Question

Question
Hello, how are you going? :-) I love pigeons a lot, and we have some in our backyard. They are so very smart and lovely and they eat out of my hand and they let me pat them. They are so intelligent! If I feel sick they all come and sit around me. They know what time is their food time and if I am running a bit late they stand on the back porch and grunt very loudly till I come out with their food. If their food is ever a bit late they come and look in the kitchen window to see where we are. My question is- why is that when I tell all my friends how excellent pigeons are, they screw up their faces in a ball and say "oh yuck, they are full of infections get rid of them" I tell them that they are not like that at all, that they are smart and funny and cool but all my friends whinge about how they are pests. Of course I am not going to listen to any of my friends, I am keeping my lovely pigeons forever. But have you noticed that people say stuff like that too, and why do they say it? I am guessing it is because they have never had pigeons so they don't know how lovely they are. I tell my friends that I read in the newspaper that 1 in 8 people in the population have got STD's so it is people who are infected, not pigeons I say. Then my friends say pigeons are dumb and I point out this youtube video where it proved that pigeons are so smart that they solved this puzzle that before that jhad only been solved by a chimpanzee or something like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDntbGRPeEU

What do you think? Why do most people think pigeons are dirty and pests, when really they are clean and smart? Thanks heaps for your time, I do appreciate it a lot :-) Kind Regards, from Christina :-)

Answer
Wow!  An interesting question.

I have raised pigeons since I was a small boy, so am well aware of the prejudice you are talking about.  Primarily it comes from the fact that feral pigeons have literally taken over most city buildings and do, in fact, create a terrible mess.  Secondly, farmers have traditionally hated them because they would live in the old style barns and mess on the hay.

As to disease; most diseases are species specific and nearly all parasites are also.  In other words, pigeons cannot spread roundworms to other species any more than a dog or cat can.  

The good side to pigeons are myriad!  Historically, they have been pivotal in the study of evolution.  They were one of the first species to be intensely studied in the field of genetics.  They were heavily relied upon for military communication in WWI and prior wars.  Stories of his pigeons in war, by Wendell Levi, are an interesting read.  Mr. Levi and Dr. Hollander (and others) spent their entire lives studying and learning pigeons, to the benefit of all society in many ways.  Famous pigeon breeders include Darwin and di Vinci.  

Racing Homers can be trained to find home (regardless of where that is) from over a 1,000 miles.  Birmingham Rollers do backward summersaults in midair, apparently for the shear pleasure of it.  Tipplers are bred to fly to extreme duration, over 20 hrs.  Swing Pouters loudly clap their wings, Thief Pouters are bred and trained to steal mates from the neighbors loft!  The genetic diversity in Pigeons nearly matches the domestic dog.

Don't let humanities ignorance dampen your enjoyment of life!!

Dave