It is
difficult to imagine our iconic symbol of peace, the dove, metamorphose into an
emissary of death. That’s just what’s happening in our burgeoning and congested
urban areas. This is not some Hitchcockian vendetta. Indeed, the birds are
innocent and ignorant, but they have help—from us.
I am talking of the apparently innocent, slyly endearing
feral Rock Pigeon Columba livia, aka
‘kabootar’, or ‘pavuram’ (in Telugu). Before elaborating upon my seriously
accusatory beginning, let me fleetingly touch upon antecedents of pigeon-human
interactions. These birds originally inhabited rocks, and cliffs, where they
nested, and eked out their lives. But their association with mankind has
evolved over aeons. They’ve been a part of the weave of worldwide civilizations
and cultures.[1]
With the formation of towns and cities, they became our commensals, adapting to
the facilities our clustered environments provided them. It was a more involved
relationship in the past when we used them for sport and pastime, for service
(pigeon post), and as food. With the advance of our civilization, and the
diminution of leisure, kabootarbazi
has all but disappeared; technological advance in communications has retrenched
the messenger pigeons; and the poultry industry has removed the roast squab
from our menus.
Our
spiritual inclinations too have fanned expansive pigeon colonization. The
Prophet Mohammed (AD 570–632) is thought to have received divine messages from
a dove sitting on his shoulder; the pigeon / dove is mentioned in the Rig Veda
(1500–2000 BC); for the Sikhs it is a bird of peace, always depicted with Guru
Gobind Singh, symbolizing amity and peace in fractious times; and had the dove
not returned at eventide with a fresh sprig in its beak, poor Noah would have
had a hard time of it [Source: www.pigeoncontrolresourcecentre.org/html/about-pigeons.html]. Rationality
has seldom been religion’s strength. The nuance and symbolism of religion and
history have become gospel, and human acts related to them, even if irrational,
assume the invisible sanction of communities at large, and the faithful in
particular. In a world torn apart by fractious sectarian strife, we ‘worship’ this
symbol of peace, pandering a mere icon, and ignoring the message in real life
situations. Such misguided whims radiate through communities and congeal into deceptive
folly. Blind faith can be a Trojan horse. The explosion of rock pigeon
populations in our cities is a direct result of this conundrum.
The
compassionate act of feeding pigeons has become an overzealous absurdity that
supposedly imparts spiritually elevated feelings of benevolence. In our religious
fervor we feed feral pigeons vast quantities of grain. We strew it charitably
in public places and enjoy emotions of well being from this act of ‘piety’, but
spilt grain brings not peace, only huge quantities of poop from booming pigeon
populations! No scripture desires the faithful to feed pigeons enmasse, though
they warn of the folly of excess, which we conveniently forget.
Meanwhile,
the birds have become emboldened beyond redemption. Their Pavlovian instincts
are easy to train. With an unending, year-round supply of grain, and water,
they need only breed and perpetuate their kind. Our beehive-dense urban agglomerations
provide a plethora of ideal nesting places where pigeons breed unhindered.
Their traditional predators, Peregrine Falcons, are migrants to India,
preferring to patrol coastal areas. Few come inland. Their resident cousin, the
Shaheen, is a forest dweller. Feral cats are simply too few, and have easier
food available to them, from our garbage, to bother expending energy hunting
pigeons. Feral pigeons prosper in this heavenly urbania.
The problem
The problem
with feral pigeons is that they produce major antigens from their droppings,
feathers, and blood that cause diseases in humans. This is a known historical
fact amongst pigeon fanciers—those who indulge in ‘kabootarbazee’. People who have dovecotes, who race pigeons, or
once used them to carry messages, are prone to the malady called
‘pigeon-fancier’s lung’; a pulmonary condition. Pigeons, along with other birds
like parakeets, and ducks also cause a number of other zoonotic diseases:
Histoplasmosis (caused by the airborne fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, which grows in the bird’s droppings.),
Cryptococcosis (another fungus, Cryptococcus
neoformans); Psittacosis, Toxoplasmosis, etc. When pigeons are concentrated
in large numbers, and live in close proximity to us, the chances of infection increases
alarmingly.
The
grave concern about the relationship between feral pigeons and human health is the
bird’s unrestricted population explosion in congested urban built up areas. We
live in dangerously close contact with them, given the number of diseases they
cause. We pamper them with food and water, we accept them as neighbours, we tolerate
their droppings, their feathers, the mess of their nests, and their
vocalisations. We accept all this because living in unsanitary surrounds does
not seem to bother us. We are a tolerant lot. As long as the garbage is outside
our homes, our compounds, it’s not our problem. We don’t also complain to civic
authorities for the result of that is, invariably, a series of unwanted
headaches; not the desired remedy. We also tend to ignore the fact that
epidemics explode in congested areas in which the causative antigen-producing agent
is also included.
