Don’t shoot the Messenger

'Feed the birds', sang the seed seller in Mary Poppins. ‘Tuppence a bag’. She didn’t sing about the dangers of pigeons and their ectoparasites. Well, it wouldn’t have scanned. And she had seed to sell. But the seed-selling business has dropped right off since pigeons were declared a potential health risk. Bernard Rayner, whose family has had a pitch in Trafalgar Square for three generations, has finally shut up shop. And the pigeons – London’s shabby grey unemployables – have been left to fend for themselves. Or die.

"It is worrying", says Dr Jayne Cuthbert, a research fellow at Kingston University - and unofficial feral pigeon adviser to the Government. "These birds are semi-domesticated, and we have a duty to spare them physical and mental suffering. They have been fed every day for 50 years. If they fly elsewhere to find food, they will only confuse themselves. And they will be in competition with other birds and other animals. The Greater London Authority has stopped feeding the pigeons altogether. And now birds are starving to death."

Ironic, then, that Ken Livingstone – the defender of the fox, and the champion of the newt – was the man who campaigned for an animal-cruelty free London. He has earnt himself a new nickname – Blood Red Ken. Animal Aid, London Animal Action and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have all taken to feeding the Trafalgar Square birds themselves, and the scrum for their seed is often four-pigeons deep. And those birds are the lucky ones. The others have already been swept away by the street cleaners.

Depending on what paper you read, Livingstone is acting in London’s best interests. Pigeons carry everything from toxoplasmosis to TB – and should be destroyed like vermin. Which is why the Gloucestershire police could get away without prosecuting a man who beat a pigeon to death with a plank of wood. By killing the pigeon outright, he did not – according to the law – commit an act of ‘cruelty’. The birds are no better than “flying rats” – rats, admittedly, have fur not feathers, and a stomach instead of a gizzard, but both carry diseases that can be spread to humans.

"Potentially" says Dr Cuthbert, "all living things do carry pathogens. And that includes pigeons. But pigeons don't carry any more than any other bird species. Far fewer than mammals, actually. If people want to wash their hands after handling the pigeons, there are fountains in the Square with chlorinated water. It's more important that we wash our hands after handling money, door handles or public payphones. And there's more risk from chewing gum in Trafalgar Square than there is from pigeon droppings. Chewing gum could carry TB and hepatitis."

The Swiss city of Basle initiated a programme to cut its feral pigeon population back in 1970. The people were encouraged to stop feeding the birds, and eliminate the places where they could roost and nest. As the birds’ food began to decline, they flew to council lofts placed throughout the city. There, the eggs were controlled, and the birds were culled. Gradually there emerged a smaller number of healthier pigeons. And over four years, the population was halved. But Livingstone’s method – if, indeed, there is a method – seems less considered.

And out of step with government orthodoxy. “Advice from our veterinary team states that although diseases are carried by birds,” says Lord McIntosh of Haringey “those diseases are likely to be conveyed to human beings only when they are in prolonged contact with pigeons, in enclosed spaces or in the presence of dust from feathers or guano, and when eating food contaminated by pigeon droppings. None of these conditions applies in Trafalgar Square…Her Majesty’s government therefore does not propose to take any action on the issue”.

There is a place where pigeons are beloved – where men and women still indulge in ‘the fancy’. “Horse racing is the sport of kings” says Harry Austerberry from Yorkshire. “We’re not kings. So we do the next best thing – we race our pigeons.” Austerberry scraped out his first pigeon loft when he was seven. “I can have £10 on a horse – it goes past the winning post and nothing happens. But when my pigeon wins, the hair stands up on the back of my neck. When my pigeon comes tumbling out the sky, I know that I bred it, I trained it, and I raced it. That’s a very special moment.”

Pigeon fanciers used to work in the foundry – or down the pit. They hammered lofts out of old tea crates. They wanted their pigeons to have fresh air because they never did. They wanted their pigeons to fly because they never could. And they wanted their pigeons to come back because they chose to. Free will was important – although, as a reward for coming back, the cock would always get half-an-hour with his hen. “It’s about love” says Austerberry. “So you never raise your voice to a pigeon. That’s why a bird released 700 miles away will come back home in 23 hours.”

