To think what this man did was kind ( trigger warning ⚠️)

@BobbyBiscuits bit dramatic ... Who mentioned bashing it's head off a wall ? You've added that bit in your head!

He then broke the pigeons neck on the wall. It was horrible

@CaptainMyCaptain I guess I'm a bit naive when it comes to wildlife, inner city kid that I am.
When I was young you only ever saw seagulls at the seaside, and they didn't try and steal your food with such intense vigour. I'm sure they used to be much smaller as well?
I guess the eating the corpse thing is just natural. I just didn't know they ate other birds! I guess our city pigeons regularly devour chicken bones from the bin. Which is probably less natural?

@Scottishdreams1991 i was going to do that to a pigeon a few years ago but decided against due to the flack I would have got!! think busy city square, sunny day, people all over on the hundreds of benches!! well done to him. it is easy to wring their neck and put them out of their misery! hold it by the head and swing it round once is usually enough and i dont mean swing it over your head!

There have always been animals that eat carrion (dead animals) they haven't suddenly become depraved. You could say they do a service by keeping the roads clear of squashed animals. Dispatching the pigeon quickly and letting the seagulls continue with their dinner is fine.

I would have done the same as the guy (probably, I wasnt there to gather all info obvs)
I once 'necked: a pigeon in a city center bus depot, that had been hit by something and was near death struggling, and would not have recovered from its injuries , the kindest thing to put it out of its misery. I was about 13/4 at the time but had grown up on a farm. The reaction of others was intense to say the least; I didn't make a song and dance of it . I did bag it and bin in though as not to cause further distress!
I rescued/removed a distressed pigeon from a busy shopping street a few weeks ago. Picked it up carefully gave it the once over and took it to a much less busy area , released it and watched it for a a few minutes , till it flew off
I did look pretty odd with a pigeon tucked under my arm, chatting away to it!

I remember seeing a sparrowhawk eating a pigeon alive, the poor thing was lying there ripped apart being eaten

Yup. Nature's brutal, Perfectly normal for animals to have pieces torn off them as they are slowly eaten whilst alive and conscious. I read an account of a wildlife photographer who witnessed a large bison type creature ( can't remember exact species) being eaten by a pride of lions. He said it took 20 minutes before the it stopped lowing. All the while being eaten alive by a pride of animals.

Its why I can't believe in God. Or praise his creation as 'wonderful'. Its bloody brutal. So much appalling pain written into the system. Its not an add on. Its how the system functions.

In that case it was the right thing to do, to give the bird a quick, relatively painless end to its suffering.

The assisted dying bill is getting a lot of attention at the moment. The general consensus is that it's cruel to let people suffer if there's another choice. You'd put a pet down. Why not extend that kindness to wild animals?

Although, OP, I'd have been shocked and it would have bothered me to see it, too.

I did think that. Do we really need a trigger warning on someone putting a pigeon out of its misery?!

There's no point putting a trigger warning without a brief description of the trigger.

We live rural, and my husband has had to do similar things. He is an animal/nature lover, and I always admire when people can put aside their own feelings to help a dying/injured animal. I get mad at myself knowing that I couldn't do it personally, despite knowing it's for the best.

A bird hit my window recently so I ran downstairs with a box in case it was in shock. I considered what I'd do if it was beyond help and decided that I wouldn't have it in me to break its neck. I think I'd have had to rush it to the vet down the road for them to deal with. In the end I couldn't find it so hopefully it was ok and flew off.

Years ago I knew someone who had ducks and a fox got to them even though they'd installed various predator-proofing. They were so badly injured he had to kill them all. It was awful.

I have done the same as I came across a pigeon being attacked by crows. I whacked it with a log as I couldn't bring myself to break it's neck. Couldn't have just left it there being pecked to death :(
I was heartbroken by it and me and my mum debated whether we could do it for a while before deciding that there was no way we could leave it like that.

It was kind of the man to do that.

