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That could have the right effect. "Information leading to the conviction of...." would be how it's expressed here, I expect. Guess right now, we actually don't know what effect, if any, our calls or mails have had. Certainly, if there is now a serious investigation in place (police or RSPCA) I don't think we will find out about it right away. That's the frustrating part! If the local news reporter follows up, and there is a further report, I would hope that any action that's being taken for real would be stated. It would really have to be through that news media, I think, that any reward would have to be set up and publicised - and the decision made as to who might receive it if (and only if) someone were caught and convicted. I would certainly be prepared to put up a few hundred and, if it came to that, gladly accept contributions towards it. To get that before enough people in the area, though, it would need to be handled by the press - maybe several of the various local papers all carrying it. Thanks for that excellent thought. I have to say that had not previously occurred to me. John
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John  "Pigeons know more than we think - and think more than we know" ~ John D. |
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Keep me posted then John as to the idea of a reward. Sign me up then for 40, no hesitation at all in doing that. (I think that's about a 100$ Canadian) I don't think it would take much to stop this guy either. His pals will rat him out in a heartbeat for a few bucks and a chance to get their name in the paper.
Cameron Last edited by Camrron; 5th March 2006 at 10:51 AM. |
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Thats what we want Bird Mom forever, We want the conscious of the society to be shocked enough to want to apprehend these monsters. That was an excelent idea to offer a reward. Let me know where to send mine
Cameron, Thank you for your agreement. Now, I feel like things are going to pull together. I did e-mail CBS the pictures, and a brief run down. I hope they are interested. Love to all of you, I have to run! I'm on restriction Feather |
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Pigeons with unusable beaks: SPLITBEAK, PART 1I have come upon this thread rather late. Been occupied.
I intended to do a story on Splitbeak, a pigeon I was helping last year, and post these two pictures with it. I have been compiling and revising my notes and letters. The story is not yet ready, but here are some details which might be relevant. I think a pigeon without a beak can survive if he is fed from a jar filled with seeds, but he cannot preen himself. I first saw the female pigeon Splitbeak on February 18, 2005, a Friday, and took her in on June 6th when she was weak enough to catch. Her upper right beak was missing. The upper left beak, wobbly, useless, held on by flesh, curved and stuck out at a 45-degree angle to the left. She had a large clot (50-60+ grams, 2 ounces) of poop (caused by diarrhea as a result of poor nutrition) stuck on her keel. It was embedded with breast feathers, broken near the skin because they couldn't grow out further. Other smaller clots dangled. I had furtively tried to feed her, since feeding street pigeons is prohibited. She was naturally wary and elusive because of her weak state and handicap, and I could not entice her away from the flock. She could get the occasional large bread crumb. Nine times out of ten she was unsuccessful, and another pigeon would step in and take the food while she had to watch. She would stab at seeds unsuccessfully, and I have always wondered why. Perhaps she had the attitude „Never give up,“ or „Sometimes miracles happen.“ I did once see a seed trapped between her lower beak and the ground bounce or ricochet into her mouth. Twice I saw her lay the right side of her head against the ground, and once against the root of a tree, to grab a morsel between the flesh of her upper mouth and her lower beak. The upper left beak protruding at a 45-degree angle kept her from doing the same with that side of the head, and many feathers on her left side were reachable only with a foot or not at all. Splitbeak couldn’t groom herself effectively, and looked scraggly and unkempt. She couldn’t remove feathers from her vent to keep the area clean, and poop accumulated. Rain and water probabyly aggravated the condition by solidifying the mass. Getting wet in a bath would make her vulnerable because of difficulty in flying. She couldn't walk fast. She would lift a leg forward, but when it was vertical it would hit the poop, and sometimes snag and trip her. Somehow she managed to survive. After watching her several months, one day she was propped against a tree, avoiding any unnecessary action. She was obviously weak enough to catch.. I dropped some