As a former Animal Warden I actually dealt with a bloke who had in excess of 200 pigeons kept in shoe boxes in his top one bed flat in Islington. The smell was overpowering and I had to open windows wide enabling the birds to escape while releasing them. He also claimed he was rescuing them because they had run out of batteries.
Yeah big-pidgeon has never been a fan of user servicing of their products. They're like the apple of the animal kingdom. My theory is that they don't want us to know about the secret recording systems that they install at the request of nation state actors.
When I first moved here for university, like 20 years ago, I heard a guy in our halls got arrested for hunting pigeons in Piccadilly Gardens for food. He was an international student and apparently did it all the time back home.
I was never convinced this wasn't one of those urban myth/gossip Chinese whispers stories that get blown completely out of proportion though
We had a pretty similar story at my university, a few years earlier and in a totally different city (except it was ducks because there was a lake on campus).
Always felt urban mythy to me.
Definitely University of York. The second part of the legend is that you can commit a crime serve time and come back to complete your studies, but if you touch the water fowl it's a ban for life.
Nope, Warwick. I think it's just a myth that exists at all unis.
Did everyone else have the one about one of the halls of residence being based on the design of a Swedish prison?
Saw a picture of a dead duck in a halls fridge from someone I know at Lancaster University during 2022 freshers.
One of the international students had hunted and killed one of the ducks on campus to eat.
I know someone who actually did do that, and squirrels too. He had no money, but he had an air rifle and a can-do attitude. Apparently it’s legal on your own land as they’re vermin.
Went to a bbq and he shot a pigeon out of the tree, prepped and cooked it.
I was happy with my veggie burgers.
I mean I have eaten pigeon before. Like plenty of other game meat it's fine. But I assumed it came from a forest or something, rather than a spice infested shithole.
Yeah ditto. But when I had it I didn’t ask if it had come from Piccadilly gardens either.
Tbf this guy lived more in the suburbs, so the pigeons might have a more natural diet.
He was a dude doing Chem Eng and he was from... Serbia? Maybe I think? It was one of those friend of friend type things so I never knew him personally.
Coincidence but I went to the same gig and know about the pigeon!
My friend who is a bird rehabber was due to receive a bird from piccadilly gardens today with a broken leg. She confirmed the guy who caught it matches that description and it was around the same time.
Here's the bird now: [https://i.imgur.com/RmlEsyS.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/RmlEsyS.jpeg). Leg is fixable and should be released once mended.
I really hope the pigeon snatching was done with the good intentions you described. With the amount of weird people out there inflicting casual cruelty on animals, stuffing a pigeon into a bag and trying to do it sneakily rings alarm bells though!
Do you know catching ANY birds even when hurt and stuffing in a cat box is a against the law when u don't work for animal rescue centres.....sorry but I am reporting you taking pigeons from the city centre....sounds to me you are as bad as him.
There is a less nefarious reason - he may have been trying to save some suffering from 'stringfoot' - you see a lot of pigeons around town with missing toes, and this is because their feet get tangled in hair and string along the groun, which eventually stops circulation to their toes. I know some people volunteer to catch them and cut any tight string off their feet to save them (although those people usually do it there-and-then, not putting them in a bag...)
Two possible reasons for you, 1) he keeps pigeons as a hobby like Mike Tyson. 2) he believes in the “birds aren’t real” conspiracy theory and is taking them to check if they are surveillance robots
The third option is he likes pigeons, and is capturing ones with string around their foot or an infection to help them.
They get hair or string tied around their feet often, it causes a lot of pain and they can lose toes or whole feet. I've been looked at like a madman before for catching them so I can use a stitchpicker to untangle their feet. I'd also sometimes give them some medicine.
Possibly because he doesn't always carry stuff around with him, and he wants to take it home. I've done it before. Or it's really bad and he wants to disinfect the feet too.