The disease
In recent
years it has been established that pigeons are one of the causes of a somewhat mysterious
lung disease, Hypersensitive Pneumonitis (‘HP’), which is one of the several forms
of Pulmonary Fibrosis. HP suggests itself on a chest X-ray and produces a
distinctive pattern on a CT scan. The threat is so serious, that Pulmonologists
frequently advise their patients to rid their environs of pigeons, or even change
their neighborhoods!
To
be fair to the bird, there are nearly 150 other identified causes for Pulmonary
Fibrosis, related in one way or another largely to moldy substances, or the presence
of dust in the various forms of work that men and women do. Contaminated water,
extremely humid work conditions, and various chemicals are also suspect. Given
this variety of causes, implicating the pigeon may prove difficult—and indeed, seem
a tad extreme to some people. Yet, it cannot be denied that the pigeon is one
of the commonest offenders in the propagation of HP, and doctors find it
difficult to ignore such a patently obvious aetiological agent—especially one
that can be ‘eliminated’ easily (see below).
We
don’t know yet why Pulmonary Fibrosis strikes, and we don’t know yet how to
cure it. Till a cure is found, we need to tackle what’s known: Whether this
involves giving up some habits, curbing irrational pseudo-religious activities,
or reducing unnaturally burgeoning wild animal / bird populations. Our
addictions, even to vague religious sentiments, make us overwhelmingly selfish.
We crave satiety at any cost—until the addiction catches up with the addict, or
a loved one. (Tobacco ravages mankind like a scourge; yet it is sustained by
the economies it spawns.) But the feral pigeon is no longer a commercial option.
It merrily thrives on our gullibility.
Meanwhile,
Pulmonary Fibrosis is making rapid and catastrophic progress in our urban
areas. People working in certain professions, or atmospheric conditions, are
more prone to it historically. But the urban pigeon problem has now created a
‘new’ source of the disease, which now strikes unchallenged across the spectrum
of our social orders. A majority of its tragic victims remain unknown, but
there are some it has struck, or felled that we have held in high esteem:
Marlon Brando, Nawab Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Laurance Rockefeller, James
Doohan (Star Trek), Peter Benchley (author of Jaws), and many others.[2]
Once afflicted,[3]
a patient is prescribed cortico-steroidal drugs, which have the potential to suppress
the natural immune defenses of the body. The soft tissue of the lungs gradually
stiffens like cardboard, effectively dying, shrinking the tissue that helps absorb
the life-giving oxygen into the blood.[4]
Breathing becomes an ordeal for the patient. Simple actions like talking,
sitting down, standing up, sleeping and turning in bed, eating, drinking, all result
in erratic levels of breathlessness, becoming moments of discomfort and adversity,
and indeed, even fear and apprehension. Gradually even the personal dignity of
privacy in toilets is compromised. No one should suffer this if we can help it,
or even mitigate it.
A solution
All is not
lost. There is at least a partial solution to the problem. We have encouraged
and allowed the feral pigeon to expand its populations without bounds. It is in
our hands to reduce its numbers. The remedy is simple; it involves no action,
and saves money all around, a win-win situation really. Let us resolve to stop feeding pigeons. Stop scattering grain in
public places, in open spaces, on rooftops, on pavements, in compounds, and
around places of worship (disease knows no religion). Pigeon populations will
automatically collapse. Let us make the feeding of pigeons in public places a
punishable offence (by imposing fines), as has been done with resounding
success around Trafalgar Square in London, and in several other cities,
including San Francisco, Venice, Albuquerque, New Jersey, Ontario, etc. The
Municipal Commissioner of Greater Hyderabad should take action under Section
565 of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955.
Without
food pigeon populations will crash. The birds will not breed. They will
gradually thin out, and disperse into an increasingly wider geographical area.
The processes of nature will take over, forcing them to forage for
themselves—as it should be.
Human
suffering will reduce, lives, and money will be saved—no more expense on grain,
on sanitation, and no more filthy buildings. Those with charitable inclinations
might even reorient their largess towards destitute and poor people. Let us
restore this fallen dove of death to its rightful place as an icon of amity and
goodwill.
[1] Cocker, M.,
& Tipling, D., 2013. Birds and people. 1st ed. London: Jonathan
Cape. Pp. 1–592.
[3] Statically
data is lacking, but anecdotal impressions of pulmonologists indicate scores of
new cases of ILD every week just in Hyderabad. Projections for the country
boggle the mind. There cannot be a more compelling reason to tackle the pigeon
problem swiftly and resolutely.
[4] ILD affects
the interstitium, a lace-like network of tissue, which is a part of the lungs’
anatomical structure. This gets scarred, causing, what is called, Idiopathic
[=the cause of which is unknown] Pulmonary Fibrosis [=scarring].
