Johanna Clearfield is a serious animal rights advocate, a member of the HSUS (humane society) as well as a wildlife rehabilitator. Her respect for wildlife comes also out of a serious interest in the survival of the planet (eg. having some of the wonder of nature preserved and pristine as a legacy for our children). She is also a passionate advocate for the pigeons of Park Slope. Here is her reaction to the many comments she has received about her post about feeding bird seed to pigeons.
Any and all animal waste is not healthy and the germs and bacteria that result from dog waste are far more serious than any pigeon droppings.
The fact that Bryant Park was horrible in the 1960s and early 70s does not justify robbing the public of park space and injecting a tourist attracting ice skating rink. These are not answers. These are extremes. The fact that Methodist hospital took a neglected piece of overgrown acreage and turned it into a neat paved parking lot is another extreme.
What were there? Only two choices? An overgrown yard or a paved parking lot that (it has been proven) has tripled the amount of pollution in our air — and these were the only two choices? Perhaps a public garden? A playground? An open air performance space? Something that the local high school could have used for their kids?
Such myopic thinking.
If you go to the web page colinjerolmack.com you will see an extremely intelligent PhD candidate who is currently finishing a full length book which explores, investigates and exposes how cities and urban areas have been changing the “norm” of what is acceptable and (what birds or animals) are acceptable in our urban environment. Not long ago pigeons enjoyed a high popularity — many people find them entertaining, amusing and contributing greatly to the general every dayness of our lives. Many people welcomed their presence as many people (today) find sparrows and blue Jays and other birds to be a welcome addition to their urban scape.
It is the success of the exterminating companies, the developers and the property owners who are annoyed with having to clean off pigeon droppings — who have spread this “N” word of “rats with wings” —
Do we question whether or not we want to live in neighborhoods that are antiseptic and devoid of natural and free city birds? Where do we draw the line? Sparrows are cute but pigeons are monstrous?
To add to the arrogance of “pigeon haters” — the bigger picture — our planet and the extinction of so many wonderful and unique species — the extinction of so many animals because of human selfishness — This does not seem to play into anyone’s psychic awareness. We have to look at where we are. Where are we? If we keep destroying all of the natural areas and making the wild animals extinct — will that be when we finally enjoy our planet? When developers don’t have to worry about any spotted owls getting in the way of their John Deer tractors?
We live here in Brooklyn. Do we have any connection to the daily destruction of the rain forests and/or the wildernesses in other parts of the world? Maybe not directly.
But what are we doing to care for what we now enjoy as wildlife in our midst? Wouldn’t it make sense to devise some kind of “living with urban wildlife” scheme and/or program where people like myself — who respect and care for all city birds and animals without distinction — to support such a program? We should be able to have our voice heard along with the overwhelming cries of developers and people like many of the posts here — who selfishly cannot think beyond “rats with wings” They cannot put themselves in the reverse position. Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. How would they feel, if by a freak of nature, they were pigeons in a world of humans? Why is that such a difficult and unwelcome thought for almost anyone to consider?
We as a race, not just on this little plot of land, but on the planet have to stop being so myopic and self centered and lack real respect and consideration for nature and animals — all animals. Look around. The world is in horrendous shape. We are on the brink of a gazillion catastrophes, we have our men and women dying every day over what? Over property? Over money? oil? It is the same thinking and values that have cause the state of disaster we find our world in today. What does it take to start with one simple act of compassion? To think about creatures who are at our mercy? To act without selfishness? To care without condition
Dr. Sharma,
I appreciate your post, but unfortunately promoting products that “safely” ban and/or force birds out of an area that is their home is just another way of exterminating them. Where does it end? As each person buys more “safe” products to force birds out of their block?
Portland Audubon has a wonderful program called “living with urban wildlife” which does not assume that the solution is finding “safe” ways to force birds out of their homes.
pigeons, again, as a reminder are homing birds. They have the DNA and instinct to stay within a 10 block radius of where they were born. Forcing them out not only causes the babies (often) to be abandoned and starved (and die cruelly) but also completely upsides their very close knit family units.
Instead of forcing pigeons out with “safe” products, I am suggesting that we find easy and better ways to manage and care for them. In many ways pigeons are our responsibility as they were forcibly brought here during the 1600s on trade ships, they are not from North America and they have a very difficult time surviving.
Pigeons love the tops of roofs and are originally from rocky ocean areas. It would be very simple to allow some parks dept. folks and/or volu nteers to set up pigeon friendly cotes which could be cleaned and monitored — the eggs can be switched out for fake eggs which the birds actually sit on and stops them from reproducing.
Robert Kennedy Jr. (see permalink) lawyer, environmental advocate extraordinaire has said many times, “People object to animal cruelty but the cruelest thing you can do to any animal is destroy its home.”
Pigeons make their homes in the nooks and crannies of buildings but could be attracted to make their homes in other pigeon friendly structures placed on the tops of roofs, in parks, etc. Pigeon management would not be such a horrendous idea considering they obviously pose an offense to many and yet are loved by an equal number.
It is a “NIMBY” (Not in my backyard) syndrome when you only offer ways to force the birds out to another place rather than take on the modest task of organizing (via community groups and/or partnerships with othr organizations like the Parks Dept) a way for us to peacefully and healthily live together.
Living with urban wildlife is the goal — not living so that all urban wildlife is pushed away and away and away and away and away….
Pigeons are perhaps the first bird species any child is introduced to. I have seen toddlers giggling after pigeons in St. Marks Square, Venice and “Kabootharkhana” in Mumbai, India.
Feeding grains to pigeons is a time honored tradition in India.
I agree with you Johanna. Although pigeons and other wildlife in urban settings can be annoying, they are still living creatures and we need to handle the situation humanely.
So even though people won’t want to share their space, there are non-lethal and environmentally friendly solutions to pigeon problems.
Bird-X, Inc, http://www.bird-x.com, provides a number of products to help birds steer clear of an area through visual scare devices, ultrasonic sound repellers and gels that birds do not like the tactile nature of.
All our products are harmless to the birds, so even though we may not always agree with nature, we can deal with it in a way that respects the birds.