35 Stop Feeding The Pigeons!–Part 1

I wish people would not feed the pigeons. There seem to be a belief (by the perpetrators) that feeding pigeons is a good thing; it is not! In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Please do not misunderstand me. I do not hate animals, in fact I admire them. I grew up with them all around me and I don’t think anyone should be allowed to deliberately harm them however my admiration for animals is from a distance.

While I think cats are cute, birds are fun to look at and dogs are adorable I don’t want them in my bed, in my house or sharing the same space with me. Now this can be attributed to a number of things one being culture and the way “we” dealt with pets. First they had their own space, to be more accurate they had their own houses which we built for them that was cleaned daily, they were well fed and loved, we played with them, they also had their own dishes which was also cleaned and maintained daily.

My paternal grandmother had about six dogs, two cats if memory serves and chickens while at my maternal grandfather’s he had lots of chickens-hens, rosters etc and my uncle had a dog, a monkey and a parrot. We played with them, walked them but when it was time to retire for the night they all went to their houses as we did ours. Dogs to their dog house, cats to their house, birds to their place wherever that maybe (for those who had them as pets-in cages), chickens to the trees. Yes I did say trees, that is where they slept up in the tree, for us it was the lime tree. Not to mention the myriad of iguanas, cameliyans, house lizards, snails, snakes, bull frogs-nasty suckers and a host of others that were the natural part of our habitat. So this thing about having animals, birds, cats, dogs sleeping in one’s bed and eating out of one’s plate is a bit grotesque to me.  The idea of animal slobber mixed in with my food is not a comforting one, frankly it is off putting.

My aversion is further exacerbated by the constant irritation of pigeons invading my space-my balcony. I have not been able to enjoy my balcony for the past four years. This is due in part to people who feed the blasted pigeons so they no longer leave. I mean, why would they, its free food so instead of hunting and doing what comes naturally they hang around becoming the urban feathered bums, the willing vagrants and scavengers. They are a pest, I have to be constantly cleaning not to mention shooing like a mad woman when I am sitting in my living room attempting to enjoy a movie or the company of friends. Imagine sitting having a civil conversation and then you hear an outburst of (me of course)‘shoooo! Go away!, move!…oh sorry, pigeon (me apologizing for my random outburst)’.

There’s always pigeon shit everywhere, I clean today and tomorrow without fail there is shit again, the black and white stinkers. I mean who wants to play dodge the pigeon shit every time you want to go out on the balcony…hmmmm? A little shit here, a little shit there, here a shit, there a shit, everywhere a shit shit. Damn, anyone with a lick a sense knows that pigeon filth is filled with uric acid and highly corrosive with bacteria, fungal agents and ectoparasites that are responsible for diseases like encephalitis, salmonella, meningitis, just to name a few.

This cleaning pigeon shit really pisses me off and yesterday was no exception. I was cleaning because things were a bit messy from all the show and storms. I picked up an empty (what I thought was empty) green garbage bin and to my surprise pigeons came flying out. Imagine my shock, the garbage bin went flying one way and I the other. It happened so fast I didn’t know I was falling till i was falling and my left arm, elbow and hand scrapped against the concrete wall beside the sliding glass door and I landed with a thud twisting my wrist and slamming my derriere (butt) . The fall knocked the wind out of me. I couldn’t move for a bit. I called my daughter for help but of course she could not hear me over her music blasting in her room. I sat for a bit till I could figured out a way to get up since my hands were hurting especially my left. I couldn’t move the wrist for a while. I finally manage to drag my pitiful ass off the concrete floor and went inside, thankful that I was on the side closer to my living room than the seven foot drop on the other side. I simply sat to collect myself and massage my hand, it was bruised.

Now in addition to having some lovely red welts down my whole arm and being very very soar and hurting, I have to look into possibility of investing hundreds to get rid of the pigeons by purchasing either Plastic Bird Spikes – Stainless Bird Spikes – Gutter Spike – Bird Spider – Bird Slope – Solar Bird Repeller – Bird Netting – BirdBGone Diverter – Bird Chase Ultrasonic – Bird Chase Sonic – Goose Sonic – Goose Repellent – Coyote Decoys – Bird Gel – Spray Repellant – Scarecrow – Mini ScareCrow or Bird Motels Traps if I want to my balcony.

That is so messed up, I got to cage myself to enjoy myself. I mean damn what other alternative is there? When I am at home my time is taken up shooing pigeons off the balcony and during the time I am not at home I know they are having a ball because I can see sticks and little branches where they were preparing to nest down in my absence. Hey if they were helping me pay my rent, go halves on the grocery, cable and utility bills perhaps then I may consider them taking up residence on my balcony but that's not likely to happen and it’s no fun playing jump the poop when I want to go out on the balcony to take in the sun and breeze and just relax. And sitting among shit is not a solution either.

So if you ever get the urge to feed the birds, i.e. pigeons, please don’t! There are consequences to doing so, you may not see it but there is. Damn my whole hand hurts…blasted pigeons! Stop feeding the pigeons people! You know who you are..stop it! Stop it now!