The common pigeon or the Blue rock pigeon has forever been a symbol of peace. No confusion about that at all. Feeding them or not, could however be a reason for a long drawn debate.
There are two kinds of people in Delhi, one who believe that feeding pigeons is a stairway to heaven, the other side believes that pigeons are responsible for most of the respiratory ailments in the city. Neither of this is the absolute truth.
Baby pigeon at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
As I waited for the traffic to move on a busy Delhi road one day, I saw a young boy talking to his pet pigeons on the terrace of his house. He gestured for his pigeons to come back to him. I couldn’t see where they were perched. They came to him, one by one. He delicately held them in his hand, and gently placed them in his makeshift wooden Pigeon box. I am calling it a box because, it didn’t look like a cage at all.
There has been a long tradition of breeding and feeding pigeons in India. In old Delhi you can still see families keeping pigeons on their terraces. The star of ‘Masakkali’, the superhit song from the film Delhi-6 was one such pigeon. The young boy’s white pigeon seemed to be a relative of Masakkali.
Feeding pigeons at traffic signals is definitely not a sure shot way to heaven, On the contrary, it can be a major safety hazard. The pigeons won’t starve, if you don’t feed them. If you want to feed them for charity, for religious reasons, for fun or just because others are doing so; whatever your reason may be, it is your choice. You are not helping them. They are birds, like all the other birds who know how to survive. Pigeons are not dependent on us for their nutrition. They can eat seeds, insects and other available natural resources. They eat human food because we give it to them. Human food is not good for their health.
Pigeon droppings and feathers are associated with respiratory diseases. The increase in pigeon population has seen an accompanying depletion in other species of birds. It is alright to talk about survival of the fittest but it is not a fair fight between species, if by feeding them you are making survival of one species easy. The fight for food available becomes tougher.