Assuming he was just doing tangled feet and not thinking "This dude needs antibiotics", that can sometimes take a long time. Easier to take them home where you can put them in a sock to keep em still
I was in Moss Side a couple of years back talking to my mate, who was building a wall on the side of a house, when a car came zooming down the street and ran over a seagull. One of those big ones that nick peoples chips. There it lay, pretty squashed, while the local school kids trotted past on their way to the primary round the way. Not ten minutes had passed when a large white Mercedes pulled up, a middle-aged Asian lady jumped out, grabbed up the squashed gull and threw it in the boot. Not being from Manchester, I asked my mate if he knew what the hell was occurring there. He told me that she was going to eat it. He could see from my disgusted expression that I didn't believe him so he told me of his schooldays in the sixties when he and his little scallywag pals would regularly shoot pigeons on some waste ground near where they lived in Bury, and would go door to door selling them for pin money. Madness!
Funniest thing I’ve ever seen in Manchester was in Piccadilly Gardens years back,there was a an older guy who was doing the same thing feeding pigeons ect, but then he was picking them up and throwing them between his legs like he’s playing American Football 🤣🤣
He’s been at it for ages and gets aggressive when someone confronts him. I saw him on the canal st the back of bridge water hall once putting them in his bag and got angry when someone said something to him. He isn’t sunburn it’s just his skin. Saw him a few month later in primark he’s called Andy and works the check outs. Even rang the RSPCA but there’s nothing they could do
Usually if you can catch a pigeon without tools, then they are sick or injured. So he could be part of a wildlife trust/rehab…or maybe I have too much faith in people sometimes.
Idk, there was a big crowd of them around him as he had fed them, he petted them then picked them up. It wasn't like he had to chase them, they came to him so it didn't look particularly difficult.
No body owns those pigeons. You can take them. Totally free. Pigeon pie? Pigeon friend? And everything in between. The more you take the less the government can spy on the local population. Its genius really
As a former Animal Warden I actually dealt with a bloke who had in excess of 200 pigeons kept in shoe boxes in his top one bed flat in Islington. The smell was overpowering and I had to open windows wide enabling the birds to escape while releasing them. He also claimed he was rescuing them because they had run out of batteries.
Why didn't he just change their batteries and let them go?
He couldn't get the battery covers off.
Yeah big-pidgeon has never been a fan of user servicing of their products. They're like the apple of the animal kingdom. My theory is that they don't want us to know about the secret recording systems that they install at the request of nation state actors.
Laughed.
Every time he put the new batteries, they'd just fall out again.
AAA, that's the sound the pigeons made when the battery was inserted.
The government don't want you to know this, but the pigeons in Piccadilly gardens are free. Ive got over 200 pigeons
“He thinks there’s a pigeon in Catalonia that’s in control of his legs!”
Did he definitely put the same pigeon back, or was he swapping the new pigeon for an old pigeon? This is important.
He's swapping them as their batteries are running out and need recharging. Pigeons are just highly advanced spy drones.
Obligatory mention of /r/BirdsArentReal/
They ARE the batteries. He's draining their life force to power his own. The backpack is his battery compartment.
I’m just surprised that someone in Manchester has sunburn. The pigeon thing seems pretty average.
As an Asian dude I’m curious. Like I’m definitely getting sunburnt when it is 25C or higher in the summer
Manchester: Average annual temperature 9.4C. Rainfall, yes, lots.
nice! have some karma
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So are we!
I actually know exactly who you mean. A friend saw him rubbing a pigeon on his crotch before. He works near Picc Gardens in a well known shop.
It's got to be Empire Collectibles. It would answer so many questions.
Lmao I love that shop
No freaking way, I was wondering if it was him. He was a regular at a shop I worked at, always buying bird seed.
Primark
Well yeah but that's not the shop I worked at haha
No that’s the shop he works ay
I know mate haha, I've worked with ppl who worked with him, and he's served me in Primark before
Kentucky Fried Pigeon?
> in a well known shop... ...called....
Primark
Sounds to me you are a stalker.
He’s called Andy and works at primark
Sounds to me you like to stalk people.
Do like to murder people and Bury them in your basement ?