seed near her, pigeons piled up, and I reached down and scooped her up, put her in the darkness of the box I had brought for transporting her in my backpack. An attendant at the church *** homeless mission (where this took place) saw the pigeons piling up, rushed out and threatened to call the police (and didn't listen to anything I had to say, much less look at the pigeon). We called the vet (who had been recommended as pigeon-friendly) and he requested that we remove the poop prior to next day's appointment. What started out as me holding Splitbeak's tail end under a stream of bath shower water turned into my wife removing my soaking shoes and clothing so I could provide the poor struggling pigeon with a horrendous near-drowning experience. I spent an hour in the shower with her removing the poop, which was as hard as sugar candy (I still have this specimen in a jar, for purposes of demonstration). I snipped a few feathers, and some skin which adhered to the poop came off. I used the hair dryer, then held her against my chest for two hours, under my bathrobe, so she could stay warm and slowly dry. The vet said she couldn't survive or thrive on her own, and should be placed in an aviary. We kept her in our one-room apartment while we tried to locate a suitable home for her, without success. One aviary would take her only if she could be rehabilitated and eventually released. After the poop removal she was totally transformed in appearance: she was a beautiful bird. We let her fly free in the room. Out of the window she could see an interested male pigeon. After a week of good food she looked beautiful, and acted like a teenager eager to get out. The last two days she was acting neurotic, throwing seeds all over the apartment. We had no prospects for a place for her. Pigeon fanciers like to keep their caged birds separate from ferals because of possible disease transmission. I had taken care of the present problem, but had not provided much for her future. We let her fly out, and she immediately joined her boyfriend. We saw them kissing with their beaks, and behind the roofline, some wing flapping. He chased her; she chased him; she flew away. |
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PIgeons with unusable beaks: SPLITBEAK, PART 2I saw her again where I first found her, on August 6th. I went there every day when possible to feed her from a jar filled with seed. I tried to avoid attracting the attention of other pigeons, often without success. Splitbeak would often spend more time chasing them away than she spent feeding. I fed her a feed mix for champion racing pigeons, a mix of whole corn kernels and peas and roasted soybeans and other seeds, so that she take the necessary ten minutes or so to eat quickly. Often raptors (introduced by the city to control the pigeon population) would interrupt her feeding. Sometimes a day or so would go by when she couldn't feed, or I didn't see her.
Feeding her was a one hour minimum to two hour project every afternoon. She usually ate thirty to forty grams (one to two ounces). Once she ate so much, perhaps as much as a hundred grams, that with repeated attempts she could get only about a foot off the ground for a meter or so. I fed her for four months. She would recognize me getting off the streetcar and would fly across the street or to wherever we currently rendezvoused. Several other pigeons knew about our arrangement and would try to join in. I was able to go to her almost every day for four months. When one or two raptors passed overhead all the other pigeons would take flight. She would hide in a tree because she could not fly as well or as quick as the others. When she thought she could make it, she would make a quick flight to the second-story level of scaffolding at the church, where she spent the night. Her health steadily improved, and new feathers came out. She could not preen her new feathers, so they didn't open up quickly as is normal. I last saw her on Monday afternoon, December 5th. That day she let another sick pigeon eat alongside her without fuss, head touching head in the seed jar. A couple of days before she had joined the other pigeons in their evasive flight from two raptors, soaring and looping with the several flights of her flock for three or four minutes. I looked for her the next two weeks. I have yet to see her. (I'm inexperienced at getitng images inserted). I thought the PiCTURES of WHAT CAN HAPPEN TO A PIGEON UNABLE TO PREEN HERSELF might be useful in publicity for trying to apprehend the perpetuator in Manchester. I may email them to some members. Last edited by Larry_Cologne; 5th March 2006 at 01:21 PM. |
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Larry, it is heartwarming to know there are kind souls like you who will go to great lengths to help these birds, Splitbeak was lucky, I hope you see her again, I'd love to see her picture.
