Right Now, We Need to Feed the Pigeons
With fewer people on the streets, our urban birds are going without
Feeding our urban wildlife is almost always discouraged — by wildlife biologists and business owners alike. Urban wildlife often includes many invasive species that we don’t want continuing to breed and expand into other habitats, and many fear that city birds like pigeons carry diseases transmittable to humans (possible, but very rare). Business owners dislike them because they wander outside buildings and leave excrement wherever they go, leading to an unkempt look that may scare off potential customers. But lately, there’s been a change of heart by some towards pigeons, sparrows, and other scavenging city birds. Due to quarantines enforced during the spread of COVID-19, fewer people have been out and about at cafes and restaurants — meaning there have been fewer people dropping food items.
The German Animal Welfare Association (GAWA) was one of the first to point out the growing problem of starving urban birds. According to the group, thousands of pigeons that would typically be well-fed by human leftovers are now struggling to find anything to eat at all. The pigeons don’t have much as far as alternative food sources; given that they live in urban landscapes, there are no native trees or bushes to pick fruits from, and few bugs besides…
