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.

Telling some useless bloke who just called you a bitch to fuck off, is not unreasonable imo. And you did the right thing by the pigeons and the kid. I see nothing unreasonable from you here.

Unfortunately there’s some people on here who think that because a pigeon cannot speak English or doesn’t actually get kicked that it’s totally okay for a child to do it :/
Not at all. The issue is your drama and the words you choose to describe what in the scheme of things is not nice but far from a tragedy.

I have a bit of a thing about kids chasing animals and often tell them not to. I think you absolutely should stop them if you can. Kids should be brought up to respect animals and if their parents cannot be bothered to tell them not to chase them then I will. I’m probably a bit hard core for Mumsnet 🤣

I think you did the right thing.

I hate seeing children chasing pigeons let alone trying to kick them. It might be a natural thing for toddlers to do but there are plenty of things which young children want to do but which we stop them from doing. It's all part of parenting.

I never let my dd chase pigeons because I didn't want her growing up thinking that it's ok to scare animals.

If pigeons were happy for overexcited children to run towards them, then they wouldn't react. Instead, they fly off because they are prey animals and they are startled and stressed.

Nobody should be chasing birds and animals. The OP was right to draw the parents' attention to it in my view. I don't believe in ignoring cruelty.

YANBU torturing animals is never ok, they sound like a bunch of dickheads

Agree with you and would have done the same . I volunteer for an animal rescue and sometimes can't believe what utter shits there are in the world .

We need more people like you calling out this behaviour, just this afternoon. I was in town and I heard, (possibly child's grandmother) saying to the child, "look Tommy there a pigeon there to chase" I tutted and she called me a miserable cow, I replied that I'm probably not as miserable at the pigeon.

In my area there has been so much wildlife (mostly birds by the river) who have been injured and attacked by feral kids using catapults to aim at them, that the local police have had to put warning up. So sad that these kids have been brought up to be so vile towards animals.

True or not, saying that the child was being “disgusting” and “torturing” the pigeons was never going to get a good response. Fighting words are going to trigger a fighting response. They probably wouldn’t have listened to you anyway, but if you wanted to have the slightest chance, you’d have been better off saying something like, “Could you please ask him to stop bothering the pigeons?”

So sad that these kids have been brought up to be so vile towards animals.

You can see by some of the dim parents here that their kids will grow up the same way.

Somw kids are dragged up not brought up we see daily examples

Pigeons, like all birds, are prone to stress and shock when they feel threatened and can easily die from stress. Any vet would tell you this. I found a large wood pigeon sitting on top of my tiny garden pond (on a water lily plant) in a state of shocked collapse last week. It had been attacked, probably by a cat and had lost a few wing feathers. It lay there for a good 30 mins, as it was too shocked to try to fly away. Fortunately, it slowly recovered and eventually could fly again.

I think you could have worded what you said better eg excuse me but it is making me sad to see your child attacking those birds, I know kids enjoy chasing but the kicking feels a bit unnecessary, please ask them to stop. Then walked off promptly.

Realistically though whatever you said to the parent would have gone badly. I'd have just said something soft to the kid like - oh, poor pigeons! That's not kind.

Id hav told the kid off, I have before for the same. They are living creatures and we are supposed to be raising the next generation, empathy is vital.

Of course YANBU, OP. I’m sad that 25% think YABU. You were brave and right to speak up. The child wasn’t being harmlessly playful, and it’s a bad sign when children show aggression to animals. Obviously the parents’ fault, as the man was disgusting too.

YANBU OP, well done for speaking up. Keep safe though, potentially starting beef with scroates.

The way you worded it was a little strange… Torture is perhaps hyperbolic but it was fine to ask them to get him to stop. I’ve always taught my DC to treat animals with respect and not do this sort of thing. We love and appreciate birds in our house anyway so my DC just wouldn’t do this.

I hate it as well, I've never said anything as I know I'll only get a use back. I judge and call them feral under my breath! My chiren have never chased pigeons or kicked them, my youngest tried chasing them once, I told him.off.and told him it wasn't nice to do that and he's not done it since. I'm also terrified of birds, but I still don't agree with chasing them.

I can’t find it now, but in the past I’ve seen posters showing what it feels like for a bird to be chased by a child. Basically the child is the equivalent of a dive-bombing plane.

Chasing them is hugely stressful for them. A few minutes of research online is all it takes to find that out.

I get where you’re coming from, I would have on this occasion spoken directly to the child, sounds like there are minimal parenting skills going on here. Playful chase, storming about trying to kick them shouting die - hell no.

good for you though, even though you got a mouthful back thank goodness people are around like you. They may think twice next time.

Jeez a toddler chasing a pidgeon is not the tragedy of the century or an indication of a future psychopath. Calm down. The pidgeon presumably flew off and carried on shitting everywhere and generally being the nuisance that pidgeons are. 🙄

It’s beyond me that people can possibly believe it causes pigeons trauma to be chased by children. If that were the case they’d avoid places with heavy footfall by humans. Yet they don’t, the places you see pigeons are the places with the most humans.

What are you on about? What's the difference?

The RSPCA: We don’t recommend allowing children to chase pigeons. While it may only be a playful act from the child, it can scare the pigeons, causing unnecessary stress and suffering and forcing them to flee from panic. They may even become injured in their attempt to fly away.