According to the blog, on July 21st, in the afternoon, a van pulled up next to the park and netted between 250 and 300 pigeons. The blog states that the NYPD is investigating this issue, but a spokesperson from the police stated: “There was no crime committed. Animal Cruelty Unit is not going to investigate something that isn’t a crime.”
This isn’t the first time pigeons were snatched from the streets of New York City. There have been reports for more than 10 years of pigeons getting netted by men in vans (usually white). These pigeons are then allegedly taken to Pennsylvania, where they are clipped and sold to be used in live canned shooting events.
If you think a couple of New York’s flying rats won’t be missed, you don’t know the power of nature. A memorial service was held last Saturday for the pigeons at the park. Tina Trachtenberg, artist and animal rights advocate, was behind this memorial.
Trachtenberg told the Washington Square Park blog: “You can’t go into a park and take a tree, take a squirrel. That’s not there for us to take.”
Park regular William MacLeod has rescued and raised number of pigeons since they were babies. He had a few trained to fly to his apartment window at night, and could call them to his shoulders just by walking through the park and calling their names.
“My pet birds,” he told the blog, “my five flyers are gone. There are 300ish birds in the park at any given time. I’ve counted about 30 are left.”
Taking wildlife from NYC is a crime, but the city seems to be turning a blind eye to this. The NYPD seems aware that “this happens” from time to time, but has not been willing to open any investigation into the issue.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
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