This issue has been rustling a few feathers down in Exeter.

I’m quite partial to pigeon meat – cooked nicely they are a delicacy, especially wood pigeon breasts.

Is the problem that it’s homeless people doing the harvesting or just the urban environment in which they are being caught?

In Sidwell Street yesterday several disconsolate pigeons understandably flapped away when approached by passing pedestrians.

😆
Not entirely sure if they’re being serious there

Sounds like a civic service to me. I wonder if the complainers eat chicken?

A non issue.

If we allow the eating of meat then what is wrong with this?

A non issue.

Ah, that’ll be why it’s in the press and on the BBC news then?

Wouldn’t fancy urban pigeon myself any more than eating urban rats.

Cruelty in the method of catching and killing is another issue.

“It turns into group, then a bigger, now we’re eating pigeons, now we’re killing seagulls. It escalates.”

Seems like its not only the pigeon eaters that are drunk

A non issue

Sells faster than the Big Issue

Aye, it starts with a feral pigeon, but before you know it they’ll be on to albatross or turducken.

it all seems like conjecture. there is no evidence of pigeons being captured for food.

The PCSO says there is but there is not. There is a witness to pigeons being captured. Official report even states that explicitly.

“It is believed that street drinkers have been using bird seed to help them catch pigeons and put them in a rucksack. We can’t even begin to speculate on their motives.”

Ah, that’ll be why it’s in the press and on the BBC news then?

You need to have a closer look at the BBC, not everything on there is ‘news’ or even true.

People are hungry, there’s a food source nearby, and it’s no crueler than the dairy or chicken industries, if it is even actually happening.

I don’t really have a problem with it on an ethical level.

Obviously I wouldn’t necessarily want my 5 yr old to watch the little pigeons getting snatched, and my local butcher sells pigeons by the brace.

The blame the homeless angle interests me, given that camo-wearing gun-toting country types are regularly shooting dozens of them, but that isn’t press worthy I guess?

Public service. Should be giving them a quid for every picked-clean pigeon carcass they can produce. Same for seagulls.

That looks like it could be the work of the Southend News Network.

And talking of which … not heard much from Binners this week ??

http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news/greggs-van-hijacked-by-armed-attackers-outside-weight-loss-camp/

I’m only going to believe the story if it has the words “immigrant”, “foreigners” emblazoned on the HailingWhailingDailyStirTheShiteUp daily gossip paper.

So, is out.

If this is true it’s probable that there’s been an offence committed under the WCA (1981), which says its an offence to “Intentionally kill, injure or take any wild bird”.

The same would apply to “seagulls”, which I’m sure martinhutch knows are not a thing.

Just saying.

Gulls are inedible, i thought? or at least, not good eating?

Obviously I wouldn’t necessarily want my 5 yr old to watch the little pigeons getting snatched …

I once watched as a seagull fell into the harbour in Plymouth, shortly followed by its wing – the work of the wind turbine they used to have by the aquarium. A cloud of red stained the harbour waters around both main seagull and wing. Standing next to me was a young Bart Simpson type with his family. A drawn out “cool” was his reaction.

😀

“I was horrified… but how can you be so cruel to an animal?”

by killing and eating it..? 😯

willing to bet she’s got no worries in the supermarket where’s it’s all nicely wrapped in polythene and she doesn’t have to think about the nasty business of butchering…

Pigeons are a protected species. You can kill them for crop protection or public health reasons under the General License but killing for food alone isn’t actually allowed.

Pigeons are a protected species. You can kill them for crop protection or public health reasons under the General License but killing for food alone isn’t actually allowed.

I’m pretty sure if you’re sleeping outside every night, you really wouldn’t give a flying **** about such laws…

Ahem.

The same would apply to “seagulls”, which I’m sure martinhutch knows are not a thing.

Ehrob has clearly never been poked in the coconut.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9t-slLl30E[/video]

I quite agree, especially as most councils will be spending money on pest control. I just meant there is a ‘crime’ being committed.

bodgy – Member

Gulls are inedible, i thought? or at least, not good eating?

The “article” only mentions that a seagull was stamped to death by a drunk woman, no mention of eating it. Lots of tenuous suppositions in that article but either way I personally don’t think it’s acceptable to stuff a load of pigeons into a rucksack for whatever reason but then I’m soft like that.

Details. Details. The devil is in the speculation.

“It is believed that street drinkers have been using bird seed to help them catch pigeons and put them in a rucksack. We can’t even begin to speculate on their motives.”

So how is this about (gasp) homeless people eating game?

A Homeless People Eating Game sounds far more sinister.

First, you attract them with pigeons…

First, you attract them with pigeons…

Make sure you’ve got the right equipment ready…

Gulls are inedible, i thought? or at least, not good eating?

This used to be the case, simply because of their diet & they tasted quite like rotten fish.
Nowadays they taste like a mix of fish & chips & ice cream. 🙂

I like woodies.
I wouldn’t be eating those though.

I might however paint ‘Rusty’s Rustic Pigeons’ on the side of the Doblo and buy a big net.

Ah, good point MalvernR: possibly a game changer, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Some sources are citing homeless, and some street drinkers.

It’s pretty tricky to grab a pigeon sober – i’ve tried, in the interests of science – so it must be really difficult if you’re pissed on cheap cider?

I like woodies.
I wouldn’t be eating those though.

Only tried woodies a couple of times; I went off the idea when I found out they mate for life. 🙁

Me too.
😐

I had no issues shooting and eating them a few years ago.
Paper targets these days.

Still get freebies from friends now and then, but they’re killed in places where they’re being a pest.

I similarly have no issue with netting rabbits in areas of farmland where they’re becoming over prolific.
It was a free source of food for people up to WW2 and beyond.
And a much better solution than the deliberate introduction of myxomatosis, which continues to this day.

It’s nothing new.
My mate did exactly the same birdseed and bag trick many years ago, when skint and hungry. Yes, he killed & cooked them.

We can’t even begin to speculate on their motives.”

I don’t think the main issue is the eating of the pigeons, rather the stuffing them live into a sack.
Also doing it publicly in the town centre offends people.

The selling them for meat conspiracy theory bit is amusing.
I can just imagine a shady rep from the Tesco burger factory in an alley with his hat pulled down buying sacks of pigeons from the local alcoholics