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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think people are ridiculous about pigeons?

32 replies

Balsam · 26/04/2011 13:24

They flap and scream and kick out at them and say they carry disease.

I mean, has there ever been a medically documented case of someone catching a disease from a pigeon? Ever?

OP posts:
Animation · 26/04/2011 13:27

Yes, my mother's always going on about them - never understood it. Hmm

TrinityRhino · 26/04/2011 13:28

some people are scared of them and use the disease tjhing to make them look less silly

personally I dont give a shit about them, I like birds

meditrina · 26/04/2011 13:29

Link to NYC's official website, detailing three diseases which affect humans and which are carried by pigeons. I think pigeon shit can harbour salmonella too.

piprabbit · 26/04/2011 13:30

I'm not keen on London pigeons because they all have these diseased, semi-amputated, gnarled, stumps instead of feet. And weirdy bald patches where they should have feathers... then they try and land on you and nick your lunch.

MillyR · 26/04/2011 13:31

I think it is more of a problem for people who already have issues with their immune system.

Bucharest · 26/04/2011 13:31

Dirtier than the dirtiest rats.
Vermin.
There's a really bad (fatal) lung condition caused by pigeons as well. When my stepfather died of a lung thing, the coroner called to ask if he had kept pigeons as apparently this disease is almost always caused by them.

Morloth · 26/04/2011 13:34

I hate all birds. I am an equal opportunity hater.

Horrible things with their creepy eyes and scaly little bodies and sharp claws.

Yuck.

I will grudgingly acknowledge that birds of prey are not quite as disgusting to me as the others, but only just.

Pigeons are the highest on my 'yuck' meter.

The only good bird is a breaded and deep fried one.

LadyCornyOfSilk · 26/04/2011 13:34

squirrels can carry disease as well but people ooh and aaah over them. Mind you I hate pigeons - they crap on my washing.

LadyCornyOfSilk · 26/04/2011 13:35

yes the lung thing - they crap all over empty buildings and the spores get in the air.

piprabbit · 26/04/2011 13:37

I'm not keen on squirrels close up either. The ones in our park regularly mug toddlers in buggys for their snacks...very sinister.

Animation · 26/04/2011 13:37

Well I personally think pigeons get a lot of bad press.

pissovski · 26/04/2011 13:39

i am actually scared of them - well of most birds really :(

MillyR · 26/04/2011 13:39

Squirrels are of no more risk to humans than any other wildlife.

Morloth · 26/04/2011 13:40

The squirrels at least are cutish, in a 'make a lovely pair of gloves' kind of way...

But really just rats with good PR.

MinnieBar · 26/04/2011 13:40

Pigeons = rats with wings
Squirrels = rats with fluffy tails

Animation · 26/04/2011 13:41

Are seagulls OK?

CotesduRhone · 26/04/2011 13:41

I quite like pigeons. If they didn't eat all the rubbish and vomit on our streets, we'd be up to our eyes in rats, which on balance I think would be a lot worse. Grin

LDNmummy · 26/04/2011 13:42

Actually as a London resident I think YABVU. They are incredibly dirty and definitely do carry disease. I don't ooh and aah over squirrels as they are equally as bad in my opinion. Rats, flying rats and jumping rats. YUCK!

If they were pigeons from forests I don't think I would give a tiny rats ass though. I have eaten pigeon in a lovely french restaurant before and it certainly was not the kind you find shitting on people under the railway bridge, it was a wild outdoor pigeon from a forest or something along those lines (it was written in the menu description). Big difference.

Morloth · 26/04/2011 13:43

'Are seagulls OK?'

No.

Paschaelina · 26/04/2011 13:47

I'm with Morloth. Nasty flappy squawky beaky scarey creatures are all birds and they freak me out.

Especially when you're stuck in a room with one flapping wildly at you while you're sitting on the loo completely freaked! Shock

Lizcat · 26/04/2011 13:51

Lots and lots of documented cases of pigeons transmitting salmonella and campylobacter. They also carry paratuberculosis too. Any injured wild pigeons get to take the die or fly test in my clinic. Even the RSPCA feel pigeons fall below the line.
Grey Squirrels = horrible biting vermin
Red Squirrels = beautiful shy animals

LDNmummy · 26/04/2011 13:52

Oh and more than once this has happened to me in London:

You get on a tube carraige (often above ground) and a pigeon flies in to pick at some crumbs that it has espied from the platform (or wherever the horrid little hole is that it nests) and gets stuck in the carraige with you and other passengers as the train goes underground. It starts flapping wildly and pooing while everyone is trapped in this small space with it. YUCK! Sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

Animation · 26/04/2011 13:54

It's a bit like dolphins and tuna. Dolphins have got good PR but it's like fuck off tuna.

OTTMummA · 26/04/2011 13:54

seagulls are actual spawn of satan, didn't you know that?
Look at their eyes if you dare.

ComeAlongPond · 26/04/2011 13:56

I don't mind them if they know their place. But there's one down my road who sits in the middle of the road and won't move for cars. He just isn't afraid. Everyone has to stop and drive round him and hope that he's in between their tires not under them.

One day he's going to be run over and I'm not going to be all that sorry for him, to be honest.