” as one definition for dove.

Pigeon, on the other hand, denotes a dupe or mark, “an object of attack or ridicule.” Pigeon-dropping is another term for confidence game. Then there are pigeon-breasted (usually from rickets), pigeon-toed and pigeon-hearted (cowardly). This seems unfair to these affectionate birds that mate for life, maintain peaceful relations among themselves and other species, and feed their young with a regurgitated liquid called pigeon milk.

Yet some of us humans, who are supposed to be the superior species, view the deaths of these gentle creatures as nothing more than points to be scored in a shooting contest.

Bina Robinson Swain, N.Y.

Dear Times Leader:

Paul Perlstein attempts to defend the indefensible--pigeon shoots--in his 2/28/08 letter.

Mr. Perlstein, a personal injury lawyer, who prides himself on appearing as special counsel for gun nuts and hunting clubs, berates those who undertake to use the courts to end, not perpetuate, cruelty.

He drags out the tired gimmick of the ethically dishonest, by asking those dedicated to ending cruelty against a group that he does not care about, why they are not helping humans.

I have been a social worker for homeless families for over 23 years. As inevitable as taxes and death, are animal abusers who do nothing for humans, but rail against those whose advocacy helps animals and humans. Stretching credulity past its limit, animal killers also claim that it is they, not animal advocates, who do the most for animals and the environment.

Perlstein states that the American Veterinary Society (I assume he means the AVMA) “has sanctioned decapitation and neck wringing as appropriate means to dispatch wounded birds.” Perlstein neglects to mention that the birds are “wounded” because of hunters. In addition, The AVMA notoriously supports numerous industrial and recreational abuses of animals—abuses that are opposed by all humane organizations and by many veterinarians.

I witnessed the Hegins Pigeon Slaughter, year after year. I volunteered, either at the veterinary tent, or to run and catch the injured, but still alive, birds and bring them to our tent for treatment. We literally had to run to save their lives, while the hunters booed and screamed insults at us, and tried to beat us to the suffering birds, so that they could kill them in front of us. The wicked smirks on their faces, when they got to their victims first, demonstrated human evil in a most intense, profound, and frightening way. Wounded birds not making it off the field, had their heads ripped off, or necks twisted, by emotionally-disengaged, young girls and boys, recruited for the purpose.

To save what victims we could, we forced ourselves to watch, as the thirsty, hungry, dazed pigeons, released from dark boxes into the sunlight, flew or just staggered away, to be shot by drunken shooters (alcohol having been served at this “family” event). One of the cheering mutants told me that pigeons need to be killed, “because they cause the AID [sic].”

The wives/girlfriends/daughters of the killers frequently came up to several of us, at our veterinary tent, in the parking lot, to tell us that they were revolted by the cruelty and carnage being celebrated in their town. The kids begged us to save the pigeons, and the fearful women told us that if their men saw them talking to us, the men would beat them.

After the 1999 unanimous PA Supreme Court decision granting the PA SPCA jurisdiction to enforce Pennsylvania's cruelty to animals law at the Hegins pigeon shoot, the organizers of the slaughter ended the spectacle, knowing that they could now be prosecuted for animal cruelty.

Please contact your legislators, urging them to support Representative Frank Andrews Shimkus’ H.B. 73, which will ban live pigeon shoots in PA.

Susan Gordon, Board Member
New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance

Dear Times Leader:

Paul Perlstein had the audacity to say:

"I do not understand how anyone can be so selfish as to ignore the widespread human suffering and needs in this state and the world and devote so much time and energy to a pigeon."

Over the years, this man has made millions defending the "rights" of sadistic, brutal, uncivilized ignorant people that use a Constitutional Right as an excuse and camouflage to act-out their barbarities, involving their own children in the process.

If Paul Perlstein is really in touch with widespread human suffering, he should provide his services FREE OF CHARGE, to the victims of random shootings, as well as their families. Gun related crimes (whether killings of human or animals) are on the rise. In fact many young people are desensitized to the consequences of shooting a gun.

The same Constitutional Right that allows hunters to massacre animals, allows other types of criminals to commit crimes with easily obtainable guns.

Respectfully,
Lily

Please address letters to Times Leader to:
mailbag@timesleader.com.

