Danger for the "Ruhrpott-Flamingo": How the corona virus threatens the district pigeons

Pigeons in cities in the Ruhr area are considered dirty garbage eaters. What would be the consequences of a mass animal death as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?

• Most cities in the Ruhr region have a problem with pigeons and therefore prohibit feeding the animals.
  
• Corona viruses also threaten many of the gray birds in cities.
• The problem with the animals is a man-made one.
  

Ruhr area / NRW - They are considered rats of the air, but are mostly popular with children: pigeons are widespread in the Ruhr area and a thorn in the side of most cities. The problem with the gray birds could soon resolve itself through the corona virus, because the animals face immense problems, as RUHR24.de * reports.

Pigeons in the Ruhr area: why the birds are threatened by the corona virus

The shops are currently closed in connection with the Coronavirus * crisis and most city centers are therefore empty. Pigeons also usually go empty-handed in these times: the Ruhrpott flamingos currently find much less food waste than in busier times. The animals could face starvation and thus mass extinction.

The association Stadttauben Bochum is therefore now asking the city to let the pigeons be fed with suitable grains at different points in a controlled manner, as the WAZ reports. Employees of the public order office, animal rights activists or volunteers should do this according to the suggestion of the association.

Animal rights activists: Pigeons in the Ruhr area are at risk of miserable starvation due to the corona virus

In Bochum, Unna and Dortmund as well as other cities in the Ruhr area, feeding pigeons is actually prohibited. Anyone who still feeds the animals in the city centers legally makes them his property and then becomes liable for them. There are exceptions to the danger to animals.

In the Bochum safety regulation, for example, there is an exception for long periods of frost and snow. The Stadttauben Bochum association is of the opinion that the exception should also apply in times of the corona virus. Otherwise, the pigeons will face miserable starvation.

Pigeons in the Ruhr area: Effects of mass extinction of animals due to corona virus

However, the association also observes that grain feed is already scattered in places. Animal lovers would "organize themselves in order to counteract the hunger problem", Annabell Maehler from the association told the WAZ . However, it is doubtful that the food is sufficient to save most birds .

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There is hardly any research on the effects of a possible mass extinction of animals as a result of the coronavirus . However, it is clear that the problem of animals is a man-made one, because most pigeons in cities are actually pets . They have only a low willingness to migrate and were able to spread well through the affluent society .

Ruhr area: do pigeons just have a bad reputation?

Would a population reduction automatically be positive? Yes and no Because, as the city of Dortmund also communicates to the animal rights organization Peta , it is above all the reputation and not the factual situation that makes the "rats of the air" so unpopular. Although pigeons can transmit various diseases to humans, the actual risk is often viewed in an unrealistic manner and either overrated or underestimated.

Pigeons are not exactly popular in the Ruhr area. The birds' reputation is simply bad.

© Robert Michael / dpa

In addition, measures to protect against pigeons, such as pigeon pens or nets, are more damaging to buildings than their droppings: Although this is annoying, according to Peta, it does not destroy the surface structures of building materials such as concrete, sandstone, clinker, brick or softwood.

So pigeons could survive ideally in cities in the Ruhr area

Regardless of the current corona virus crisis , organizations such as NaBu recommend targeted concepts for pigeon management in cities - including in the Ruhr area . For example, supervised dovecotes could help control the population in inner cities. If the accommodations meet ideal conditions, the pigeons will move there on their own.

Video: There are over 3.5 million pigeons in Germany - but why do you never see chicks?

It is unclear how the cities in the Ruhr area are now dealing with the lack of feed caused by the corona virus for the pigeons. Among other things, the animal welfare party is calling for the feeding ban to be lifted at least for this exception.

* RUHR24.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

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