Bad pigeon column in NY Post

[Peapicker]

Hi everyone,
My letter has now gone to the New York Post. Even if our letters dont get published, at least we have made a huge impression with the volume of our responses.

Ray, thanks for the book recommendation - I, for one, can't wait to read it. By the way, Alan Eckert is one of Austin's favorite authors.

Marjorie

[AZWhitefeather]

Well put Peapicker.
I agree as well. Cindy

[raynjudy]

Marjorie said, in part:

"Ray, thanks for the book recommendation - I, for one, can't wait to read it. By the way, Alan Eckert is one of Austin's favorite authors."

Hi, Marjorie!

Rarely have I been so moved by a story. "The Silent Sky" should be required reading for every jr. high school student, as a prerequisite to becoming a responsible adult-—whichever side of the hunting or gun issue they may land on.

Austin is a sensitive man, isn’t he?

Best,

Ray

[raynjudy]

Dragoon says, "I especially enjoyed raynjudy's, long, but very good."

Thanks!

With regard to the length, well, a resume covering 6000-years of distinguished service is going to eat up a few lines, now isn't it?

Wait till this guy really pi$$es me off!

PIGEONS FOREVER!!!

--Ray

[Psion]

I wonder what he would classify "real birds" as... He mentioned that these "disease spreading-rats with wings" give "a bad name to real birds". Although I agree that there are way too many ferals in some cities, they are still birds. Ever heard anyone say there are way too many robins? Or blue jays? The only reason they are such a "problem" is because they are where we are everyday and live right with us. Therefore we tend to take them for granted. They are still real birds... maybe we just aren't real people?

Nick

[Peapicker]

Yes, Ray, Austin is indeed a sensitive man.

Marjorie

[Eileen]

Wow. It's great that you guys have gotten together to fire back the way you did. I'll write a reply too, who knows, perhaps it will help.

When reading the stupid article, all the same things came in in my head: if he is so disgusted with a pigeon eating a dirty fry, what must he think of the homeless? But then it's less "PC" to speak badly of the homeless, though I doubt this guy gives any of his own time or money to help another life out.
What has always disgusted me is how we as humans allow our city to become so disgusting, and we live in it. We're just lucky enough to not have to eat outside.

And on another side note: this bothers me on many levels; one being, I am a rat owner( so obviously the "rats with wings" analogy doesn't fly with me). I have two female black hoodeds and I love them as much as I love my cats. They are sweet, loving, smart and wonderful animals.
And yet I constantly have to endure "vermin"
comments, eye rolling, and ridicule.
(While some of my friends have extremely ill-behaved children, I am not permitted to name-call there...)
People always bring up the bubonic plague (which rats are not responsible for, the fleas were), and one of the biggest problems with the bubonic plague was the fact that sanitation was so poor, they used to just stack the dead bodies up in the town, which drew the rats & fleas.
So whose fault was it? The rats? Or the humans who didn't know how to clean up after themselves?

My pigeon experience is much more limited than all of yours, but I have rehabbed a few, and with Ely's help, have saved some this summer. And I am amazed once again how exposure to a being can make you see the beauty in it.

But here is what saddens me the most: I don't know if you all heard this story, but earlier this week, (I also live in New York so this post was quite applicable to me also), two teenagers, I think 15 & 16, somehow got their hands on a red-tailed hawk. They tied it to their bicycles and dragged it, lit it on fire, and urinated on it. Some neighbors intervened, put the fire out and rushed the poor raptor to a vet. It could not be saved. The boys were heard to be laughing and saying they would do it again. It gives me a stomach ache all over again to even tell this story.

THIS - is the most disgusting thing I've heard. I am ashamed to share a species with people like this who, as some of you said,
DELIBERATELY spread disease, are the reason for the filth, and people who write articles like that are the least likely to ever go out of their way to ever help.

(Post note: a few weeks ago in the Newsday in New York, Jimmy Breslin wrote a stupid article like the one you speak of, how he "doesn't dislike" dogs, but thinks they are filty, disgusting animals, and the most disgusting thing he's ever seen is the sight of a human bending over to pick it's waste up. Then he further goes on to be disgusted about dog filth on the sidewalk. Come on, Jimmy, you don't like when it's picked up and you don't like when it's not?)
Now in NY I KNOW there are huge amounts of dog lovers, but guess what articles got printed: ones that sided with this idiot. There were hardly any that went against him.
And while that makes me angry, when all is said and done, we're taking the higher road, and he and the guy who wrote the pigeon article, are uneducated idiots.

Sorry for the long post but this really got me going.

[maryco]

Oh my Gosh about those 2 kids..That is horrible and it made me SICK...
What do people get out of doing these cruel things??????
That poor hawk..

Mary

[Badragoon]

Do you know if anyone called the police on them??? They violated a law and it was very cruel. I do believe Red-Tailed Hawks are endangered too. I may be wrong.

------------------
Da' Dragoon

[fred2344]

This is the response I received from Mr. Kuntzman:
Now, calling him names was not in my email but I got a good belly laugh out of it!!

Dear letter writer:

I received far too many hateful, angry emails about my recent article in the New York Post about how much I hate pigeons to respond to each of them personally (as I usually do). While I agree that my article was unintelligent and misguided, I defend myself by saying that the article was meant to be a joke, obviously one that I either didn't tell well enough or you simply didn't get.
As I said many times during the article, I love animals. The entire
reason I wrote the column in the first place was to draw attention to the Audubon Society's oft-ignored "Watch List" of birds that are endangered. To get people to read my article, I had to do something provocative, like slam the NYC pigeon. But the larger goal -- to get people to pay attention to all the birds in danger -- was still there.
Many of you accurately pointed out that humans are the filthy animals whose litter feeds all these pigeons. I couldn't agree more, and have written about this problem far too many times.
Sorry if my story was unclear. As for me being a sick, demented
a--hole, I
must say I disagree with that assessment.

GERSH

PS: Fred, thanks for writing a letter to the editor.