In the city pigeons try to get into everywhere that food is - so they can eat the food. People don't like pigeons who do this because they are considered an unclean bird. The Pigeon is synonymous with disease. Is this just an opinion? How disease ridden are pigeons?
I have seen some quite mangy pigeons where I live in Wellington. One legged pigeons, pigeons with bald spots and thin ragged feathers. Pigeons with bloated stump feet hobbling along. It's a good job they have wings.
Some people eat pigeons, I've seen it in recipe books. It's just another bird for the carnivores.
Are people really that picky about where their food comes from? A lot of it comes from very fucked up places, warehouses filled with cages of birds. All in pain and dying, waiting to die. Living in their own shit. Bred to die, not given a chance to live.
I once saw some girls eating chicken Katsu in a food court. A mangy pigeon approached them and they said a lot of things. "Look at it's foot...", "Ohhh the poor thing". I found it to be a sick joke. They took pity on the bird while shoveling the chicken into their mouths - oblivious.
After those girls left the pigeons descended on the table, to feast on their avian cousins. No wonder they are diseased.
Can we blame animals for doing what they are programmed to do? No we cannot, it is us who have been given rational faculties. It is human beings that have been given the power of choice in how to influence so much of life.
We create cities, and in these cities we create mangy pigeons as a process of that system. Of course cities also have many life negative consequences for humans as well
I once worked at a bagel shop where the manager poisoned some pigeons who had been crapping on tables. It was horrific - the bodies just went into the bin.
And you know what? One week later there was just as many pigeons crapping on the table.
In some places of great Historic and touristic importance, people take photos with pigeons. They allow the birds to roost all over them. Perched on shoulders and arms. You know the photo don't you. The cliche one in some kind of 'square' in a European city. Classic.
Another thing about pigeons is that they can be used as messenger birds. I feel that this is getting closer to a healthy relationship with the bird. It seems purposeful. There's ownership involved here, like with a pet. We care if the bird gets there or not.
An intriguing fact about pigeons, is that Pigeons and doves are the same thing. I've always felt that this was a great commentary on classism and elitism.
The dusty grey pigeon is the symbol for the common man. The white dove, as a symbol of 'purity' implies another class or tier. Yet fundamentally, and genetically, they are the same. And you know it's the same with people - we are the same regardless of whether we are lying on the pavement with a cardboard sign, or striding purposefully to the office. It's just a strangeness that makes us think we are better or worse. It's some kind of primate hierarchy response, making us live like animals and without much compassion at all.
In New Zealand we have a native wood pigeon. It's a large and beautiful bird with a white breast and green plumage. They fly with strange up and down swoops. In the native tongue (Māori) we call them kereru.