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Original poster

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

114 replies

Scottishdreams1991 · 02/12/2024 10:46

This Morning I walked past seagulls attacking a pigeon:(
A man suddenly called out and picked the pigeon up. It was barely alive He then broke the pigeons neck on the wall. It was horrible and I can't believe he could do that but it was in pain and would have suffered a slow and painful death. His actions while horrible but kind ? Can't stop thinking about it

OP posts:
oakleaffy · 02/12/2024 11:33

Scottishdreams1991 · 02/12/2024 11:19

The pigeon was definitely badly injured
it would've died anyway.

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.

SabreIsMyFave · 02/12/2024 11:39

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

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! Flowers

@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.

Havalona · 02/12/2024 11:45

Assisted dying.

4intheCorner · 02/12/2024 11:45

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.

Thelnebriati · 02/12/2024 11:45

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.

MsJinks · 02/12/2024 11:48

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.

RosesAndHellebores · 02/12/2024 11:53

EvilsElsasPetSnowman · 02/12/2024 11:16

Ummmm… I don’t know what to say

TBH I’m a bit wary of people who can do this without a second thought. You know what they say about psychopaths

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.

Marsaala · 02/12/2024 11:55

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

AlteredStater · 02/12/2024 11:55

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!

CleansUpButWouldPreferNotTo · 02/12/2024 12:00

BobbyBiscuits · 02/12/2024 11:32

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.

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.

Ginmonkeyagain · 02/12/2024 12:02

@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.

FoxCrumble · 02/12/2024 12:08

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

inigomontoyahwillcox · 02/12/2024 12:11

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.

Fink · 02/12/2024 12:14

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.

Chipsahoy · 02/12/2024 12:20

EvilsElsasPetSnowman · 02/12/2024 11:16

Ummmm… I don’t know what to say

TBH I’m a bit wary of people who can do this without a second thought. You know what they say about psychopaths

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.

VeryCheesyChips · 02/12/2024 12:21

EvilsElsasPetSnowman · 02/12/2024 11:16

Ummmm… I don’t know what to say

TBH I’m a bit wary of people who can do this without a second thought. You know what they say about psychopaths

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).

Magicpaintbrush · 02/12/2024 12:22

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.

RobinEllacotStrike · 02/12/2024 12:26

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.

dollyop · 02/12/2024 12:27

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.

doodleschnoodle · 02/12/2024 12:29

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.

jannier · 02/12/2024 12:29

EvilsElsasPetSnowman · 02/12/2024 11:16

Ummmm… I don’t know what to say

TBH I’m a bit wary of people who can do this without a second thought. You know what they say about psychopaths

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.

username358 · 02/12/2024 12:30

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.

desperatedaysareover · 02/12/2024 12:30

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.

Dimpliy · 02/12/2024 12:30

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.