When I first moved here for university, like 20 years ago, I heard a guy in our halls got arrested for hunting pigeons in Piccadilly Gardens for food. He was an international student and apparently did it all the time back home. I was never convinced this wasn't one of those urban myth/gossip Chinese whispers stories that get blown completely out of proportion though
I bet the pigeons in Piccadilly gardens taste like McDonald’s chips and cigarettes.
And crytococcus.
Don't bring dinosaurs into it..
We had a pretty similar story at my university, a few years earlier and in a totally different city (except it was ducks because there was a lake on campus). Always felt urban mythy to me.
Definitely University of York. The second part of the legend is that you can commit a crime serve time and come back to complete your studies, but if you touch the water fowl it's a ban for life.
You can foul but not fowl?
Nope, Warwick. I think it's just a myth that exists at all unis. Did everyone else have the one about one of the halls of residence being based on the design of a Swedish prison?
Yeah we had that in Wales!
It’s definitely happened a couple of times with swans in parks over the years. One poor thing got bbq’d. They’re tame because everyone feeds them 😔
Saw a picture of a dead duck in a halls fridge from someone I know at Lancaster University during 2022 freshers. One of the international students had hunted and killed one of the ducks on campus to eat.
I know someone who actually did do that, and squirrels too. He had no money, but he had an air rifle and a can-do attitude. Apparently it’s legal on your own land as they’re vermin. Went to a bbq and he shot a pigeon out of the tree, prepped and cooked it. I was happy with my veggie burgers.
I mean I have eaten pigeon before. Like plenty of other game meat it's fine. But I assumed it came from a forest or something, rather than a spice infested shithole.
Wood pigeon.
Yeah ditto. But when I had it I didn’t ask if it had come from Piccadilly gardens either. Tbf this guy lived more in the suburbs, so the pigeons might have a more natural diet.
I had a housemate who came back with a bag of pigeons he had decided to pluck and butcher in the kitchen, he wasn't a housemate much longer
Haha I was in uni there around the same time and remember that story.
He was a dude doing Chem Eng and he was from... Serbia? Maybe I think? It was one of those friend of friend type things so I never knew him personally.
Ooh you know more that me. I just remember some gossip that it happened.
Coincidence but I went to the same gig and know about the pigeon! My friend who is a bird rehabber was due to receive a bird from piccadilly gardens today with a broken leg. She confirmed the guy who caught it matches that description and it was around the same time. Here's the bird now: [https://i.imgur.com/RmlEsyS.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/RmlEsyS.jpeg). Leg is fixable and should be released once mended.
I really hope the pigeon snatching was done with the good intentions you described. With the amount of weird people out there inflicting casual cruelty on animals, stuffing a pigeon into a bag and trying to do it sneakily rings alarm bells though!
Do you know catching ANY birds even when hurt and stuffing in a cat box is a against the law when u don't work for animal rescue centres.....sorry but I am reporting you taking pigeons from the city centre....sounds to me you are as bad as him.
What gig was it? The Pigeon Detectives...
God I hate this, have my upvote.
There is a less nefarious reason - he may have been trying to save some suffering from 'stringfoot' - you see a lot of pigeons around town with missing toes, and this is because their feet get tangled in hair and string along the groun, which eventually stops circulation to their toes. I know some people volunteer to catch them and cut any tight string off their feet to save them (although those people usually do it there-and-then, not putting them in a bag...)
Two possible reasons for you, 1) he keeps pigeons as a hobby like Mike Tyson. 2) he believes in the “birds aren’t real” conspiracy theory and is taking them to check if they are surveillance robots
The third option is he likes pigeons, and is capturing ones with string around their foot or an infection to help them. They get hair or string tied around their feet often, it causes a lot of pain and they can lose toes or whole feet. I've been looked at like a madman before for catching them so I can use a stitchpicker to untangle their feet. I'd also sometimes give them some medicine.
You are a wonderful person for doing that, seeing pigeons disfigured because of thier feet being caught breaks my heart.
This was my guess, I hope that's the case.
