pigeons aren't capable of cannibalism according to google, it also claims they mate for life.
Found a injured pigeon?
- Thread starter Craterloads
- Start date
They do mate for life. Just like humans, they occasionally cheat. When their mate dies, they do appear “depressed” but almost immediately recover when you put another potential mate in with them.
It’s a shame they’ve gone from being considered like dogs or cats to being hated by so many people. I don’t have a problem with people who don’t like them, and controlling their population can be necessary in some cases, but the hatred some people have for them is incredible.
I rescued a pigeon in a similar condition to the OP’s one a while back. She fully recovered and is very happy in my aviary with her mate. She’s 8 years old now, is considerably cleaner and easier to take care of than my wife’s dog, and is very intelligent.
Part of me wants to see the pigeon paired up with it's mate again, but I doubt that's going to happen.
Fair play, OP. You acknowledged that the pigeon was a living thing which was suffering and you've done right by it.
It's born from experience due to high pigeon numbers which causes the hatred. For an example there's 4 car parking spaces where I live which are unusable due to a large tree overhanging the spots which around 30-50 pigeons use overnight. This means there is literally (and I measured for a council report) a 1cm think layer of disease ridden poop on the tarmac and/or cars parked there. So if there had only ever been 1-2 pigeons then I doubt there would be much issue, but with the sheer number of these flying around, they and their poop (which can transmit histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis and psittacosis to humans) are rightly seen as a public menace alongside rats.
edit - spelling
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Patient zero for COVID-22.
Yeah, that’s why I said that I can understand the need to control their population in some cases.
At the end of the day, we domesticated them and brought them to our cities, they wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for us. Their poop can be dangerous, but then again so can dog poop, the only difference is that where most people live there’s very few stray dogs but a lot of pigeons.
Wild birds are hard to treat, even if the injury is not life threatening they can often die from shock and stress just from having it in your home because they are not used to it. I've rescued many animals in my time. You can use Savlon spray to clean up its injuries. I would gently feel where the break is then see if you can repair it until the bone heals in place. Birds have a very sensitive respiratory system so things like air fresheners, cigarette smoke or vape, cooking and household cleaners are all harmful to birds.