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

[Scottishdreams1991]

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

I have dispatched a few animals, mainly rabbits with mixy. It's not pleasant but it is kinder than seeing them suffer imo.
I don't enjoy it.

Well, if you hit a kangaroo with your car, first thing you should always get the tyre iron out of the boot before you go to inspect it so you can do the necessary asap.

I saw something similar about a year ago where I think the pigeon had been hit by a car and broken its back...it could fly but it's legs wouldn't work...so watching it try to sit on the ground (fell over) or perch on a branch was horrible to see. I was debating about whether I should stop when a man who was nearer than me walked over to it while gently talking to it about how 'it would be ok little fella' and swiftly broke it's neck with his hands. I'm not sure I'd have done it so well, I was impressed by his kindness

Good on him, if it had of been in the road I could have run over it and it wouldn't have bothered me but I couldn't kill anything with my bare hands.

I often go back with the car if I drive past something that is half dead in the road. Obviously not a cat or dog! But squirrel, rat, rabbit, bird.

I had to kill a pigeon once and it was hideous. Poor creature had broken its wings and was being attacked by neighbourhood cats. We have kites where we live that swoop within minutes of seeing something injured. I had to get the mallet from the garage that my dh keeps for such instances. It was bloody awful but I think I did the right thing.

Of course he did the right thing. Would you have preferred it to last longer, being pecked and eaten to death by seagulls? Naturally it’s not a nice thing to witness, but it saved the pigeon any more suffering.

Just because it’s nature doesn’t really mean you should leave birds or any animal to suffer, just walk by.Personally l couldn’t just ignore.

It's worth checking that they're actually dying and not just stunned before doing this to birds (not sure about other animals). I watched a young seagull get hit by a car so I got out and trapped it. I took it to a vet and they called me the next day to say it was fine, just in shock, and asked if I wanted to release it myself. Also, birds can recover from things like broken wings if you take them to a vet or contact a wildlife rescue.

I'd say that caring enough about the animal to alleviate its suffering indicates you probably aren't a psychopath.

I have had to dispatch many a pigeon - we live rurally and had a particularly carnivorous cat for years. It always seemed the kindest thing to do if the damage was severe. Weirdly, I was unable to do the same when Evil Cat got a rat - it was way beyond help, so I reversed the car over it instead.

Herring Gulls are on the red list in the UK, conservation wise. Pigeons are not!

That is really kind of him.

I remember, as a child, on holiday, my dad was driving along a country lane, a car came the other way and a pheasant got caught between the two cars. Both stopped and the pheasant was flapping in the road, badly injured but not dead. The other car reversed and ran over it again.

I was shocked and my dad said he was glad the other driver did that, he knew he should, it was the kindest thing, but he just couldn't put the car in reverse.

I was probably about 8yrs old and it's stuck with me.

The kindest things are often the toughest things.

Were the birds herring gulls? Op didn't say

Not unless the man took the dead pigeon home with him, they're not. They'll have eaten the pigeon after he'd killed it.

So yes, it was the kindest thing to do for the pigeon and the seagulls will still get to eat. Generally speaking, if a pigeon's getting attacked by gulls it's usually a pigeon that was already sick/injured anyway, and dispatching it was the right thing to do if he knew how to do it quickly.

Bit different though, a sparrowhawk will have expended a LOT of vital energy hunting and bringing down the pigeon (they are at the top end of what a sparrowhawk can take, big effort).

If you'd interfered, the pigeon would still be dead but the sparrowhawk now put off, would be starving and lack the energy to make another kill that day and possibly the next.

Birds of prey like sparrowhawks have a very narrow window of fitness/flight/hunting weight, and missing a meal they've brought down and started to eat can be the death of them!

A bunch of gulls however are not going to expire for not being successful in battering a pigeon to death and wouldn't be put off from eating the carcass if a human steps in to wring the pigeons neck.

@LigamentBandy I was using poetic license! 🤣

It was the right thing to do

Common and black headed gulls are also on the red list. Lesser and Great Black Backed gulls are declining

All gulls are doing worse as a species than feral pigeons

Its horrible but if they were attacking it, it was probably ill to start with.

It’s completely normal to put a swift end to an animal’s suffering - it’s the humane thing to do if the creature’s going to die anyway.

My grandad used to do the same with rabbits suffering from myxomatosis. It's not something I could watch or do myself, but he was the biggest animal lover and so compassionate, he couldn't stand watching such suffering (and myxomatosis is horrific).

@OriginalSkang There are a lots of endangered animals, birds & butterflies . That's not the point of the thread though if it?

Hmm so only psychopaths work in abbotoirs? And maybe my nan was one. She wasn't past wringing a chickens neck and then plucking and cooking it

By PP’s logic we must all descend from psychopaths. I don’t think hunter gatherers had supermarkets…

Putting an animal out of its misery or killing an animal quickly for food is nothing to do with psychopathy.