Pigeon Genius: Brilliant Beasts - National Geographic Channel

2008-02-29T08:51:00.011-05:00

Brilliant Beasts: Pigeon Genius

Sunday, March 16th - 9 pm
Also showing on the following dates:

17 March, 1.00am
19 March, 8.00pm
20 March, 7.00am
23 March, 3.00pm
26 March, 11.00am

Check here to find it in your area.

Brilliant Beasts will scientifically investigate some of our best-known creatures. We put them under the microscope and test their abilities to the limits. These are creatures we think we know and we come into contact with them frequently, often in bizarre ways. We take these human interaction stories and bust apart how they happened. We deconstruct the abilities of the animals and find out what it was they were trying to do when they met with us instead.

Harvard Psychologist Dr. B.F. Skinner, Ph.D. Studies of Pigeon Intelligence

2008-02-25T09:50:00.008-05:00

Mankind has been teaching birds to talk for thousands of years. Man has also been using birds to deliver messages for just as long. But new research on the intelligence of birds suggests that they might be more intelligent than we suspect.

Researchers studying pigeons have learned that they can read all of the letters of the alphabet and they read them in a way similar to people. Scientists became convinced that pigeons see the world in much the same way as we do when they discovered that pigeons tend to confuse the very same letters that people do. What's more, it took only four months for pigeons to learn to distinguish all the letters of the alphabet. For years pigeons have been used to spot and reject defective items on assembly lines, where they have better records than human beings.

Scientists recently announced that they have discovered that the human brain is laced with tiny magnetic particles made of magnetite. Magnetite is the same mineral that occurs naturally in lodestones. While the particles are distributed throughout the brain, they seem to be more concentrated in the membrane that encloses the brain. Scientists said that they had not seen the particles before because they are so tiny. The smallest are about a millionth of an inch in diameter while the largest are a hundred-thousandth of an inch in diameter. Added together, all the particles in the average brain amount to only one millionth of an ounce.

The particles are identical to those found in many bacteria, pigeons, salmon and whales. The particles help those creatures navigate using the earth's magnetic field. Scientists are not prepared to say that they serve the same purpose in humans. Instead, they continue to study the particles to learn what purpose they serve.

Based on evolutionary theory, scientists naturally conclude that the recognition of abstract forms such as letters of the alphabet requires the larger brain. But this is an assumption and we might be reminded of the work of Harvard psychologist B. F. Skinner who made extensive use of learned behavior using pigeons. Brain size has little to do with intelligence. Real science and experience show this and disprove evolutionary views. The only alternative is that it is the Creator who gives His creatures their intelligence.

Source

Dr. B.F. Skinner, Ph.D.
American Psychology Association:

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of influential behaviorist B.F. Skinner, the first psychologist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from APA and a key shaper of the evolution and practice of psychology in the modern world.
"[His work on behaviorism] opened a completely new approach to psychology that nobody had ever heard of," says Charles Brewer, PhD, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychology at Furman University. "The work he did with pigeons and rats in the laboratory has been applied more widely in real-world applications than any other psychologist's," he adds.

After receiving an undergraduate degree in literature and trying to make a living as a writer in New York City, Skinner went to Harvard University's psychology department for his graduate studies. He worked closely with the university's new department of physiology because he was more interested in animal behavior than in internal mental processes.

Skinner built on the behaviorist theories of Ivan Pavlov and John Watson as he studied the connection between stimuli and observable behavior in rats, which led to his eponymous Skinner box. With its levers and food pellets, the box allowed precise measurement and control of experimental conditions.

Skinner received his PhD from Harvard University in 1931 and spent several years at the University of Minnesota and the University of Indiana, but he returned to Harvard in 1948, remaining there for the rest of his career. During World War II, Skinner convinced the military to fund his research--the famous Project Pigeon--to train pigeons to guide bombs and torpedoes. Skinner favored pigeons over rats because they live longer and he found them easier to train and handle. He believed the methods could be used to train humans--by presenting new subject matter in a series of graduated steps with feedback at each step. Modern computer-based instructional methods are based on his findings.