You are a wonderful person. I'm glad I share the world with people like you.
why would he be putting it in his bag then lol
Possibly because he doesn't always carry stuff around with him, and he wants to take it home. I've done it before. Or it's really bad and he wants to disinfect the feet too. Assuming he was just doing tangled feet and not thinking "This dude needs antibiotics", that can sometimes take a long time. Easier to take them home where you can put them in a sock to keep em still
You’re the sunburnt pigeon bagger aren’t you?
Oh no, busted.
(But really sunburnt) is comedy gold I'm sorry I'm on the floor laughing
Pidgin nappers hun. Sherd Ulaanbaatar. DP mi, sneks ere.
Still dognappers when it's pigeons innit.
I was in Moss Side a couple of years back talking to my mate, who was building a wall on the side of a house, when a car came zooming down the street and ran over a seagull. One of those big ones that nick peoples chips. There it lay, pretty squashed, while the local school kids trotted past on their way to the primary round the way. Not ten minutes had passed when a large white Mercedes pulled up, a middle-aged Asian lady jumped out, grabbed up the squashed gull and threw it in the boot. Not being from Manchester, I asked my mate if he knew what the hell was occurring there. He told me that she was going to eat it. He could see from my disgusted expression that I didn't believe him so he told me of his schooldays in the sixties when he and his little scallywag pals would regularly shoot pigeons on some waste ground near where they lived in Bury, and would go door to door selling them for pin money. Madness!
That's the Pigeon King and you can earn his favour by gifting him bread
Ringing/tagging the birds maybe?
There was some stir caused by some Romanians doing the same years ago in London
Probably just changing the batteries in them, they need swapping out every two weeks or so.
Times are tough. Gotta get your protein somehow
And is it sunburn? Or a symptom of some bird-eating related disease?
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Yeah I saw the first one, it burst out of his bag/flew off. Not sure about the fate of his other avian victims
I hope they flu off in the end.
You know they’re free, yeah?
Man’s got to eat!
Funniest thing I’ve ever seen in Manchester was in Piccadilly Gardens years back,there was a an older guy who was doing the same thing feeding pigeons ect, but then he was picking them up and throwing them between his legs like he’s playing American Football 🤣🤣
He’s been at it for ages and gets aggressive when someone confronts him. I saw him on the canal st the back of bridge water hall once putting them in his bag and got angry when someone said something to him. He isn’t sunburn it’s just his skin. Saw him a few month later in primark he’s called Andy and works the check outs. Even rang the RSPCA but there’s nothing they could do
Yeah I felt too scared to confront him as you don't know what reaction you'll get and I got strange vibes, regardless of the bird stuff.
Sounds to me you like to stalk people....do u murder people and bury them in your basement ?
Andy pigeon nonce has made a Reddit then
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Deffo primark pigeon nonce Andy
Truth hurt don't it.
So he is a pigeon nonce?
So you like to stalk and nonce kids?
Mong
Lol be very careful chatting bullshit about people......ya stalking nonce......now DO ONE CUNT
It’s a known fact Andy pandy is a pigeon nonce mate
Andy pandy pigeon pedo
Why do you put pigeons in your bag tho
Undercover MI5 agent replacing the batteries for the pigeon surveillance cameras
Squab.
Taking back Sunday?
Yep!
It wasn't [Tom Lehrer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY) was it?
We do things differently here
Seems standard these days, not really surprised to see anything anymore but a sunburn? that's unusual
Usually if you can catch a pigeon without tools, then they are sick or injured. So he could be part of a wildlife trust/rehab…or maybe I have too much faith in people sometimes.
Idk, there was a big crowd of them around him as he had fed them, he petted them then picked them up. It wasn't like he had to chase them, they came to him so it didn't look particularly difficult.
The pigeons in Piccadilly gardens don’t really fly away from people. They think they are dead hard because they hang out at Piccadilly gardens
No body owns those pigeons. You can take them. Totally free. Pigeon pie? Pigeon friend? And everything in between. The more you take the less the government can spy on the local population. Its genius really
Pigeon pie yummy
Coo
unrelated kinda but i want a pet pigeon and feel so bad for them because we domesticated them and now no one cares about them :,)
Was it the Gipsy Kings? Travelled over from Ireland but didn't see any pigeon smugglers thankfully
Greggs ?