But the fancy has changed – and the cloth cap and silk scarf days are done. Mike Tyson is a fancier. So is the Queen. And nowadays the sport attracts big money. Which is why the birds are tested for steroids. Although the nearest most fanciers get to ‘performance-enhancing drugs’ is “speed cake” – Pearson’s Old Formula mixed with a stirrup cup of sherry. Austerberry washes his birds regularly. Usually three days before a show. That gives them enough time to build up a ‘bloom’ – the light dust on the feathers that attracts the judges. Austerberry would sport a My Cock’s A Winner sunstrip with pride. If he wasn’t too much of a gentleman.

These days, the fancy is bigger than ever. Time was, when a fancier was troubled with loose or watery droppings, he would feed his birds his own special home-made formula – two parts burnt toast, one part strong tea, and one part Milk of Magnesia. In other words, the breakfast of your average Yorkshireman. But nowadays, it’s a more exacting science. There are self-help books (such as ‘Problem Droppings Explained’) and drive-in faecal test centres. Considering that a pigeon recently went for £111,000 at auction, that’s no surprise.

Austerberry’s pigeons are well-mannered. They won’t defaecate on the wing – they prefer to pay a visit before they come out. And they won’t swoop down on a battered sausage. “You could put a bag of chips in front of one of my pigeons” says Austerberry, “and he wouldn’t be interested. The pigeons in Trafalgar Square aren’t the same species. Feral pigeons are a breed on their own – mongrels if you like. Racing pigeons can fetch £111,000 because they are thoroughbreds. Not like the vermin you see in our city centres.”

Austerberry would be surprised to learn that thoroughbreds actually make up a significant proportion of the Trafalgar Square ‘vermin’ – the birds often get lost on longer flights. Whatever the reason, the number of feral pigeons in Britain’s towns and cities has doubled over the past five years, and local government is struggling to find a solution. In the West Midlands they are calling for new by-laws whereby anyone caught feeding pigeons can be charged up to £2,500. Pensioners lurking suspiciously with a loaf of stale bread will be moved on, or hit with on-the-spot fines.

Chairman Mao was less forgiving. After the Cultural Revolution, he decided that pigeons were to blame for his grain shortages, and recruited millions of workers to rid China of the anti-democratic menace. The shortages were, of course, nothing to do with the forced collectivisation of agriculture. While he was at it, Mao decided that Beijing’s grass should be pulled up because it harboured disease. That was more than 40 years ago, and the birds still haven’t returned. The country’s continued use of DDT means they probably never will.

Feral pigeons (Columba livia var) range from blue-grey to fug black. On average they weigh 350g – depending on their proximity to the chip shop. They are actually European rock doves, and trace a noble lineage back to the Biblical symbol of peace and love – with a little inter-marriage along the way. In their time they have embodied the Holy Spirit. They have carried Noah’s olive branch. And they have brought news of Ramses III’s coronation. When Christ drove the traders from the temple, it was pigeons that they were trading. And it wasn’t the uric acid in their slippery droppings that Our Lord objected to. Although, over time, it would undoubtedly have sullied His brickwork.

No-one likes the concentrated white wash that pigeons paint over public buildings, but it does take 40 pigeons, defaecating in one place all day, to dump what a dog can dump in ten seconds. So numbers need to be monitored. Livingstone has said that he will not renew Rayner’s licence unless the pigeons can be fed a seed treated with contraceptive. Livingstone was obviously unaware that contraceptives are not licenced for use on pigeons in the UK. The problem requires more careful consideration.

The Egyptians, the Romans and the Greeks used pigeons as messengers because they covered distances faster than a man on horseback. But it was the two World Wars that marked out a special place in British history for the pigeon. They were trained to fly at night, and carried details of enemy troop movements. Some of the pigeons (like the racer who saved a battalion from certain death at Monte Cassino) were honoured with the Dickin Medal for gallantry – the VC for pigeons. Others went on to have grand careers in British pigeon racing.