According to Michael Wertheimer, PhD, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, "The main spotlight on Skinner's work was during the period from about 1950 to about 1980, but ever since the late 1970s it has shifted to cognitive phenomena and theories." That behavioral analysis like Skinner's has been marginalized in recent years is detrimental to the field, in the view of Donald Dewsbury, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Florida.

Still, the fact remains that B.F. Skinner is a household name, and his theories will always be an important part of psychology, says Brewer. "If you want to know whom students will be reading about in another 100 years, it will be Skinner," he says.

--M. GREENGRASS
PsychNET®
© 2004 American Psychological Association

Dear Woody Allen,

2008-02-24T15:55:00.008-05:00

Woody Allen coined a phrase in one of his movies for the feral pigeons in New York City. He called them feathered rats. Sadly, this took root in the minds of the public, or worse, in the minds of everyone in the media who ever thought to do a story on pigeons.

22 June 1966, New York Times, pg. 59:
Commissioner Hoving (Parks Commissioner Thomas P. F. Hoving - ed.) calls the pigeon "a rat with wings."

31 December 1967, New York Times, pg. 190:
To discourage pigeons, recently defined as rats with wings, I scatter millet and cracked corn for juncos and other sparrows in the heart of brush pile which is kept for this purpose.

23 January 1981, Washington Post, pg. A1:
"I think Woody likes to create phobias," she (actress Charlotte Rampling - ed.) says. "He's afraid of pigeons. 'They're rats with wings,'" he says.

Reference

Mr. Stephen Tenenbaum
Personal Management - MBST Entertainment
445 North Maple Dr
Suite 200
Beverly Hills, Ca. 90210

To whom it may concern,

We are a professional couple living in London and who regularly work/ visit New York. We also work extensively for animal and bird welfare and have been alarmed for some years now at the appalling propaganda surrounding the humble "rock dove" or feral pigeon. These harmless gentle birds who have helped man-kind in so many ways (winners of the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross for carrying messages to and from during the war) are now denigrated quite erroneously as vermin because of a careless line uttered in a Woody Allen film many years ago.

My husband and myself are great Woody Allen fans and, as a voting member of BAFTA, I find myself wishing every year that we could see another of his offerings of genius.

However, the poison of these perhaps innocent words has spread to the pigeon hating custodians of our towns and cities, resulting in some mass slaughter in the UK and now Venice, as well as the promise of such in New York. Such cruelty has to be stopped - and the millions of dollars that the pest control industry are making out of this is frankly, quite obscene.

We are sure that Mr. Allen is a compassionate man, tolerant of the fact that human beings have to share the planet with others of God's creatures. We are not saying that an over-population of any creature should not be controlled, but there are ways and means of coping with this which do not include poisoning, shooting, being ripped apart by hawks or indeed starvation.

It would be a tremendous gesture of goodwill if Mr. Allen could see his way to attending National Pigeon Day in New York on l3th June and rescinding his comments as to what they were hopefully just meant to be - ie. lines of a fictional nature from a work of fiction. Maybe that would penetrate the closed minds of those too intolerant to find another way.

Sincerely,
Ann and John Gale,
London N65TT, UK
________________________________________

I concur with those who take the view that Mr. Allen's unfortunate popularization of the line, "rats with wings", describing pigeons, is simply stupid, in the precise technical sense of the word. Taken up by foolish people, this has led to all sorts of mischief. Your man needs to get off the dime and take responsibility for this error of commission.

Don Jenner, Ph.D.
_________________________________________

Mr. Allen,

Please do all you can to reverse harm to the pigeons that is caused by your careless words. Neither these birds nor rats deserve arrogant abuse and mistreatment. There is no need to bring multiple examples of both species high intelligence, just moral considerations alone should allow you to see how unfair we humans are to these constantly prosecuted animals. It’s shockingly stressful to observe contribution of highly cultural creative people in cruelty and violence against animals.

A. Belenky, Ph.D.
________________________________________

Dear Mr. Allen,

You have been a big influence in New Yorkers lives for decades now, however, with your public image and power comes a greater moral responsibility.

By using a demeaning and devastating phrase in one of your movies, you have cost (I am sure not intentionally) a tremendous hardship in the lives of millions of helpless pigeons around the city.

I live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and believe me, it is very difficult for pigeons to survive, not only are they starving to death, on a daily basis they are kicked, poisoned, glued, and simply hated, even by small children, who learn to hate from their parents.

