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

He did the right thing, I'd like to think I'd do the same in the circumstances, but I can see that it would be traumatic.

I did once purposefully drive over a pigeon when the car in front of me had clipped it and it was very seriously injured (flapping about but not able to move, was obviously very mangled). I'm sure I looked like some sort of psychopath who enjoyed taking birds out with my car to the car behind me when they saw me swerve and leave a freshly squished pigeon in my wake.

I’m very concerned that if AI joins forces with seagulls, we could be finished.

@BobbyBiscuits I live in London and I've done it. We had a pigeon that was badly attacked in our garden by a cat, it had serious puncture wounds in its neck and was dying. I wrung its neck and dispatched the corpse.

Caveat - I am a farm kid so not my first rodeo.

Gulls have always preyed on other birds and or stolen their eggs - it's neither vicious nor disgusting, just nature at work. It's only comparatively recently they've come to rely on their ability to steal human food, and we can observe them close up.

As for the man taking action, he gave that poor pigeon a swifter end than the gulls would have done.

That's a really tough thing to witness, but the man did the right thing, I think. Not something I could have done but I would have felt bad that I couldn't!

"Trigger warning" I thought this was going to be about someone shooting something. What's that all about?

It was done due to need not pleasure but I come from farming stock. How do you think chickens were killed on the land?

Are all the MP's who have just voted fkr assisted suicide psychopaths in your view? Actually I imagine a higher percentage of them are than in the general population. Will the medics who administer the drugs be psychopaths?

The only question I would ask is whether the gulls would have finished off the pigeon more slowly than the man.

My grandad had to shoot a badly injured horse once because the vet was 90 minutes away. Grandad wasn't a psychopath, he was a kind man.

I once dodged a squirrel on a road that actually had a bird pecking at it but was lifting its head though couldn't seem to get up. It was a straight clear view road and I could see bird/squirrel so knew something was wrong slightly before getting on top of the scene, although full picture only apparent very close when I chose to very quickly swerve; the bird flew up out the way so it was the squirrel I was avoiding.
I was asked after why I didn't run straight over it to put it out of its misery and I never thought at the time, just was upset at the sight of it. It would have been so much kinder to run it over with the wheels, though I'm still not sure I could have done it - I feel quite poorly of myself that I didn't think and act for the squirrel - credit to the folk who do act in animals' best interests.

Vets put their feelings on to one side and deal with traumatic injuries and euthanasia; it doesn't make them sociopaths. They can do it because they know they are acting in the animals best interests.

That reminds me of a time I was out working the fields with my Dad. We came across a crow with a broken wing, Dad said he had to put it out of his misery so he deliberately ran it over with his tractor.

Of course it's not nice, but it's the right thing to do to prevent unnecessary suffering. I personally couldn't do it, but if you're in the farming industry you'll come across this quite often.

Assisted dying.

Seagulls target pigeons- as do magpies.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3797947/Horrific-moment-seagull-attacks-pigeon-eats-ALIVE-busy-railway-station-disgusted-commuters-watch.html

@Scottishdreams1991 Ooooh, what a thing to witness !!!

I have seen various men (DH, my brother, my uncle and my dad) kill badly injured birds over the years (DH has done it twice.) Only after they have been attacked by a bigger bird, or a cat - or are just hopping along with a broken wing. But it's a horrible thing for them to have to do. The man was quite brave doing this, and yes he DID do it out of kindness. Sorry you had to see it mind you!

@TheThreeCheesesOfTheApocalypse44 I have also seen a bird of prey rip apart a smaller bird (starling) a couple of times, right in front of my eyes on my side lawn. It's a sight I will never forget. Traumatising. It happened twice in 3 days 2 summers ago. Never before or since. Weird. And horrible. It's just nature though.

The seagulls didn't attack that pigeon because they're evil bastards, they're wild birds. It's the nature of the beast.

So the man spared it an agonising death of being eaten alive.
Can you imagine being pecked to death? Much better to have the neck dislocated so death is instant.

There's a difference though between people who do this because they want to end the suffering and people who do it because they enjoy the suffering - and maybe draw it out.

Who picks up a disease addled wild animal and smashes it head off on a wall?! If someone in London did that people would think they were clinically insane! Just for the hygeine side of it alone. I guess I'd call the RSPCA but they probably don't care about pigeons.
I guess maybe it was the right thing to do but I can't imagine wanting to see it.
Seagulls are so gross. There was a dead pigeon on the road the other day, flattened, and this seagull was dragging the carcass around and eating it. I swear they never used to be that vicious or disgusting.

@Scottishdreams1991 A friend and I did the same thing to a pigeon.
It was being attacked by two magpies.

Under the pigeon's wing was a dreadful ''stab'' wound that went deep into the poor pigeon's chest, from the beaks of the magpies.
Between us we dispatched the pigeon swiftly and painlessly.
No way could the poor thing have survived the deep wound.

They go for under the wings of pigeons.

Or just experienced with animals....

I remember seeing a sparrowhawk eating a pigeon alive, the poor thing was lying there ripped apart being eaten. I really regret not stamping on it and being a coward. He did the right thing, yes, it's nature. But let's face it we all die and we'd all rather it was quick and painless.

There is a link with psychopathy and deliberately hurting animals as children. Putting a pigeon out of its misery certainly wouldn’t count! 😂

Grim, but definitely the right thing if it faced a lingering and painful death.

As for the comment above about psychopaths - some people just aren’t squeamish about this stuff. They’re also used to being around animals and the realities of that.

I have had to do that on two separate occasions after local (not my) cats had attacked. On both occasions it was a wood pigeon and both times were horrendously injured but not quite dead.

I won’t describe the injures but they were significant and the birds were most definitely were suffering immensely and would not have survived even to get them to a vet to be put down.

it’s not something I am happy to have had to do it but both these creatures deserved for their suffering to end.

on another occasion I called rspca for a pigeon with a broken beak, sadly they told me it would also probably have to be put down as the beak likely can’t be fixed or survive without a working beak but at least this time It was well enough that I could keep it safe until a professional could come to pick it up.

I hope I’m not going to get awful comments about this because I hated every second of it but I felt I had to put the dignity of the animal before my own emotions.

If preventing an animal that will otherwise have a lingering painful death from suffering makes you a psychopath, then include me. I've done it for a bird (once) didn't seek it out, really hated it but would have felt worse about not doing it.

He did the right thing. Upsetting, but less so than leaving it for the seagulls to finish off.