Street Pigeons
Finally, it was time, we tackled the misery under the bridge in Stuttgart Giebel with the city pigeon project from the Stuttgart Animal Protection Association.eV. The pigeons that live there stay at our farm during the day. This is how we became aware of the flock and tracked back where they breed. We removed four hours of feces, old nests and countless dead pigeons for three of us. Unfortunately, it is still the case that our city pigeons are not perceived as our responsibility.
City pigeons are a man-made problem. They are not wild animals, but homeless pets. Pigeon breeders are largely responsible for the problem of city pigeons. Thousands of other pigeons strand in cities every year. These are animals that lose their orientation in competitions or were released at weddings. They then join existing city pigeon populations and thus increase the suffering. They are site-faithful and dependent on humans, just like stray cats and dogs. In addition, we have bred our former homing pigeons with the breeding urge. This means that even if the food supply is not sufficient, regardless of summer or winter, the house pigeon continues to breed diligently and so they starve to death unseen right before our eyes.
They have been poisoned, hunted, killed and millions have been spent to drive them out, without success. The only thing that helps sustainably is to check their nests closely and exchange the eggs for decoys and thus control births. This is much easier if you build pigeon lofts where they are fed. In general, the pigeons gratefully accept a home, because no one wants to live on the street in the winter. The city pigeon project is largely responsible for the construction of 12 pigeon lofts around Stuttgart.
Wedding pigeons are disposable items.
Above all, however, this breeding must stop. Please boycott peace and wedding pigeons! Did you know that this tradition is based on a lie?
Many of these peace pigeons can no longer find their way back and wander around as a white target. Many die, a few manage to join a city pigeon flock, then live as homeless people and are spat at, hated and harassed by us in return.
The very few pigeons you buy are trained to find their way home. The training with the carrier pigeons runs like this: You separate an existing pair and use the desperation of the animals to fly back to their families as quickly as possible. Pigeon racing is not a real sport, well over 50% of all competition pigeons do not find their way home, die or continue to live as city pigeons. Even if they find their way home, this does not mean safety for many pigeons. If they do not reach top speeds of up to 130 km/h, they are killed. Because breeding is about selection and mainly about money.
Humans must finally learn to think two corners ahead. We will now visit our pigeons under the bridge once a week and exchange the eggs to hopefully reduce the suffering there a little.
Do you also want to contribute? https://stadttauben-stuttgart.de/ Visit the city pigeon project website, always looking for volunteers.