These innocent animals have the capacity, as you and I do, to feel pain.

See, New Yorkers as all Americans, unfortunately, follow public figures and truly believe what these "famous" people say, whether they are in the movie business or politics. It is just part of the idiosyncrasy of the people of the USA, easy to influence and gullible.

Please, Mr. Allen, I urge you to make a public announcement, written would be the best way, to retrieve the phrase "pigeons are rats with wings", and explain to people that it was "just a movie phrase", that in fact scientific fact prove the opposite, they cause no harm, just joy, by giving us the chance to interact with nature in this cement and glass city.

Respectfully,
Lily Rocco
________________________________________

Dear Mr. Allen,

I am sure that over the years you have heard the many stories about how your comment in the movie 'Stardust Memories' has affected those persons who love and care for Rock Doves. The courageous Rock Dove has helped us through hard times (World War 1 and World War 11). We would love for others to understand that while you may be a brilliant actor, that words spoken in a movie do not represent the person playing the part.

We would love to request your presence on National Pigeon Day. We understand that you are quite busy, and that it's not typical of you to make such appearances, but this would be a wonderful opportunity to correct many wrongs that have occured, simply by a comment you made while writing a movie. I am sure you never meant any harm to come to these wonderful courageous birds, who have served man since the dawn of time. It was meant in humor, but much harm has occured as a result.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and I hope to hear your reply soon. If you don't have the time for an appearance, perhaps you could write a few words to help others understand that it was merely a movie part, not who you truly are in your heart.

Thanks again.
With much appreciation,
Wanda Miller
________________________________________

It's payback time. Years ago, in your film Stardust Memories, you made a species slur, referring to pigeons as "winged rats." People have been using your phrase to denigrate and decimate pigeons for over two decades. In case you haven't noticed (and I believe you have) this world is a hostile, violent, troubled world. Your words perpetuated more violence.

To "undo" this (as we say in psychology), you should publicly support pigeons' rights (no, not to vote... but to be left alone to live their lives without torment and torture from humans.

The war on pigeons was fueled by your words. You have the power to reverse it.

Rina Deych, RN and Wildlife Rehabilitator
Brooklyn, NY 11219

PS: For the record, humans carry far more(and deadlier)diseases than rats and pigeons.

Incidentally, documentarian Lionel Friedberg recently released a film entitled A Sacred Duty, Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World, which examines the connection between animal agriculture and global warming. You can read a synopsis and get access to the film here. As a filmmaker, I would imagine you'd be very interested in seeing it.
________________________________________

subject: cool can be cruel

Hey, Mr. Allen,

go out, show a little guts to make up for a stupid joke (if that's what it was supposed to be). hahaha. the pigeons loved it. if you don't step out to protect life, ALL life, then, i ask you: what's your life worth???

regards,
the pigeons and barbara
__________________________________________

Woody Allen Management
Stephen Tenenbaum
MBST Entertainment

Dear Sir:

I am writing to request that Woody Allen make an appearance at National Pigeon Day on Friday, June 13th, to make right the horrible disservice he’s done to our feral pigeon population; innocent pigeons are being persecuted and annihilated because of the cavalier remark "rats with wings" (Stardust Memories, 1980, written and directed by Woody Allen).

Remarks such as this one have helped destroy precious wildlife in New York City and throughout the world.

For nearly 30 years this slur has been perpetuated by the media who use it to ridicule and degrade pigeons so that they have no respect in our society and consequently are treated with contempt and hatred by the general public. It is also used by our elected government officials to justify killing and enforcing cruel and senseless laws, not to mention illegal pigeon netters, who still have not been punished for their vicious crimes.

In addition, the moniker is being used by pigeon control companies who make billions of dollars by exterminating pigeons under false pretenses -- all because of three little words written by Woody Allen.

Thank you for your kind attention,

Miss Poornima Dasgupta
Scarsdale, NY 10583
________________________________________

Please request that Woody Allen make an appearance on National Pigeon Day June 13th, to help right the wrongs he has committed by his cruel comments about pigeons. He has helped cause much animal cruelty that is very unnecessary.

