Should we kill pigeons as they are vermin? rats with wings!!!?

Answer 1

No. I like pigeons. We have a flock of them which free fly around our house every day then go back to their house to roost at night.

They're beautiful birds, come in lovely colours, make great pets and have a wonderful sound. I even like the ones at the park and feed them sometimes when I go there.

You say should we kill them, but would you be willing to physically kill one yourself? Would you go up to one and break it's neck. Then would you go and pick up the body to dispose of it, knowing that you killed an innocent creature who had done nothing wrong apart from being slightly annoying to a stupid human with nothing better to do then ask stupid questions on yahoo answers.

I doubt it.

Answer 2

Should we kill pigeons (Only talking about the rock pigeon, Columba livia) : Yes and No. It depends where you are in my opinion.

In their native habitat ie. Europe no since they are part of the native fauna. But in Places where they were introduced ,North America for example, they should be removed (humanely), tough it's probably unfeasible since they've taken over the continent. Who cares if they crap on cars, just park elsewhere.

The problem is that they are invasive and compete with native birds, and as if that weren't enough all the pigeons rock pigeons in north America are descendants from domestic lines, domesticated animals have no place in the wild anywhere.They are fairly large and successfully displace other birds from good feeding/roosting and nesting sites.

In some situations carry disease harmful to people, but as usual that aspect has been blown out of proportion, don't go around saying avian flu, the main reason it's spread is because of people shipping poultry around. They can carry disease/ parasites which are harmful to native birds.

Anyways I'm not fond of the term vermin, it's usually used to designate species which people would want to eradicate off the face of the earth, everything has a place somewhere, just not everywhere. Saying that they should remain where they are just because they have some neat adaptations is applicable to other species too : lice, ticks, bedbugs, mosquitoes, tapeworms, etc. tough I'm sure pretty much no one here would think twice about killing one of these.

Answer 3

No they are not they are birds just like any other. They are looking for food, shelter and a place to raise young just like all other animals and us for that matter. Pigeons are very clean and I know as I have them. Feral and domestic. I am also a wildlife rehabber and can offer many good things about them. They have a very important place in history. No one wants poop around this is true but there are many ways to deter it without hurting the birds hang a plastic owl up or some tin pans works every time. Female pigeons will not even go to the bathroom in the cage when they have eggs or babes have to literally pick them up off eggs and make them get out to go.

Answer 4

Teh aouthor of this question sounds like a rat with a computer. Pigeons are great birds. You're probably a city rat and don't understand the place a pigeon fills in nature. That's your problem and your shortcoming. I've killed many pigeons, but then I ate them.

Answer 5

Humans are the biggest, most abundant and most destructive vermin on earth. By your reasoning, we should just kill each other first and stop invading the homes of other creatures, like pigeons.

Answer 6

First of all, ignore all those whose knee-jerk reaction is to say “They are vermin and carry diseases that can kill us all!” Do your own research on this and you’ll be amazed by how many diseases and death’s they DON’T cause.

All birds may carry certain mites and their feces can all carry various assortments of bacteria. Unless you plan on making a meal of bird droppings though, why worry about what diseases it can carry? Few if any of them can be directly passed to people through casual contact. Histoplasmosis (caused by the spores of a fungus in the feces) is the most common of those and it is no worse than the Common Cold… and a startling percentage of people have already caught it without even realizing they did. It’s a big, scary sounding name though, so certain people and organizations are always quick to bring it up when arguing for pigeon control.

Saying that “my city culls them” is a weak argument as well. How many city officials do you know of have degrees in Vet. Medicine or Biology? They’re incentives to pass laws and ordinances come from the voice of the uneducated public who never took time to research what I mentioned above.

People play the disease “card” and even bring their children into the argument when they don’t want to admit that the true reason for wanting to get rid of the birds is a superficial one – appearance. Bird crap is ugly and messy; pigeons are the most common in our most populated cities bird so why not blame them?

What about their incredible sense of direction? What about their ability to navigate for hundreds of miles through unfamiliar terrain and find their way back home? What about their use as communication tools that saved thousands of lives during WWI and WWII? What about their ability to adapt to adverse conditions? We own them a debt of gratitude if nothing else and we should be studying and researching them and their amazing abilities, not killing them as vermin.

As a pigeon lover and companion, I’d answer a strict “no” to your question. As a human being, I’d answer the same - It’s fine to not like them, but to cause the death of anything is not our place in the world.

Answer 7

They are no more vermin than a lot of humans should we kill the human ones first as they are a lot more destructive than pigeons

Answer 8

Yes, we used to store our old vehicles in a shed infested with pigeons.It was incredible howq much crap they could drop in a short space of time. As if that isn`t bad enough, they drop feathers and occasionally they would drop dead inside the shed. You daren`t eat or drink in the open because you never knew when you were going to be bombed. In short, shoot the buggers.

Answer 9

They do carry more disease than rats. In a lot of places in the UK its illegal to feed them in public places.

Believe me they can make a real mess of you house. Discovered this when my neighbor decided to start feeding them.

Don't feed and they go away. You don't have to kill them.

Answer 10

Their droppings do carry quite a few deadly viruses which is one of the reasons why they have culls. They didn't ask to be born though....