Trapped Pigeons Update. Many Of You Wrote To Us Or..

TRAPPED PIGEONS: UPDATE

Many of you wrote to us or tagged us, on your concerns regarding trapped pigeons found at a columbarium.

ACRES received a call on 13th Nov from a concerned member of public about pigeons trapped in a cage (as shown in photo), with some of them dead in crowded conditions. We found a total of 18 pigeons, of which 8 were unfortunately dead. We rescued the ten rock pigeons, of which 2 sadly passed away on the way to our facility. Following rest, food, monitoring and warmth, the 8 pigeons have been released (some are in the last photo).

ACRES also spoke to the temple & columbarium’s office, who were open to sharing about the pigeon-related feedback from visitors attracted to the food offerings. They also shared that they had called the authorities to take the pigeons twice in that week, but no one had since collected.

ACRES has also eventually met with the management to propose outreach to visitors and methods to keep the offerings secured in cage and end the trapping (as trapped pigeons will eventually be culled using carbon dioxide as it is done islandwide for trapped pigeons or crows). Unfortunately, we understand that trapping may continue, just as it is done in many housing estates in addition to poisoning of pigeons. We have also proposed use of netting as a physical exclusion method for pigeons from accessing the offerings during high-traffic periods such as the Qingming festival, and we sincerely hope that the management will consider this for future. We are grateful that they made time to discuss and we will continue to work with them to follow through on these proposals.

Separately a cruelty case was filed on the conditions in which these poor birds were found, requesting NParks to look into the case and why the birds were not picked up as well.

Trapping and culling of these birds is not an isolated situation at one site. Rock pigeons and crows are trapped and culled islandwide. It breaks our hearts to see culling of urban birds, where the animals pay the price with their lives because we (humans) are resistant to changes or spending resources in the way we handle or manage food/food waste or to implement long-term structural modifications/exclusion methods. In the long run, we sincerely hope to engage more residential estates to address the root cause (food sources availability), and move away from short-term, cheaper and quick-fix inhumane methods of culling them.

#RockPigeons

#CityInNature

#ACRES

Source: https://www.facebook.com/22159071522/posts/10159880998761523..

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ACRES (Animal Concerns Research & Education Society) is a pioneering Singapore-based charity and Institution of Public Character, founded by Singaporeans in 2001 with the aim of promoting animal welfare.

ACRES has six focus areas: Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Wildlife Crime Investigation, Zoo Animal Welfare, Humane Education, Community Outreach and Promoting Cruelty-Free Living.

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