To be angry at my mum over an animal in distress

Absolutely horrific attitude to have. God that is just wrong. We’re a country family - we shoot game birds (and yes, we eat them.). Absolutely zero chance that bird wouldn’t have been rescued in our house, yes we may kill birds but you don’t leave an animal to suffer for days and have a long drawn out death because you cannot be bothered. What the fuck?!?!

Well if I was you I'd maintain a similar cba approach to her....
She's just awful.

the chimney sweep once found a dead one in ours. We truly didn’t notice that it had gotten in there. But dead or alive: the animal will have to come out of that chimney!

And I personally would strongly prefer it to be alive or - if impossible - have a quick death.

Pigeons are monogamous animals that mate for life, so it’s very possible that the pigeon will actually be missed (even if there are so many of em…)

This! I couldn’t listen to an animal die slowly in such a horrible way either.

But even if we ignore the ethical / animal welfare concerns:

1. this will stink!!
2. she will hear the pidgeon getting more and more desperate whilst she’s trying to sleep. Wouldn’t that keep her awake? Even just the noise (and not the ethics)?

I’d say that you are coming to do it yourself. I’m sure the shame of that and them not wanting their 7 month pregnant daughter doing a 6 hr trip and missing work for a ten min job would shame them into action surely. Actually do start going make it clear you are serious. I bet you don’t have to get very far

Is it dead yet ? 😔

Your mum is being horrible. 😡

I had a pigeon in a blocked off chimney once, i was able to get into it and let the poor thing out through the window. I know the world is not short of pigeons but I didn't want to let it suffer when it was fairly easy for me to release it (and also avoiding rotting pigeon smells and flies).

You aren’t in the wrong.
As sad as it is, her reward for being cruel is going to be one god awful smell. I remember noticing a lot of files in a house I moved into as a kid. My parents managed to locate the flies entrance: a boarded up fireplace. That was opened and the smell (and flies) 🤢.

You don't need scaffolding to put a cowl on a chimney. I live in a 3 storey house and the chimney sweep did it with ladders, including the ladder that hooks over the apex.

Netting is actually quite dangerous for wildlife, as they can get tangled in it and suffer awful constriction injuries.

The worst hazards are posed by netting at ground level e.g. football nets, loose netting over plants.

It's always worth putting gaming nets away between use & avoiding use of netting in gardening where possible

If it can't be avoided please make sure it's kept taut (AFAIK this doesn't eliminate the risk but may reduce it).

If you do find an bird or mammal caught in netting please call your nearest wildlife rescue rather than free them yourself. They will likely need to be monitored as constriction injuries can develop even after they are freed. Wildlife Rescue directory at www.helpwildlife.co.uk

@BeeHive909 the QT is because your post reminded me of this, not directed solely at you!

It’s not just your pregnancy hormones it’s called common decency and empathy for another living creature.

I am fuming on your behalf and close to asking where your mum lives tbh and turn up at her door saying I’m from a nature sanctuary and telling her she’s being a right cruel bitch. Sorry.

If she doesn’t want to sort it, fine, kind of weird she is talking about it flapping its wings in distress and not being pro active in calling someone to help sort it out, there’s plenty of bird Facebook pages for your local area on social media. I’m sure she/your dad can find one.

There’s netting on it but they’ve managed to get it in in the past

Probably because you've got to pay 100s for scaffolding, then pay someone to get up there and fix the cowl. Not everyone can afford such costs. I had to get my chimney pointing fixed and the costs for the scaffolding was more than the work being done.

Why don't you get a cowl on your chimney pot so the birds can't get in?

Her attitude is all that is wrong with the world hen we lose any compassion for other living beings other than humans. What horrors we have turned into. I couldn’t personally sit and listen to that and I wish I had not read this post

Just maybe it isn't a case of 'just unscrewing the vent'. If it's that upsetting op then go on her local Facebook group and book someone in to move the bed, and unscrew the vent. Have some compassion yourself.

@Corintha

As you know your parents' location, could you yourself see if there is an organisation that could send someone out to free the pigeon? I know you have work, but in your spare time - perhaps on a lunch break - you could perhaps do a search, or as someone else suggested, call the RSPCA and find out if they can send anyone to help?

I feel really saddened about this poor bird being left to die. I know you can't physically go over there and do anything, but I do want to encourage you to take some steps to see if it's possible to get it released.

Which part of the country do your parents live in?

What if you were honest with your mum about for upsetting you find the idea of it, maybe say pregnancy hormones are making you more sensitive but that you can't sleep because you're so sad for the bird, and if you're not willing to rescue the bird for its own welfare could they please do it for you because the amount of stress it's causing you.

Ok maybe you're not quite that affected, but clearly you're very upset by it as would I be.

How is it?

It’s one thing to not really care much about animals or their welfare but it’s a completely different thing to know that an animal is suffering a slow, painful death and you could spare that from happening within a couple of minutes.

I wouldn’t trust her around my DC.

@Azandmeoh I had this in my classroom too, it was a portakabin and a fox died underneath. The smell was like nothing I’ve smelt before. You’re right, it was in my clothes and my hair…vile!

You’re most certainly not over reacting, it’s horrible.

I absolutely understand how upsetting this is. Your post completely resonated due to the above.

Given it’ll require action at some point (in my case my mum had to pay someone to remove the gas fire to get the rotting bird out), it’s just non-sensical and needlessly cruel why they can’t channel that effort upfront and save the bird in the first place. So upsetting to witness.

This happened to me as a child when a crow came down our chimney and my mum refused to deal with it.

I recognise now as an adult she probably just didn’t have the capacity as a single mum with three kids working multiple jobs. However the memories of hearing it try to climb up, get to the level of my bedroom and clatter back down exhausted time after time until the inevitable, still haunt me to this day :(

https://www.massaudubon.org/news/latest/why-you-should-appreciate-pigeons#:~:text=People%20used%20them%20for%20meat,were%20allowed%20to%20keep%20them.