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Pigeon foot free from hair

Pigeon destringers strike again

Ben and I untangled the toe of another urban pigeon today. This one we found by the King Edward the VII statue on Union Street. There are several stringfoot pigeons in this flock but I’ve not managed to catch any of them until today.

This bird was quite young and I don’t think there’s any lasting damage from the tourniquet around his toe which looked to be human hair although it might have been synthetic, we’re not sure. It was so tight and thickly embedded that we really struggled for some time and I was beginning to doubt that we’d manage it.

Pigeon foot with tanglements

It’s hard to see from the photo just how bad it was but I think you get a better idea from the after photo as the indentation left by the tourniquet is quite pronounced.

Pigeon foot all free and clean from hair

It was very satisfying when it eventually came away. When we got the final piece of thread the whole lot just fell away. I took a photo of the gunge.

The hair we removed from the pigeon

The little bird seemed quite pleased with the result. Here he is after we let him go.

The pigeon standing proudly looking at us after his "surgery"

He flew off to the roof of a nearby café. He’s hopefully not too traumatised and I’m confident he won’t lose his toe.

The pigeon on a nearby roof

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Rachel M

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Comments

2 responses to “Pigeon destringers strike again”

  1. matayaya Avatar
    matayaya

    Good job being a good citizen. You piqued my curiosity about the subject. I assumed it was malicious actors, but it seems we humans shed all sorts of things, including hair and string. The urban pigeons graze the ground, exposing their feet to all sorts of our debris. Interesting how humans shed hair, and it becomes a significant part of the entrapment. When I first read your post about pigeons on a string, I was reminded of living on the frontier between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where children carried lizards and even tarantulas in their pockets, tied to strings. The kids would pull them out of their pockets and play with them during a normal home visit. Best Regards Avery Harden

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    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Yes in this case it’s not malicious intent – it’s just all our litter getting tangled around their feet. I think this was synthetic hair rather than natural fibres. I’ve read that pigeon stringfoot is more prevalent in places with a greater number of hair dressing salons which says a lot!

      That is sad that children would keep lizards and other animals tied with string in their pockets. We parents need to do better and educate our children how to treat others including non-human animals.

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