Thank you,
Pamela Cortelyou
San Diego CA 92110
_________________________________________

Tikkun Olam. "To save one life is to save the world". Six thousand year old Hebrew tenet.

It is easier to slaughter than to save. It is more important to save life than anything in the world.

Far more important than making movies.

Howard Anger
__________________________________________

The Gowanus Lounge: Is a Park Slope Pigeon Serial Killer on the Loose?

2008-02-22T16:51:00.000-05:00

The Gowanus Lounge: Is a Park Slope Pigeon Serial Killer on the Loose?

Recruit Woody Allen for National Pigeon Day!

2008-02-21T15:57:00.009-05:00

Michael Clancy - mclancy@villagevoice.com
Recruit Woody Allen for National Pigeon Day!
Posted by Michael Clancy at 12:30 PM, February 21, 2008

Yo, Woody Allen. The New York Bird Club is calling on you to atone for your slurs against pigeons, by making a personal appearance at what organizers hope will be the first ever National Pigeon Day.

The president of the New York Bird Club Anna Dove wrote to her members:

Please contact the list below and request that Woody Allen make an appearance at National Pigeon Day on Friday, June, 13th (details forthcoming) to make right the horrible disservice he’s responsible for by causing our feral pigeon population which are being persecuted and annihilated because of cavalier remarks like "rats with wings" (Stardust Memories, 1980, written and directed by Woody Allen) .... For nearly 30 years this 'racial slur" has and is presently being perpetuated by the media who use it to ridicule and degrade pigeons so that they have no respect in our society and, therefore, are treated with contempt and hatred by the general public."

Organizers hope to hold the first National Pigeon Day on June 13th to mark the anniversary of the death of Cher Ami, a homing pigeon credited with saving the lives of 194 U.S. infantrymen in France during WWI.

The impetus to create a National Pigeon Day came as part of the backlash against two City Council bills seeking to curb the pigeon population.

C'mon, Woody, it's the right thing to do.
--------------------------------------------
Naomi Semeniuk on Woody Allen"

"Woody Allen and His Derision of Nature"

Woody Allen has given the cinema world many creative moments of unstoppable laughter and cinematic satirical musings that have won him accolades, but Woody Allen isn't one to get involved with nature or any life threatening environmental issue.

No question this man has the versatility to make hilarious witty films about the absurd inanities and ludicrousness of human nature that makes audiences laugh so hard that tears unfold. He was born to make movies and that's what he does best. Development beyond that is NOT in Woody's life's script, nor is pigeon reverence nor is divine solidarity with nature nor is the conservation and preservation of all species and their protection.

Allen also has the promethean ability to make a dark morbid film noir like "Matchpoint" in which the protagonist literally gets away with murder and acts of the most depraved evil. Films like these mirror his darker side which I believe he explores through the genre of his films as he magnifies and explores his inner demons through his art. I sometimes squirm unapprovingly at such films because they send a dead wrong message. Even though life imitates art and vice versa, no villain should get away if there's any justice in the universe and its mysterious forces yet we see this happening, and each time it tugs and gnaws at us with it's jarring effect throwing us off balance as we grasp for answers that aren't there.

Woody is as non involved with nature as severely autistic patients would be about the world around them. Many churches and clergy in our society are also autistic zombies in denial about the rest of the beings on the planet and elsewhere when it comes to the suffering plights of these beings. Woody like so many billions out there are nature's self made autistic non supporters and non involvers. They have nothing to say or feel about any natural animal species, nor do they care about Larsen shelves melting in the Arctic or the disappearance of 165 species and counting.

In Allen's neighborhood there's a pet farm with live farm animals but that's a place he would never visit. The black painted walls of Elaine's, a restaurant which gives me the hee bee gee bee creeps is the hangout which has made its mark of distinction because it's Woody's hangout. If Dracula was an interior designer he'd design "Elaine's" as the restaurant of his trademark. The ghoulishness of Elaine's restaurant lingers in my memory so that one visit there was enough for me. I expected Dracula to walk in any minute. Being there was a dining experience fit for the color blinded that only see the black and white colors of the earth and no other colors of the planet come into focus with them. I'm stupefied as to why a creative mind would want to dine in an artless ghoulish atmosphere such as Elaine's. I'd prefer the Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde restaurant because at least it has zany humor and unpredictability made to laugh at oneself.

