Seems like someone (besides their much-publicized feeders) likes Uptown's pigeons. We got reader reports that yesterday around 11:30am, some men came to the parking lot next to the Lawrence L station, spread a net, fed the pigeons, crated them, and took the birds away in their truck. No marking on the truck, or uniforms on the guys, so we're betting they weren't City or County workers.
Pigeon relocation program? Disease prevention measures? Pigeon Lady and Pigeon Guy's arch-nemesis, or have they figured out a way to transport their winged buddies somewhere that they won't be bothered? So many questions!
- Our feeling is, first, no one really owns urban pigeons, so it's not stealing.
- Second, if their goal was to kill the pigeons, they'd poison them, not go to the trouble of gathering them up in a net, placing them in crates, and driving them away. No harm, no fowl!
- Third, since arrests and car impoundments and court-ordered probation aren't enough to stop Bird Lady and Bird Dude from feeding the pigeons (and all the associated bad stuff that massive numbers of pigeons bring to Uptown), this is a very creative way to control it.
- In short, we've got a lot of pigeons in Uptown, Mysterious Pigeon Net Guys. We're a very giving community. Come on back any time you'd like.
Some French restaurant in town is serving squab this weekend.
ReplyDeleteThey might be using them for food. ewwwww be-careful what you eat out next time
ReplyDeleteI would have tipped these guys for a job well done had I seen them.
ReplyDeleteI saw them in the process of doing this and was surprised to see a police officer overseeing the entire event.
ReplyDeletegood news, i don't care what they do with them
ReplyDeleteIf all else fails we could try this
ReplyDeleteThe city needs an active Pigeon Eradication Program--PEP.
ReplyDeleteStart a licensing program for independent contractors to get $5 a carcass per dead pigeon.
You see the guys trolling the alleys looking for scrap metal? Those guys are the type of hard working future American citizens that would reduce our pigeon population by 98 percent in a matter of weeks.
What we need is city wide leadership willing to take on the pigeon lovers. Can you do it Rahm? Are you man enough? Are you afraid the pigeon love squad will kick your self important 9.5 fingered ass like Karen Lewis and the teachers did?
Come on Rahm, step up on a phone book, ok maybe two or three phone books, and preach the gospel of hard work and pigeon killing to the masses.
Vive La Pigeon-Massacre!
I wonder why comment has not been published.
ReplyDeleteIs it such that if you don't agree with a position it isn't published or are critical of Cappleman in a pointed way.
There is no empirical evidence anywhere that pigeons spread disease.
http://www.picasuk.com/do_birds_spread_diseases.html
They are intelligent, sentient (meaning they have feelings) creatures and should be treated with respect.
No, Stu, we were trying to save you from yourself. That was one of the more bizarre comments you've ever submitted, which is saying quite a lot, considering. Let's see, you were blaming the alderman because he hasn't commented here on something that he most likely had nothing to do with. You blasted him for his proposed ordinance (which was about feeding pigeons, not rehoming them). There was something about elephants in there, too, wasn't there? And that we shouldn't interfere with nature, which means that the pigeon people should let nature take its course and stop feeding them, right? Make no mistake, the pigeon feeders are the reason whoever came and removed the pigeons did it. Save your nutty sermons for them.
ReplyDeleteNothing like being called nutty in Uptown!
ReplyDeleteHow the new medication working out for you "caring neighbor"? I know the doctor told you the new stuff should help you with your depression.
And that's the great thing about medication. It keeps really nutty people from ever having to feel nutty. They think it's everybody else is nutty. And not being too bright as in your case, kinda ignorant, and originally from the suburbs helps too.
I'm not under any medication. Not yet.
Stu, you'd better do some research. There are numerous studies published in recent medical journals that document pigeons spreading disease. There feces is rank with microsporidia, enterococci, and Cryptococcosis. Just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteGet rid of all those pigeons!!! And we all should go over to the nutty folks houses that feed these pigeons and go defecate all over their property. Lets see if they like having fecal matter all over their houses.
ReplyDeletepigeons have a homing device in their head (metal in their beak) so if they let them go in illinois they will probably fly right back lol
ReplyDeleteWonder if there's a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds being planned for Chicago.
ReplyDeleteWhomever did this either knows nothing about pigeons or was planning to kill them offsite. Having dealt with a pigeon infestation and hiring an exterminator to get them to move to a new home, I know how incredibly strong their homing instinct is. You can't just round them up and move them to a new place...they'll be back.
ReplyDeleteThe pigeons were killed as capsister said. I think it's just criminal to do that to living things whose crime is pooping on occasion on someone's head.
ReplyDeleteAgain there is no empirical evidence they cause disease and they are very intelligent animals, just ask B.F. Skinner and here a link that says they don't cause disease.
http://www.picasuk.com/do_birds_spread_diseases.html
Stu Piddy, I'm afraid you're incorrect:
ReplyDelete"Pigeons have been long associated with disease organisms transmissible to humans and livestock. These include: 13 bacterial diseases including salmonellosis (Salmonella food poisoning), fowl typhoid, paratyphoid, pasteurellosis, streptococcosis, and tuberculosis; five fungal diseases including aspergillosis, blastomycosis and histoplasmosis; six protozoan diseases including toxoplasmosis and coccidiosis; chlamydiosis; the rickettsial disease Q Fever; eight viral diseases including eastern equine and St. Louis encephalitis, Newcastle disease and fowl pox of poultry; the tapeworms in the genus Taenia, Davainea proglottina, and Railletina tetragona; four genera of parasitic nematodes of poultry including Tetramares (2 sp.), Capillaria (5 sp.), and Acuaria spiralis; and 14 parasitic flukes of poultry, livestock, and humans."
(Source.)
SP, rats eat pigeon crap and God knows there's plenty of it for them to eat. When you feed pigeons, you end up feeding rats.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you ask this pigeon lady to drop all the bread and rice in your yard instead? That way, everyone's happy, except maybe your neighbors of course, but you can just explain how smart pigeons are and they will quickly get over it. ;)
The Illinois Department of Public Health has a page documenting the health hazards of pigeon droppings (which are admittedly more dangerous than the birds themselves).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbb&bdrp.htm