Two things...

[conuly]

1. What the hell is up with LJ lately? I am not a happy Connie.
2. Ooh, an explanation on the Klingon thing? Gotta watch, gotta see.

Oh, and edit!

Question. Yesterday, I saw the most gorgeous pigeon, pure white. Gorgeous rock dove, not pigeon, whatever. Anyway, I've noticed that a lot of pigeons are missing feet or have very sick feet. What seems to happen is that they somehow get string wrapped around their feet. This string presumably cuts of circulation, and eventually the foot is lost.

They can survive with a stump, I've seen them, but it worries me. Does anybody know how this happens? Or how I can capture them, subdue them, and remove the string without harming the pigeon?

Comments

[genepool23.livejournal.com]

From what I understand, most of the pigeons you see with one foot missing are the result of them landing on high-voltage wires, usually the ones used in public transit in major cities. I doubt it has anything to do with string.

[conuly]

You're mistaken. I don't doubt that *some* birds lose feet that way, but I know that this isn't what is happening to *these* birds.

Firstly, they tend to live inside the ferry terminal, where there are no high voltage wires. In fact, I don't think there are any high voltage wires anywhere inside Manhattan, so...

Secondly, a quick google search confirmed my hypothesis. LJ is messed up, so I'm not leaving to find the links, but at least some pigeons lose feet due to string.

Third, I've seen the process. Healthy bird has string around his/her foot, tightly wrapped. Foot degenerates. Foot disappears. I've seen this often enough to see a connection between string/twine and foot loss.

[genepool23.livejournal.com]

Okay, I believe you. I come from a San Francisco perspective, where there are high-voltage lines all over the place, so much so that they cover the city in a vast web. Maybe I simply conjectured the correlation between the wires and the ubiquity of pigeons with stumps.

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~picas/pigrec/#CATCHING
Here's info on catching pigeons for recovery.

[conuly]

Bu-bu-bu... you can't believe me yet! I just posted a link! Gah!

All that effort for naught. *grins*

Thanks for the linky.

[conuly]

They give two different sources for the pigeon thread thing, no sources for electricity. Which is a pity, as I imagine that losing your foot due to electricity would at least cauterize the wound and help prevent infection.

Let's hope that this appears....