Animal behaviourists find pigeons intriguing. Darwin studied them to formulate his theory of evolution, and came to love them so dearly that he refused to dissect them any more. Pigeons welcome strangers into their flocks without suspicion. They conduct a demonstrative courtship (which is why they have become the universal symbol of love) and feed their babies ‘milk’. Both parents manufacture in their crop (or throat) a rich, fatty milk that looks like a yellow cottage cheese. They vomit it up, and expel it into the throats of the babies.

Pigeons mate for life. Which is something that fanciers trade on. “Put a cock with a hen for half an hour” says Austerberry, “then send him 500 miles away in a basket. When you let him go, he’ll fly straight home with pinpoint accuracy.” With the wind in the right quarter, a racing bird can fly over a mile a minute. Pigeons are home bodies who don't like to stray too far, which can create a problem with overcrowding. With young birds hatching regularly, and old birds moving in, roosting areas do become uncomfortably crowded.

Pigeons seek out the same environment as their ancestors. Except that window ledges and railway bridges now take the place of caves and caverns. Companies set up screens, netting and coils of wire to prevent them from nesting. With sharp spikes called "anti-landing projections" on the rooftops to prevent them from roosting. The sticky repellent that companies use to keep them off ledges is crueller than a sudden death. The pigeons can choke on it, or they can get it stuck in their feathers. It then prevents them from thermoregulating, and the birds freeze to death.

"Each pigeon has an individual character" says Dr Cuthbert. "And studying pigeons is like watching a soap opera. I've seen a female feral pigeon who has had both her legs shot off by some pest control department. This bird had developed two flaps of skin where she once had legs, and walked by moving from side to side on her abdomen. She had pair-bonded with a male who only had one leg. In a situation like Trafalgar Square, where countless generations of semi-domesticated birds have been fed for 50 years, it's not just birds like these who are at risk. It's the entire bird population. We need to do something quickly."