I recall how Mr. Allen once said that when he went to the country he really couldn't stand it because he really can't stand anything having to do with nature and that accounts for his nefarious ignorant statement describing pigeons as winged rats in his 1980 movie "Stardust Memories". I don't know if Allen would know the difference between a rat or a swan or vice versa. Allen sees no beauty in anything outside of his one dimensional world view purview. It's the female specie that he's taken a fancy to at the moment that he wishes to devour and devour he has. His latest film "Cassandra's Crossing" came and went with the wisp of the wind. That was also a dark film with no laughter in it and characters trying to beat the system with their lack of moral convictions.

Woody broke Mia Farrow's heart after a long time relationship with her when Mia Farrow found nude photos of her then young adopted daughter, who Allen is currently married to. Their world toppled and Farrow and Allen went their separate ways permanently. Unlike the clinging long face lugubrious looking wives' of fallen politicians who are disgraced as a result of their own uncontrollable boudoir carnal vices and getting caught doing them, Mia has been a woman very much in control of herself and has held her head up high with a smashing tenacious dignity since she doesn't need to hold on to Allen's coattails of movie power, or any power for any reason. Her power is developing in quantum leaps forward as it gets more polished and defined from thinking and flying out of the box like a pigeon navigating the earth's magnetic fields in a headlong dynamic flight pattern. Mia has thrown the book at Woody dropping this, the man in her life, like a piece of rotten rancid food that's been in the refrigerator for too long. Mia Farrow has become the world's spokesperson and UN emissary for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and has campaigned for an end to the holocaust in Darfur.

Woody never married Mama Mia, and when Farrow said that Allen molested their seven year old at the time this accusation was dismissed and put in a back burner. Woody's depth of field is like having only a frontal vision of the world without the peripheral views and the views from beyond those views. He has never been known to walk with a dog or even own one as far as I know. Can you imagine Allen going to rescue any animal let alone a pigeon? Allen would never have the guts to hold a news conference on catching bird netters, stopping pigeon hunts or any other form of blood splattered animal canned hunts. His Hollywood heart does not bleed for them. He would never lend himself to any outside cause except the success of his cinematic creations.

Moviemakers have to be responsible for what's on the screen and the more they steer themselves into those unexplored magnetic fields that pigeons understand so well, the more film makers will diversify and make precise statements through the power of film about social and environmental issues. I would think that Woody Allen would have an apoplectic conniption if a pigeon landed on his shoulder. He's nature's buffoon lampooning at himself and blurring the wonders of nature.

"Pigeon Genius" the National Geographic Special is a knockout documentary on the fascinating vagaries and natural gifts of pigeons. This ornithological tour de force of a documentary seen on the National Geographic Channel recently should be included in every school curriculum and also in the churches whose congregation and clergy are also autistic zombies where the only souls that matter are always predictably human. With these stale zombie minds all around us, there's never a synergy with all the dynamics of nature and the universe, but this documentary about the film "Pigeon Genius" is electrifying and an epiphany for many who never knew the wonders of pigeons.

In his position Allen, a long time resident of the upper east side where I also come from, is one to never be a green visionary for the neighborhood. Saving a tree or birds or any non human species is not in his train of thought. I think he'd be terrified of our fine feathered friends and he'd cringe and avoid them with an adamant passion even if he saw one in pain. It takes one with a spiritual impetus and spiritual intelligence and foresight to save a helpless animal in the street, but in Allen's case it's all about an ego trapped in a Petri dish grabbing its one cell and multiplying it tens of millions of times over and over again waiting to say "cut" or "print" on his films. That door inside him that's eternally shut has never been opened to venture outside himself to seek something more majestic than himself.

If the mind is like a parachute, and that it works better when its opened, than so is the dramatic paradigm shift in the mind of the pro nature-pro animal activist whose doors within are opened to a matrix of nature that's bleeding and in need of those minds that are opened like parachutes but keep their brains in touch with those feathered and furry creatures everywhere in the planet who are crying out for help. This is not Woody's world. The earth cinema circle is also not his world. We know what to expect when we go to a Woody Allen film. Humans inhabit the world. No, Woody Allen isn't about to fight for humanitarian causes nor climate change causes or green causes or animal abuse causes. His focus is on self gratification and ego stratification and on to the next movie project.