DP is vegetarian and would never willingly hurt a living creature, but he grew up around animals and the countryside so is pragmatic about things. We once came across a distressed, severely injured wild goose on a walk (possibly had been shot - it's a wildfowling area) and he killed it to prevent any further suffering.

No idea how to dispatch a bird but did he do it right? How did he break its neck on a wall? I have only heard of wringing its neck as quickly as possible.

RIP pidge.

Out walking one day I found a pigeon attached to the front grille of a parked car, the wing was hanging on by a thread of muscle. I worked it out and set it free, wing trailing in its wake, but couldn’t bring myself to kill it. So I went and got my dad, who did the same as the man today. It was for the best, and I admire people who have the intestinal fortitude to end an animal’s suffering. I was more disturbed to think what would have happened to a one-winged pigeon and disappointed in myself for being a wimp and prolonging the agony.

I have a bird story.

I was walking along a busy road and heard a bang. A Coot was on its back in the road waving its legs after being hit by a car.

I stopped the traffic and rescued it. It was unconscious so I put it inside my coat and took it home. I sat on the sofa for a while with it in my coat and it woke up.

I examined it but it only seemed to have an injury to its beak. I put it in a box and went to bed.

In the morning it was gone. I looked all over for it and eventually found it and put it back into the box. I went to my local park near a lake and opened the box and it flew off.

Doesn't mean there is no second thought or compassion vets put animals down routinely they still care taking a bird on a vets journey in a car stressing it out can be very traumatic the bird could die of fright (stress) you don't know what the man did for a living maybe a farmer, vet, GP who knows.

My husband hit a pheasant in the car once. He got out and it was very badly injured but still alive and clearly in a lot of pain, so he dispatched it quickly. He was quite upset by it but definitely the right thing to do.

Sounds like this man has maybe worked with livestock or similar to be able to break a bird neck easily and humanely like that.

Couldn't have done it myself but he did the right thing.

My dad's friend once asked him to drive several miles with him to dispatch a barely-alive rabbit he'd seen on his way home. He couldn't bear doing it himself but didn't want it to suffer more.

I wish he was with me over the weekend.

On the beach was a crow with a broken beak - I feel a bit sick and sad just thinking about it again. The top part of the beak was at a 90 degree angle to where it should have been & looked like it was twisted upside down too. It was trying to eat but couldn't. It was dreadfully sad & quite upsetting.

Poor bird will no doubt be starving and in pain until it dies. I would not have been brave enough to kill it though.

It was kind to intervene but I couldn't have killed it - I don't think I would be so certain it couldn't go on to recover. If I was in a position to take it to a vet I would have, but it depends if you are able to do that. Vets don't charge for wild birds btw.

I stopped in my car once when I saw a magpie viciously attacking a terrified juvenile blackbird, the mother blackbird was there squawking her head off, it's was really horrible, blood on the road etc. I scared the magpie away and moved the little bird out of the road, it had blood on it, but I couldn't be sure the magpie wouldn't come back. I could have taken it to the vet, but I thought it might die of fright/shock and I didn't want to separate it from the mother. Sometimes it's really hard to know what to do for the best. I did once find a blackbird upside down on the lawn in the baking sun, legs in the air, put it in a box and took it to the vet - it looked like it would die - but it didn't, it made a full recovery in 24 hours.

Who said there was no second thoughts?

I’m a bit wary of people that throw insults such as ‘psychopath’ around unwarranted.
Walking past would be the only cruel act here (although I completely understand why people would and wouldn’t judge them for doing so).

Rubbish. Some of them, like my dh, grew up on a poultry farm. He doesn’t do it without a second thought. In fact when our lovely rescue old chicken was injured this year, he was very upset at having to do it. It is the kinder thing than allowing suffering.

I saw a couple of crows peck a pigeon to death while I was having lunch with my toddler. I didn't know what to do (and also was in quite an unsalubrious location and didn't want to leave my daughter). What horrified me most was that the crows got bored and flew away pretty much as soon as the pigeon gave up, they didn't even bother to eat it.