		Don’t shoot the Messenger 'Feed the birds', sang the seed seller in Mary Poppins. ‘Tuppence a bag’. She didn’t sing about the dangers of pigeons and their ectoparasites. Well, it wouldn’t have scanned. And she had seed to sell. But the seed-selling business has dropped right off since pigeons were declared a potential health risk. Bernard Rayner, whose family has had a pitch in Trafalgar Square for three generations, has finally shut up shop. And the pigeons – London’s shabby grey unemployables – have been left to fend for themselves. Or die. "It is worrying", says Dr Jayne Cuthbert, a research fellow at Kingston University - and unofficial feral pigeon adviser to the Government. "These birds are semi-domesticated, and we have a duty to spare them physical and mental suffering. They have been fed every day for 50 years. If they fly elsewhere to find food, they will only confuse themselves. And they will be in competition with other birds and other animals. The Greater London Authority has stopped feeding the pigeons altogether. And now birds are starving to death." Ironic, then, that Ken Livingstone – the defender of the fox, and the champion of the newt – was the man who campaigned for an animal-cruelty free London. He has earnt himself a new nickname – Blood Red Ken. Animal Aid, London Animal Action and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have all taken to feeding the Trafalgar Square birds themselves, and the scrum for their seed is often four-pigeons deep. And those birds are the lucky ones. The others have already been swept away by the street cleaners. Depending on what paper you read, Livingstone is acting in London’s best interests. Pigeons carry everything from toxoplasmosis to TB – and should be destroyed like vermin. Which is why the Gloucestershire police could get away without prosecuting a man who beat a pigeon to death with a plank of wood. By killing the pigeon outright, he did not – according to the law – commit an act of ‘cruelty’. The birds are no better than “flying rats” – rats, admittedly, have fur not feathers, and a stomach instead of a gizzard, but both carry diseases that can be spread to humans. "Potentially" says Dr Cuthbert, "all living things do carry pathogens. And that includes pigeons. But pigeons don't carry any more than any other bird species. Far fewer than mammals, actually. If people want to wash their hands after handling the pigeons, there are fountains in the Square with chlorinated water. It's more important that we wash our hands after handling money, door handles or public payphones. And there's more risk from chewing gum in Trafalgar Square than there is from pigeon droppings. Chewing gum could carry TB and hepatitis." The Swiss city of Basle initiated a programme to cut its feral pigeon population back in 1970. The people were encouraged to stop feeding the birds, and eliminate the places where they could roost and nest. As the birds’ food began to decline, they flew to council lofts placed throughout the city. There, the eggs were controlled, and the birds were culled. Gradually there emerged a smaller number of healthier pigeons. And over four years, the population was halved. But Livingstone’s method – if, indeed, there is a method – seems less considered. And out of step with government orthodoxy. “Advice from our veterinary team states that although diseases are carried by birds,” says Lord McIntosh of Haringey “those diseases are likely to be conveyed to human beings only when they are in prolonged contact with pigeons, in enclosed spaces or in the presence of dust from feathers or guano, and when eating food contaminated by pigeon droppings. None of these conditions applies in Trafalgar Square…Her Majesty’s government therefore does not propose to take any action on the issue”. There is a place where pigeons are beloved – where men and women still indulge in ‘the fancy’. “Horse racing is the sport of kings” says Harry Austerberry from Yorkshire. “We’re not kings. So we do the next best thing – we race our pigeons.” Austerberry scraped out his first pigeon loft when he was seven. “I can have £10 on a horse – it goes past the winning post and nothing happens. But when my pigeon wins, the hair stands up on the back of my neck. When my pigeon comes tumbling out the sky, I know that I bred it, I trained it, and I raced it. That’s a very special moment.” Pigeon fanciers used to work in the foundry – or down the pit. They hammered lofts out of old tea crates. They wanted their pigeons to have fresh air because they never did. They wanted their pigeons to fly because they never could. And they wanted their pigeons to come back because they chose to. Free will was important – although, as a reward for coming back, the cock would always get half-an-hour with his hen. “It’s about love” says Austerberry. “So you never raise your voice to a pigeon. That’s why a bird released 700 miles away will come back home in 23 hours.” But the fancy has changed – and the cloth cap and silk scarf days are done. Mike Tyson is a fancier. So is the Queen. And nowadays the sport attracts big money. Which is why the birds are tested for steroids. Although the nearest most fanciers get to ‘performance-enhancing drugs’ is “speed cake” – Pearson’s Old Formula mixed with a stirrup cup of sherry. Austerberry washes his birds regularly. Usually three days before a show. That gives them enough time to build up a ‘bloom’ – the light dust on the feathers that attracts the judges. Austerberry would sport a My Cock’s A Winner sunstrip with pride. If he wasn’t too much of a gentleman. These days, the fancy is bigger than ever. Time was, when a fancier was troubled with loose or watery droppings, he would feed his birds his own special home-made formula – two parts burnt toast, one part strong tea, and one part Milk of Magnesia. In other words, the breakfast of your average