Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
Don’t hate me but I really believe the world would be a better place if pigeons were the ubiquitous avian pet instead of parrots 👀
Actually, the world would be better if pigeons were fucking extinguished
I think you need to sit and address why you hold such vitriol for a species of domesticated bird we have lived with for nearly ten thousand years, and redirect it towards something that deserves it. WE made pigeons homeless after we abandoned them as companion creatures. They are harmless and innocent and your hatred of them for existing is disgusting. Wanting a species destroyed because you don’t personally enjoy them is real fucked up and you should think about why you feel that way.
Edit: not to mention they are DOVES. They’re just doves! Ffs!
Mate it ain’t that deep lol I just don’t like them. I made this post ages ago and, obviously, I wouldn’t like for them to be extinguished.
BUT
I do consider them to be a pest, I do consider them dirty and they’re known for being vectors of multiple human and livestock diseases.
And from a Daily Pioneer article on pigeon pox, the strain of avian pox that pigeons are known for spreading - that can’t even spread to *other birds,* let alone humans.
Pigeons are not dirty and they’re not pests. They’re doves that we bred for meat, companionship, and carrying our mail, then threw out to fend for themselves in a wild they no longer belong in. The belief that they’re dirty creatures is bullshit, just like the belief that rats spread the black death is bullshit.
It IS that deep - it’s incredibly important to combat misinformation that affects wildlife, especially populations of wildlife that are regularly targeted by ignorant people because they’re an easy target. Pigeons are invasive because we made them invasive, and they crowd in our cities because they need humans to survive. They are pets, not pests, and spreading the “they’re gross and carry disease” line causes demonstratable harm to them. We need to be bringing them in and reducing populations through adoption rather than encouraging their death.
Please spend some time with beliefs like this and question where they came from and who it helps to hold them. Who benefits from it? Do you? Does the environment? Is it true? If not, why do you hold to it? Why do you spread it? These are important questions to ask before making statements about *killing animals,* especially. Pigeons are targeted by people all the time with violence for existing. Don’t contribute to that.
Ironically, that exact line of thought, that exact lack of concern for an entire species’ worth, already led to an entire species of pigeon going extinct. It’s not a hypothetical anymore.
Whether it was deep or not, that feeling already killed a species.
This is exactly like saying “we need to exterminate all cats bc there are feral cat colonies, things which largely exist bc of our shitty care of domestic animals.”
No, we need for people to recognize that doves/pigeons were our friends and then we abandoned them and it’s so fucking SAD and HATEFUL the way we treated them.
All the other druids in your class spent their time speaking with wolves or communing with bears. They all made fun of you, but now they see how powerful your chosen, if rather atypical, animal friends can really be.
They will when I ask my 2000 starling friends to attack them!
Pigeons are doves. They are rock doves, and I wonder if we began to call them that if people would hesitate to hate them, as doves have that history as messengers of peace. It is true that in my neighborhood nobody hates the mourning doves, dusky and elegant with wings that squeak as if they flap on rusty hinges. They roost on the wires like little Audrey Hepburns, while the pigeons troll the ground, tough and fat, some of them look like they should be smoking cigarettes. They look poor and banged up, like they could kick the mourning doves’ asses but are wise to the divide-and-conquer tactics we use on one another, so they coo wearily at the mourning doves and waddle forth in search of scavenged delights. What you may not know is when you call a pigeon “a rat with wings” you have given it a compliment. The only thing a rat lacks is a pair of wings to lift it, so you have named the pigeon perfectly. When you say to me, “I hate pigeons,” I want to ask you who else you hate. It makes me suspicious.
I once met a girl who was so proud to have hit such a bird on her bicycle, I swear, I thought that it was me she hit. I felt her handlebars in my stomach and now it is your job to feel it also. The pigeons are birds, they are doves. They are the nature of the city and the ones who no one loves. When people say they hate pigeons, I want to ask them if they hate themselves, too. Does it prick the well of your loathing? Do they make you feel dirty and ashamed? Are you embarrassed about how little or how much you have, for how you have had to hustle? Being dirty is not a problem for the pigeon. You can ask it, “How do you feel about having the city coating your feathers, having the streets gunked up in the crease of your eye?” and the pigeon would say, “Not a problem.” You will now stop blaming the pigeon. It is not the pigeon’s fault. The pigeon was once a dove, and then we built our filthy empire up around it, came to hate it for simply thriving in the midst our decay, came to hate it for not dying. The pigeon is your ally. They are chameleons, gray as the concrete they troll for scraps, at night they huddle and sing like cats. Their necks are glistening, iridescent as an oil-slick rainbow, they mate for life, and they fly.
the brush bronzewing is a small pigeon endemic to southern australia. shorter and stockier than it’s close relative, the common bronzewing, it shares the notable ‘rainbow’ iridescent pattern on the wings, found in both sexes. these birds feed primarily by foraging on the ground for seeds, berries, and insects. unlike many other pigeons, they do not congregate in large groups, and are often found as single birds or in pairs.
me, crying: you beautiful misunderstood creature. you are so intelligent and loyal that my species domesticated you to communicate with each other long before the wonders of instant messaging were ever invented. you’ve saved lives, connected lovers, family and friends, and brought good news to those who need it. many have forgotten your contributions and now consider you a pointless nuisance, kicking at you as they pass by and turning your places of rest into hostile environments with spikes and traps and poison, but despite this relentless opposition you continue to stubbornly exist and fearlessly gather at my feet, hoping that i’ll be kind enough to share my bread with you today.
the pigeon i’m talking to: hoo *shits on the sidewalk and flies away*
