Positive article in today's New York Daily News

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Everyone,

What a pleasant surprise to open the Sunday NY Daily News and find this article......Enjoy!

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-404538c.html


'Flying Rats'? Bite Your Tongue. All Hail The Pigeon

By ANDREW BLECHMAN

In London, the mayor has declared war on the pigeons of Trafalgar Square. The feeding of pigeons at the popular tourist attraction is now illegal, and birds of prey stalk those that remain. In Chicago, your average Joe can't keep racing pigeons anymore. It's against the law. And here in New York City, our feathered friends are being evicted from the roof of the military's Times Square recruiting station.
What's going on? Have pigeons morphed into a clear and present danger? No. They haven't changed one iota in the last 10,000 years, since we first domesticated them. What's changed is our perception of them.

Pigeons were once worshiped as fertility goddesses. Noah's dove? It was a pigeon, aka the rock dove. It was a pigeon that brought news of the first Olympics in 776 B.C. and a pigeon that brought word of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. Darwin based his theory of evolution on pigeons, and Julius Reuters founded his news empire on the wings of pigeons.

Although just 1 pound of flesh and feathers, pigeons can fly 600 mile races at speeds averaging 60 mph. And they can find their way home from places they have never been before. Even the queen of England races pigeons.

Pigeons have served in the military of every major superpower. Julius Caesar used them. So did Genghis Khan. A pigeon brought first word back to England of the D-Day landings. One million pigeons served in the two world wars and saved thousands of our boys' lives. And now the military is trying to shoo them away like pesky gnats.

So, why has the tide turned? After thousands of years of peaceful coexistence, brutal propaganda from the pest control industry is catching up. Don't believe it: Pigeons carry no more diseases than we do - and are even highly resistant to the avian flu and West Nile virus. If they seem dirty, it's because our cities are dirty. Pigeons subsist off the food we drop.

So if we really are being overrun by the birds - and that's debatable - what's to be done?

Poisons and barbs are not only inhumane; they don't work in the long run. What New York needs is a strong but simple control method. Build attractive dovecotes (pigeon homes) around the city. Ask people to feed the pigeons there and only there. The pigeons will then lay their eggs there and we can cull them at the end of every week. That's how many of Europe's cities have seen their pigeon populations cut in half within a year or two.

Hey, Bloomy - why not put a dovecote in the park across from City Hall? The birds would love it. So would schoolkids and tourists. C'mon, New York. Quit picking on the underdog, and do what we do best: Lead the way.

Blechman is author of "Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird."

Originally published on December 17, 2006



Linda

[kittypaws]

Linda,

That's a really nice article - hey we could do with that reporter here in the UK - and of course they are absolutely right - that pigeons are only perceived as a problem by some because they encroach on our territory (which was their's originally - we are the intruders).

Its true the only winners are the pest control companies and their profits.....

Lets hope that some less-informed folks perceive pigeons differently now....

Tania xx

[feralpigeon]

Linda, just loved this article from Andrew Blechman. Very informative, entertaining and based on historical and medical fact, not emotional frenzy. One of the tables posted at the Merck's On Line Veterinary Manual that I found very interesting is the table in the Zoonosis section. There's no direct link to the table, but if you open the link below, a link appears in the first paragraph to "Table: Global Zoonoses that charts diseases and which animals are associated w/the disease.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in.../bc/220100.htm

It seems that the 'Pest Control' industry has chosen their targets wisely, surely the cattle industry and the many families accross the nation would not stand for having their financial interests or 'loved ones', respectively, targeted. Yet cattle, dogs and cats surely appear far more often in the chart than pigeons specifically.

fp

[Maggie-NC]

What a wonderful article. Linda, thank you so much for posting this.

fp - I picked up a pamphlet at our vet's last week specifically about zoonoses in dogs and cats and was amazed at the numbers of diseases that can be passed on to humans from them.

[AZWhitefeather]

Thanks for posting Andrew's article Linda.
We can use, & graciously accept, ALL the help we can get properly educating the general public about the wondrous pigeon.

Who knows, there may come the day that the pest control companies will admit to their wrongdoing & recant their false pigeon tales. One can only hope.

Cindy

[TerriB]

Super article! Thanks for posting, Linda. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we are approaching critical mass regarding positive attitudes toward pigeons?

[Skyeking]

Hi Linda,

What a breath of fresh air....that article brought on.

It is SO nice not to have to get on the defensive, and prep for battle as most pigeon related articles will do to me.

Thank you for sharing this delightful and refreshing change!

[Happy]

Linda, I agree with you & others. I don't remember ever seeing such a positive Post ever written without one of us fighting to stop City Hall, animal control, etc.. Thanks for sharing this. Hap

[Lin Hansen]

Thank you everyone for the nice comments.

As I said, it was such a pleasure to find such a refreshing positive article concerning our sweet ferals.

I knew everyone here would especially appreciate seeing it and I couldn't get to the computer fast enough to post it!

Thanks again,
Linda

[becege]

Read the book by Blechman. It is fascinating for all pigeon lovers. However be forewarned that there is a chapter about pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania and one abut preparing the squabs at a pigeon farm.
Also there is a wonderful chapter on Mike Tyson..

[Lin Hansen]

In the New York Daily News, there is a daily column "Voice of the People" where readers write in to give their opinions on previous articles published in the paper....today there was a nice letter regarding the pigeon article:


All hail the pigeon
Brooklyn: Re Andrew Blechman's Opinions piece, " 'Flying rats'? Bite your tongue" (Dec. 17): I love pigeons. But because people believe the police who say it is illegal to feed pigeons (it is not) and the exterminators who want us to think we will catch pigeon diseases (we can't), loving pigeons is taboo. But I love pigeons. When I was a little girl, we went to the park to feed them. It was the only time in our busy city life where I felt some contact with nature. If pigeon droppings are a problem, there are many solutions. Simple soap and water are at the top of the list. Duh.

This area of North America was once pristine and glorious - an amazing, breathtaking environment inhabited by thousands of mammals and birds of every kind. Now it is steel and granite, and the few animals and birds that survive are persecuted. Can we please stop now?

Johanna Clearfield


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/idea...p-405234c.html
If you click on the link to see all the letters, the above letter is the last one.

Linda

[feralpigeon]

Originally Posted by Johanna Clearfield

.......

All hail the pigeon
Brooklyn: Re Andrew Blechman's Opinions piece

"This area of North America was once pristine and glorious - an amazing, breathtaking environment inhabited by thousands of mammals and birds of every kind. Now it is steel and granite, and the few animals and birds that survive are persecuted. Can we please stop now?"

Johanna Clearfield

Just love her quote on this...

fp

[TAWhatley]

Johanna has a Yahoogroups list .. she does a lot of good .. here's a link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/urban_..._coalition_NYC

Terry

[Skyeking]

Hi Linda,

That was a wonderful opinion Johanna "voiced", I'm glad they published it.

Thanks AGAIN for sharing a bit more positive news.

[ken_sturrock]

Agreed! Johanna wrote a wonderful piece! -Ken