As in so many of his films Woody Allen is portraying himself and the inner fragments of himself are scattered out there on the giant screens in every one of his films. Lately his direction of his two recent films "Matchpoint" and Cassandra's Crossing", has Allen in a film noir state of mind where his darker side has been mirrored. Woody Allen is very much the pre-eminent nerd who made it in the film world but one who cannot shape shift into a crusader of something other than his latest movie project. Like so many of his elk, Woody's world is the one world where he's succeeded and continues to succeed. There're no other world other than the one he creates on camera and off camera and they're no other beings or subplots or major plots other than the females he can have and can't have. It's an endless insatiable quest for the insatiable conquest of his carnal giddy mind. Woody does not have eyes for the causes outside other than his cinematic agendas and his private agendas. Woody in some ways is just like the main character in Lolita where the mature man played by Jeremy Irons and the late Peter Sellers has a fatalistic manic addiction for beautiful little girls. Now years later, his wife formerly his adopted daughter, goes everywhere with him. Mia Farrow on the other hand turned to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and made that cause her overarching social cause for justice. She's championed this cause for the UN and the world and has been a Hollywood whistleblower for the atrocities that are happening there.

In one of his recent movies "Matchpoint" the protagonist gets away with the premeditated bloody murder of his paramour, and in this movie Mr. Allen sends a message of societal unaccountability which happens when civilizations collapse. The Best Bird Club wants Woody Allen to see the error of his ways since he coined the damning phrase "winged rats" in his 1980 movie "Stardust Memories" and to redeem himself and make peace with the nature he abhors so much, but unfortunately it's not about to happen. London's "Save the Pigeons" and other organizations like them are fighting for the lives of these precious birds who are always in the line of fire. The bird wars with the human adversaries making war against these most graceful, beautiful indomitable spirits that all pigeons possess must be dealt with.

We hope that Governor Patterson will take up the gauntlet and become aware that the presence of bird netters ravaging our neighborhoods and butchering pigeons for black market businesses should be one of the priority issues that needs to be on the frontline battleground of black market atrocities and businesses that need to be crushed for good.

Some time ago I took it upon myself to write a snail mail letter to ex Governor Spitzer about the escalating business of bird netting in New York State to which I never received a reply since whoring and selling New York down the path of perdition and degradation was at the top of his agenda. Let's hope the tide will turn a full 360 degrees and that our wildlife will be saved and the netters will be netted out of business for good.

New York City Parks Department Worker Accused of Killing Birds

2008-02-16T11:56:00.009-05:00

The New York Times
February 16, 2008
Parks Worker Is Charged With Trying to Kill Birds
By ERIC KONIGSBERG and AL BAKER

Around 3 p.m. on Friday, several people walking in Battery Park called 911 to report curious goings-on: a man driving a Parks Department golf cart was tearing erratically through a city park at 1 Whitehall Street.

As the calls came in, the police said, it emerged that the cart’s driving pattern may have been reckless, but it was not without purpose. The driver was apparently trying to run over as many birds as he could.

Officers responded, “and over the course of the investigation we uncovered videotape,” a Police Department spokesman said. Five birds were killed, the police said: three pigeons, two seagulls.

The authorities said the man at the wheel of the golf cart was Martin Hightower, a 45-year-old Parks Department employee. He was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors, reckless endangerment and intentional injury to animals. A Parks Department spokesman said Mr. Hightower had been suspended.

Mr. Hightower has been employed by the Parks Department since 2005 and was working as an enforcement patrol officer, said Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner.

“They primarily concentrate on quality-of-life issues: illegal vending, not cleaning up after a dog,” he said. “They can make arrests and issue summonses. I haven’t seen the videotape yet, and I don’t want to prejudice the case, but if it’s true, it’s outrageous. In the Parks Department we’re supposed to be protecting nature and wildlife.”

He went on: “I can’t recall anything like this. Occasionally we’ll write a ticket for somebody who’s letting their dog chase pigeons. A few years ago, there was an employee at the zoo who was scalding monkeys. This is something we take very seriously.”

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