AIBU to tell a parent not to let their child torment pigeons?

[aliceyyyy2654]

I was walking in my town today and saw a young child around 6/7 chasing pigeons. This isn’t an unusual occurrence and I know children often do this, it’s natural for them.
this child was trying to kick the pigeons and shouting ‘die’ at them.
the mum/grandma (unsure due to slightly older age) just sat doing nothing. I went to the lady ‘excuse me, please could you not let your child torture animals, it’s disgusting’.
I didn’t speak to the child because ultimately it’s not her fault it’s the adults.

a man (not sure if known to them) said ‘shut up bitch’ to me, which I probably stupidly replied ‘fuck off’ and walked away.

AIBU to have spoken to the woman?
I accept unreasonable to swear but I wasn’t expecting him to come at me from behind like that.

Birds will experience a stress reaction when chased.

I don't think it is okay to do that to animals. I wouldn't let my child run at a deer in the woods, or a Dartmoor pony, or a cat. Those animals can all move faster than a human.

But your opener was really pass agg OP. It's basically saying "excuse me, please can you not be an arsehole, thanks!" With a lil headtilt.

It's better to be straightforward and lowkey with people IMO.

"Hey.... not sure if you know, but birds get seriously stressed by being chased. Could you maybe ask her to stop?"

I remember this discussion last time. Kids are hard wired to chase pigeons just like pigeons are hard wired to fly away. Pigeons don’t understand human language and they’re not some rare, must be protected at all costs wildlife. They’re essentially rats with wings.

Dogs and cats aren’t rare either, would you be happy with a child chasing your pet Blossom?

I’m not a dog fan, they’re smelly and don’t forget there’s LOADS of them. Can I chase them and try to kick them too?

I just asked my very feisty 8yo if she thought chasing pigeons was okay. Big thumbs-down.

"And next time I see a child doing that, I'll chase them myself! They've got legs, they can run!"

There's your answer OP - next time, chase the kid 🤣

Research shows that there's a correlation between the two. Child abusers frequently abuse animals as well.

😂 tell your 8 year old from one animal lover to another, she’s gonna be a great adult

Tbh the type of person to sit back and let their child do that is not someone who's going to respond well to being challenged so it was inevitable you'd get abuse.

Can they fly away? There’s your answer.

Cruel?! To watch a child chase pigeons ? 😭😭 give over

It's just the absolute lack of intelligence isn't it?

Not much hope for the DC with parents like that.

Yabu
Torturing???
They have wings, they'll fly away if they dont like it.

I've seen people actively encouraging children to chase pigeons.
Many more just allow the children to frighten them.
They are normalising a cruel attitude towards birds and animals.

OP did exactly the right thing by challenging this horrible behaviour.
How are children supposed to learn this is not an acceptable way to behave towards wild life if no one condemns the behaviour

I bet he votes reform

I just dont think its horrible

Its pigeons 😭

Life's too short for this honestly, and its definitely unreasonable to do more than silently judge 🤷‍♀️

@aliceyyyy2654 So happy my ds1 doesn't do this anymore. He's autistic, loves all animals and always wanted to pet them; pigeons, dogs, mice you name it. So running after pigeons to pet them just like he was following friends to play with them. Reciprocity and respecting boundaries is really hard for autistic children so I have to admit that I gave in and let him try to chase them every once in a while.

“They are pigeons. They don't give a shit and they can fly.”

But imagine if there were massive giants, maybe they would say the same thing about us as the kid-giants chased us for fun! “They don’t give a shit, they can run and hide!” 😅 Being comparatively smaller doesn’t mean you’re not without a nervous system?

I'm actually thinking the reverse:

Man - was offensive to you, okay maybe swearing wasn't the best, but you were provoked!

Mum/Gran - should have intervened before you asked them to & you definitely weren't unreasonable to say something. I just wonder whether the words "torture" and "disgusting" might have made her (& man if related) feel defensive / less likely to oblige & whether "could you please stop him chasing/trying to kick the pigeons he's scaring them/might end up hurting them" would have gotten a more positive response 🤔

So it's not ok to chase seagulls away from your chips?

Gosh, the sound of that barrel being scraped has put my teeth on edge 🤣

You were completely in the right, how horrible to let a child do that. Some people are also unpleasant and think nothing of being verbally aggressive 🙄

Pigeons fly off if they sense danger yabu, it would have resolved yourself without your input

Do the pigeons actually mind though? When a child runs towards them they run a few steps before taking off. They are able to fly from a standing start, and seem to me to be ok.

Chasing pigeons no problem. Hurting any animal and i would intervene.

We were in a local.town about 6 months ago and dh (from about 30 yards away and he had our little dogs with him so he couldn't intervene) saw a gang of kids kick a pigeon to death. They were all about 10, people were shouting at them, they gave not one fuck, they were gloating telling people to fuck off, laughing then rode off on bikes. one poor woman had 2 toddlers with her and all of them were hysterical. So no, dont let your kids or anyone else's torture animals.