Pigeon Rescue Team

Please sign the petition to end pigeon culls at stations and share widely 🙏

National train companies have ordered the killing of pigeons Something cruel has been uncovered.

Injured woodie, now safe with our rehabber. He was injured by a cat so let us take this opportunity to post a reminder to:

Never release a bird that has been attacked by a cat, even if there are no visible injuries.

Cats' saliva has bacteria that will cause septicaemia so a catted bird urgently needs preventive antibiotic treatment to survive.

Please always seek help for any catted birds or other animals you find

STRINGFOOT INJURIES

Destringing is a very important part of rescuing pigeons. Many of our volunteers monitor flocks and help pigeons with stringfoot, either individually or as part of groups specialising in destringing.

The cause of this sadly very common problem is rubbish that humans leave on the streets. Pigeons, while foraging on the ground, get cotton, string, hair, twine, plastic wrap and all kinds wrapped around their feet. Human and artificial hair is the worst!

If caught early, it is usually quite straightforward to remove the string. But if left longer, it gets tighter and tighter and eventually cuts off blood circulation, causing significant injury. Feet can bleed, get badly infected and become deformed. Eventually, the tissue below the thread goes black and dies off, which leads to the loss of toes or whole feet.

Even tight and embedded string can be safely removed. Badly deformed, infected feet can often be successfully treated and sometimes even toes straightened.

Most of the time destringing is done on the spot so that the bird isn't taken away from their family unnecessarily. But this pigeon from the Lambeth North flock was in a lot of pain, lying on her belly and clearly struggling. She needed some more tlc and after a couple of weeks with the rehabber is feeling a lot better :)

What members of the public can do to help?

It's important to dispose of rubbish responsibly. Never throw away thread, clumps of hair and things like that loose outside. You could even pick up some that you spot and put it in the bin - that's one injured foot less! 🙏