Man Reports NY Pigeon Poacher, Gets $2500 Reward

NEW YORK - A New York City man has won a $2,500 reward for reporting someone who was trapping pigeons, which can be sold to hunting sites or illegally sold to food markets.

The animal welfare group In Defense of Animals says the birds might have been destined for Pennsylvania pigeon shoots or for New York poultry markets. It says the reward it offered has been claimed by a formerly homeless man.

Desi Stewart works for a charity that hires homeless people to clean streets.

He read a poster about the reward and later saw a man spreading bird seed and netting pigeons on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He called a Department of Environmental Conservation officer, who arrested the poacher.

A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty in the case last week. He has to pay three fines, including one for pigeon netting.

from newsday.com

PIGEON POPULATION PROBLEMS POOPING OUT?

Since August, some of the area's estimated 5,000 pigeons have been eating pill-shaped kibble known as OvoControl P from feeders on rooftops, making Hollywood the first area to try the contraceptive since it was given state approval in late July.

About 300 pigeons flock every morning at daybreak to eat up the contraceptive kibble, which contains nicarbazin, an ingredient that stops an egg from developing. OvoControl P has been registered with the state Department of Pesticide Regulation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and is approved by PETA and the Humane Society.

Laura Dodson, president of the Argyle Civic Assn., a neighborhood group leading the effort called Citizen Pigeon, said that they raised enough money from local businesses and residents -- over $50,000 -- to install five rooftop automatic feeders. They’ve also installed cameras to monitor the birds eating online.

After four months, the 438 pigeon regulars in one spot dropped to just below 40. Some through attrition, but pigeons are "just having less babies now," Dodson said.

The original date to reduce the pigeon population by 50% was 2012, but Dodson said that pest control and wildlife officials think it could happen within the next two years.

The pigeons are disliked in the area, currently under millions of dollars in renovation efforts, because of the messy droppings.

from latimes.com

And so, behind the door, the two children found a pool of stagnant water, lumpy with the carcasses of pigeons, chicks and unhatched eggs.

A truly beautiful shot by the photographer Mario Godlewski I came across at a benefit auction last night. I had to leave early otherwise this definitely would be hanging on my wall right now.

DEEP FRIED PIGEON
by David Paine

STAFF at a fish and chip shop in Worcester city centre got the shock of their life when a pigeon flew in through the window and fell into a deep fat fryer.

The hapless bird squeezed through a fanlight window at Angel Plaice and flew around the chippy.

Dawn Jennings, Angel Plaice assistant manager, said: "I was quite stunned. I had just put some chips on and then this pigeon came in. It was trying to get out and was banging against the windows, but as it tried to get out it rebounded and fell in one of the fryers.

"It must have been a painful death. It was quite distressing at the time, but we can laugh about it now."

Mrs Jennings said at least one worker got in a flap and ran out of the shop screaming as the unusal event unfolded at about 4pm on Wednesday.

Grant Hinton, aged 18, who works on the mobile phone stall in the market, said: "I was just about to go in and get some chips.

"I was talking to some mates when I heard some people shouting pigeon'. Tracy from the pet food stall tried to get it out but it went straight in the fryer.

"Then she managed to scoop it out.

"They put it in a bag but it melted through through the plastic and fell on the floor."

Mrs Jenning said the bird was disposed of and she was not planning to add deep fried pigeon to the menu.

She said it was lucky they did not have any customers at the time and added they immediately closed the shop for cleaning.

She stressed that staff have since scrubbed all of the equipment and replaced the cooking oil, but nobody is letting them forget what happened. "We've had all of the jokes," she said.

"All of the people working on the market have been cooing as they've walked passed and we've had people asking if the food is for eating in or flying away!"

from worchesternews.co.uk

Thanks, Matt!

Send in your dead pigeon photos to: photos@killthepigeons.com.

Someone is impaling pigeons in downtown Seattle with metal darts, and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is putting up $2,000 to help find out who.

Sixteen-year-old Robert was charred to death while chasing a pigeon on Tuesday, when he inadvertently went close to a double circuit 66 kV line hanging low over the first floor of a building in Anandanagar.

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This means war!

First, raise your writing hand in the air, and put all of the fingers together, until you feel a sensation that sort of hurts. Do the same with your other hand.

Once you've done that, rest the pinkie on your left hand (or whatever hand you write with, but left seems to work best) on top of your index finger on your opposite hand, so it looks like a perpendicular line from an aerial view.

Then begin to wrap your left thumb around your right thumb, still keeping your hands together. Then make sure NO air can get through the position your hands are in. Another method getting like this is to wrap your right hand around your left.

Then shape a small gap only with your thumb that is only a few millimetres wide, like a little thin-pentagon (or crystal) shape. It works more effectively If you shape it to the right hand side a little bit.

Then place most of your lip on the top of your thumb, when the joint bone is on your thumb. Make the hole quite narrow, and blow slightly diangonal-downwards down your hands until you make a pigeon sounds. It takes a lot of practice!

Pull trigger!