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These are Larry's pics of "splitbeak"
John (Thanks Larry)
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John "Pigeons know more than we think - and think more than we know" ~ John D. Last edited by John_D; 13th April 2008 at 11:49 AM. |
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What a dear sweet pidge, thanks for sending the Photos John.
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AmazigLarry, that is such an amazing story - that was such a wonderful thing you did for Splitbeak.
 The time and effort and the risk of breaking the law - what a great guy you are.The pigeons at Middleton, their injuries look to extensive to try and rehabilitate - maybe not impossible but I am unsure of the quality of life that the birds may have. Many will disagree I expect who have had severely disabled birds (Denise and Squidget) ( Reti and Jane) ( Phil!).  I think because these birds once had beaks and knew how to feed and preen to be unable to do this and to have that great gaping hole - I don't think it would be that fair. Laura, the vet, who has been looking at the birds I am sure would be able to advise. Tania |
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Photos of mutilated pigeonsI just now saw the photos, and they are horrific. I went through the posts quickly last night because it was a bit too much, and thought that there were no photos made or available at that time. I had even considered the possibility that perhaps the birds had been caught by something such as a wind-blown shutting door while they were attemptng to get at food, or a wheel or tire trapping their beak, but there are too many birds, the explanation seems too complicated (Occam's Razor), and the photos tend to persuade me otherwise.
Splitbeak's tongue was intact. Once I saw a crust of poop or some such on the tip, but she enjoyed eating. These poor pigeons seem beyond any possible enjoyment of life. I feel that a person who would do such a thing must have experienced a lot of fear and consequently anger, and takes it out on very helpless creatures. From what I have read, if this person feels he can get away with this, he may feel emboldened to go on to other prey, such as humans. Right now human prey may be inconvenient and too threatening for him. So much for my armchair, hand-me-down psychology. One thing I do firmly believe: a person who knowingly and willingly harms another does more injury to himself than to his victim. This may seem a preposterous statement. Consider: Someone may torture me, take away my possessions, my family and friends, my freedom, my life, my health, and even my sanity, but he cannot take away my dignity, my self. This has been demonstrated many, many times and written about by many, many others. The evildoer puts his ability to ever feel compassion at a farther remove. He casts away his dignity, perhaps to never find it again. He revels in chaos and confusion, and is truly lost. And he becomes aware of his forlorn condition, perhaps ever so slowly, perhaps instantaneously at death, but surely. I do not express this as punishment or retribution, but as an awareness of a wasted life, a lack of that which could have been, the gift of life a present unopened, not experienced, and not enjoyed. |
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In the first report from Helen, she said that the tongues had dried and shriveled up, and in this last group, I believe that at least one of them had the tongue cut off in addition to the beak. There just seems to be nothing left to protect the interior mouth region from constant exposure to the air. It's just one of these things, as you say, that those doing the medical exams are best able to advise on. These poor birds are in capable and caring hands. fp Larry, I posted after you and then saw your entry. Yes, of course, the damage that they do to themselves, especially spiritually, is the greatest of all. It is so hard to keep this in mind when they are ravaging other very innocent beings, but very true. Last edited by feralpigeon; 5th March 2006 at 03:57 PM. |
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This is bad This is horrible. People who do things like this end up doing unspokable act to people. I hope they catch this person. Or worst yet,I turn this one over to God.  He will deal with him and it won't be pretty. I emailed the Queen. |
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After reading all these post and reading splitbeaks storyI am sitting here crying... What kind of human could do this? one that could do this most likely to another human, child etc, He needs to be stopped and I believe the best way is exposure, REWARD offered to the person who can lead to this monster. If you are taking donations for a reward tell us where to send the money...
Thank you for sharing splitbeaks story , she probably met her new husband and their having their honeymoon in Hawaii, you;ll see her soon. My thoughts and prayers to you all .... Andi
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~ANIMALS~ Treat Them Like Children, Innocent Like You. Respect Them As Life, No Need To Be Cruel. |
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received fron Cynthia:
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John "Pigeons know more than we think - and think more than we know" ~ John D. |
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