UK members - pigeons caught in netting

[Feefo]

Please read this link on who to call if pigeons are caught in netting:

http://www.liberation-mag.org.uk/pigeons8.htm

Cynthia

[LondonPigeon]

the poor birds

how can we tell if they are trapped? will they be visibly trying to get out of the netting but struggling or look weak?

at least i know who to call i case I see any pigeons who appear stuck

[arnieismybaby]

Thank you Cynthia - will print this off when I get to the office tomorrow. It angers me that these councils (and stations) put the netting up ... but when it becomes old and tattered, and a real hazard to birds ... they simply ignore repairing it. My thought, if they cannot be bothered to repair it ... it shouldn't have been put up in the first place.

Michelle

[Feefo]

Hi LP,

I have fortunately never had this experience, but they would look distressed.

John will probably tell his own story but he was involved in the rescue of a pigeon hanging from netting yesterday.

The anti pigeon spikes are another source of danger, pigeons can get impaled on them. I don't know if the wildlife crime unit would deal with that but I will certainly report any incidents I am made aware of. I know that this happened quite regularly on the top floor ledges of the building that I worked at, because staff were always complaining about the distress it caused them.

Cynthia

[PigeonQueen]

This is very reassuring news especially for those who ring the RSPCA when seeing trapped pigeons behind netting and who get no response.

Twice this year I have reported Pigeons to the RSPCA trapped. No Repsonse. I was disgusted.

Yes this is very good news indeed.

Im going to photo copy this link and make sure everyone I know gets a copy. A lot of people who care and look out for the piggies are elderly and do not have a computer.

However this would be a useful link in the future. Could it go in the resources section or a sticky so it could be accessed again at a later date?

[John_D]

Monday morning, at the office, one of the project managers called me to say that a colleague had spotted a pigeon trapped in netting atop a covered walkway between two buildings (it's a vast complex, out in the sticks). So one of the guys took me round to where it could be seen clearly, and there it was about 25 ft up, struggling in badly maintained net. I went to reception, who then put in a priority help desk call so that the site people (a contracted company) would get onto it. Eventually, after I'd waited a couple of hours, checked on the bird and been to site security, someone got back and said they couldn't do anything. They had no ladders that they could get anywhere near it and the health and safety rules wouldn't allow it anyway. Thye would need a 'cherry picker' which, it seems, is a mobile platform they use for tree-trimming, and they don't have one of their own.

So, a while later, and I thought about the fire service ... and Cynthia suggested that, too. So, got onto them and they said (horror of horrors) that they did do this, but only when requested by the RSPCA. Next, RSPCA. Yes, in our priority queue, an inspector will come out and we'll contact you ....... well, by 7 PM no-one had and it was too dark to see anything anyway, so I got home at 8:30 feeling bad about it, and was ready to get onto the RSPCA again first thing in the morning.

Yesterday, the site manager (who is a wildlife enthusiast, and had been trying to think of something) got back to me very early and said the bird is still alive and one of his guys had said there was a scaffolding platform and it could be extended to that height. So, a couple of hours later, the pigeon was retrieved and in a cardboard box. Those guys were really good - it was absolutely drenching rain and wind, but they still got her.

It was in a bad state ... leg obviously damaged and out at an angle, head injury (probably from being pecked) and very tattered feathers generally. I did give it a little rehydrating mix, but knew it was beyond me to give it the kind of examination and treatment for injuries it needed - I couldn't be at home all week to take care of it if it needed proper nursing and I'm 200 miles from Cynthia and vets who I would trust! So I phoned Brent Lodge Wildlife and Bird Hospital (which I've supported for years, and where I used to take sick pigeons) and explained, and said if it is not releasable then I have a good home for it, etc.

By 11 AM I was on the way, having told my chief that the pigeon needed treatment more than the planned meeting needed me, and got to Brent Lodge an hour and a half later. I hadn't said, this one is in fact a homer with a leg band as it turned out once they'd rescued it. Well, they took the pigeon - then told me that if it was unreleasable (and it didn't look good) then, sorry, but 'new veterinary rules' meant they couldn't let me have it back! They told me after I'd handed her over! Phone us later....so I continued home to work there.

Anyway, Cynthia told me I should call them and tell them the bird could go to Hallswood, the sanctuary in Norfolk which we are having some dealings with. But by this time, the story had changed - they couldn't treat the bird because (a) it had injuries which needed a vet and (b) because it was a racing pigeon. The leg, by the way, appears to be an old break which has set and stiffened in a sticky-out angle, so that wasn't due to the netting but probably how it got tangled up. So, now the pigeon is at a vet which does have an avian specialist. I talked to the nurse there, and explained how we could give it a good home, etc., which went down well, and left my details. Next thing, someone called to say they had traced the pigeon's owner (heck, didn't occur to me to check at that point in the process) and were waiting for him to get back to them to say what he wanted to do.... I repeated my offer, to both pay for any treatment and give the bird a home, and asked them to tell the owner that if he wasn't interested in the pigeon.

And that is it .... I can do no more, unfortunately, unless they come back to me and take me up on it. What will happen to it I don't know and don't like to think about ... but if nothing else, at least it didn't have to die slowly from exposure, dehydration and further injuries, but I felt very responsible for it and emotionally caught up with it even though others did the real work.

But, logically, I know that I couldn't have nursed it through this week, and the only vets I know of in my town who would treat pigeons ... well, the last one died in their care.

One positive is that the site manager's boss has staed that he will get the expenditure authorised now to have the netting replaced and properly secured so nothing can get behind it. They won't remove it for good, and though I don't like it, I can understand the reason for it having to be there from their health and safety viewpoint, unfortunately.

Still, it shows that sometimes good, ordinary folks will help out, but those who are supposed to care about sick and injured birds..... forget it!

John

[TAWhatley]

Thank you for all your efforts to save this pigeon, John. Things don't sound too promising right now but perhaps the folks who have the bird will come to their senses and let you get the pigeon back.

Terry

[Trees Gray]

Hi John,

Well....you certainly have done everything you could for this bird..and then some. And some positive things have happened from all this too as mentioned.

Thank you for everything you did for this racing bird and PLEASE keep us updated on any further developments.

[LondonPigeon]

thanks John for looking out for the bird

[Maggie-NC]

John, I sincerely hope you can get this little pigeon back and that you and Cynthia can give it a wonderful forever home. It certainly deserves it.

A lot of people did care for this little one though - from your coworker who spotted it to the people at the vet's office. Most of all, you persevered and did everything you possibly could to save it. A great big hug to you from me.

Over the years we have had good people help us too. I remember some employees at a shopping center setting up a lift to get several babies down from above a canopy they were washing out. I honestly wonder though if they would have done this had Lewis not been there pleading for these babies.

[John_D]

Originally Posted by Lady Tarheel

I remember some employees at a shopping center setting up a lift to get several babies down from above a canopy they were washing out. I honestly wonder though if they would have done this had Lewis not been there pleading for these babies.

I think your wonderings are right, Maggie. I believe plenty of people may feel some sympathy for birds or animals trapped somewhere or in a difficult situation, but also that the numbers drop considerably when it comes to acting on their sympathy.

John