Flap Over Pigeons

Late last year, officials in the major Spanish city of Cadiz announced they would deport 5,000 unwanted pigeons 500 miles away rather than cull them. Elsewhere, opinions vary on Columbina livia, the domestic or feral pigeon. Robert Benchley, writer, humourist and movie personality was not a fan: Although I live in the middle of a very large city, I am awakened every morning by al low gurgling sound which turns out to be the result of one, two, or three pigeons walking in at my window and sneering at me . . . There is something more than just a passing criticism in these birds making remarks about me. They have some ugly scheme foot against me, and I know it. Sooner or later it will come out, and then I can sue.

George Foreman, on the other hand, appreciated them: I love the pigeons. I just raise them, period, and feed them. Pigeons go away, and they always come back. You get a touch of freedom, and then they are free to come back to you. I love the idea of pigeons. Old World in origin, worldwide in domestication, they are found cities, farms, and bridges, all much more preferable to their original cliffs. And, of course, gardens. With a lifespan in the wild of perhaps six years--unless picked off by a hawk--there are many colour variants. Two eggs are laid in a feeble imitation of a nest. They hatch after incubation 17 to 19 days. Pigeon chicks are known as squabs. In parts of the world they appear, along with the adults, on many a menu. Introduced North America early 1600s, out of an estimated global population of 120 million, 7% are in the US, and 2% each in Canada and Mexico. Here, as elsewhere, apart from as a food item, they have found favour for homing, racing, carrying messages, even used in scientific research. Tom Lehrer demonstrated his appreciation when he wrote his little ditty about, 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.' Those distressed by this attitude can find solace in the fact that New York police tracked organized crime leaders by observing where they were raising pigeons--apparently a favourite hobby among certain miscreants. Perhaps the criminal mind fastened onto references to a 'pigeon' as one easily swindled. Elsewhere, they, pigeons that is, have entered the dictionary as terms of physic, posture and attitude as pigeon-chested, pigeon-toed, pigeon-hearted even pigeon-livered. Meanwhile an item tucked away is said to be pigeon-holed.

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"As far as pigeons go, I am through. It is a war to the death and I have a horrible feeling that the pigeons are going to win," worried Robert Benchley. He could be right. Pigeons harbour a diverse parasitic fauna including various lice and mites. Some health problems are associated with their loose feathers and droppings, specially the latter when dried and inhaled. The designation of 'flying rats' is well deserved. And those droppings are liberally distributed. As the Canadian journalist Charles Lynch observed following his many years based in Ottawa: The most lasting thing you get for being prime minister is a statue on Parliament Hill, amid the demonstrators, marchers, protestors, tourists, and embracing lovers. And pigeons. In summer's heat or winter's blast the pigeons deposit upon our prime ministerial images, from the top down. A prime minister might muse that the voters have done this for years. But that pigeon poop may contain a virulent and potentially fatal disease. Two people, including a child, recently died after contracting such at a Glasgow, Scotland hospital despite concerns expressed over accumulations two years previously.