Yorkshireman. But nowadays, it’s a more exacting science. There are self-help books (such as ‘Problem Droppings Explained’) and drive-in faecal test centres. Considering that a pigeon recently went for £111,000 at auction, that’s no surprise. Austerberry’s pigeons are well-mannered. They won’t defaecate on the wing – they prefer to pay a visit before they come out. And they won’t swoop down on a battered sausage. “You could put a bag of chips in front of one of my pigeons” says Austerberry, “and he wouldn’t be interested. The pigeons in Trafalgar Square aren’t the same species. Feral pigeons are a breed on their own – mongrels if you like. Racing pigeons can fetch £111,000 because they are thoroughbreds. Not like the vermin you see in our city centres.” Austerberry would be surprised to learn that thoroughbreds actually make up a significant proportion of the Trafalgar Square ‘vermin’ – the birds often get lost on longer flights. Whatever the reason, the number of feral pigeons in Britain’s towns and cities has doubled over the past five years, and local government is struggling to find a solution. In the West Midlands they are calling for new by-laws whereby anyone caught feeding pigeons can be charged up to £2,500. Pensioners lurking suspiciously with a loaf of stale bread will be moved on, or hit with on-the-spot fines. Chairman Mao was less forgiving. After the Cultural Revolution, he decided that pigeons were to blame for his grain shortages, and recruited millions of workers to rid China of the anti-democratic menace. The shortages were, of course, nothing to do with the forced collectivisation of agriculture. While he was at it, Mao decided that Beijing’s grass should be pulled up because it harboured disease. That was more than 40 years ago, and the birds still haven’t returned. The country’s continued use of DDT means they probably never will. Feral pigeons (Columba livia var) range from blue-grey to fug black. On average they weigh 350g – depending on their proximity to the chip shop. They are actually European rock doves, and trace a noble lineage back to the Biblical symbol of peace and love – with a little inter-marriage along the way. In their time they have embodied the Holy Spirit. They have carried Noah’s olive branch. And they have brought news of Ramses III’s coronation. When Christ drove the traders from the temple, it was pigeons that they were trading. And it wasn’t the uric acid in their slippery droppings that Our Lord objected to. Although, over time, it would undoubtedly have sullied His brickwork. No-one likes the concentrated white wash that pigeons paint over public buildings, but it does take 40 pigeons, defaecating in one place all day, to dump what a dog can dump in ten seconds. So numbers need to be monitored. Livingstone has said that he will not renew Rayner’s licence unless the pigeons can be fed a seed treated with contraceptive. Livingstone was obviously unaware that contraceptives are not licenced for use on pigeons in the UK. The problem requires more careful consideration. The Egyptians, the Romans and the Greeks used pigeons as messengers because they covered distances faster than a man on horseback. But it was the two World Wars that marked out a special place in British history for the pigeon. They were trained to fly at night, and carried details of enemy troop movements. Some of the pigeons (like the racer who saved a battalion from certain death at Monte Cassino) were honoured with the Dickin Medal for gallantry – the VC for pigeons. Others went on to have grand careers in British pigeon racing. Animal behaviourists find pigeons intriguing. Darwin studied them to formulate his theory of evolution, and came to love them so dearly that he refused to dissect them any more. Pigeons welcome strangers into their flocks without suspicion. They conduct a demonstrative courtship (which is why they have become the universal symbol of love) and feed their babies ‘milk’. Both parents manufacture in their crop (or throat) a rich, fatty milk that looks like a yellow cottage cheese. They vomit it up, and expel it into the throats of the babies. Pigeons mate for life. Which is something that fanciers trade on. “Put a cock with a hen for half an hour” says Austerberry, “then send him 500 miles away in a basket. When you let him go, he’ll fly straight home with pinpoint accuracy.” With the wind in the right quarter, a racing bird can fly over a mile a minute. Pigeons are home bodies who don't like to stray too far, which can create a problem with overcrowding. With young birds hatching regularly, and old birds moving in, roosting areas do become uncomfortably crowded. Pigeons seek out the same environment as their ancestors. Except that window ledges and railway bridges now take the place of caves and caverns. Companies set up screens, netting and coils of wire to prevent them from nesting. With sharp spikes called "anti-landing projections" on the rooftops to prevent them from roosting. The sticky repellent that companies use to keep them off ledges is crueller than a sudden death. The pigeons can choke on it, or they can get it stuck in their feathers. It then prevents them from thermoregulating, and the birds freeze to death. "Each pigeon has an individual character" says Dr Cuthbert. "And studying pigeons is like watching a soap opera. I've seen a female feral pigeon who has had both her legs shot off by some pest control department. This bird had developed two flaps of skin where she once had legs, and walked by moving from side to side on her abdomen. She had pair-bonded with a male who only had one leg. In a situation like Trafalgar Square, where countless generations of semi-domesticated birds have been fed for 50 years, it's not just birds like these who are at risk. It's the entire bird population. We need to do something quickly."

		© Richard Johnson 2000 - 2009