On Monday a Good Samaritan rescued a pink-colored pigeon from Manhattan’s Madison Square Park.
The bird lover transported the king pigeon – a domestic breed – to the Wild Bird fund, a nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation and education center, on the Upper West Side.
The pigeon, which was subsequently named Flamingo, was described as being in poor condition upon arrival.
The animal rescue group determined that the brightly colored bird had been deliberately dyed, and possibly used as part of a gender reveal, an experiment, or wedding party, prompting employees to release a statement:
‘Please never release domestic birds to the wild. Not for weddings, funerals, celebrations, art projects, anything. (We’d hope that ‘don’t dye them’ goes without saying, but…) They will starve or be preyed on,’ they wrote.
The Wild Bird Fund added that it seemed the bird had never flown before and was likely purchased at a poultry market. The bird also showed signs of long-term malnutrition.
Flamingo, the group said, would be unable to survive in the wild because it cannot find food, fly well or escape predators.
‘I don’t think we’ve ever really had a pink pigeon come into the clinic, so we were all pretty surprised,’ said Antonio Sanchez of the Wild Bird Fund. ‘We were honestly disgusted that someone would do this.’
As a PSA, the fund put out a general statement about bird treatment:
‘Please never release domestic birds to the wild. Not for weddings, funerals, celebrations, art projects, anything. (We’d hope that ‘don’t dye them’ goes without saying, but…) They will starve or be preyed on.
‘If you see an all-white pigeon in the wild, or any tame bird standing around looking lost, it needs your help. Please catch the bird and bring it to a pigeon rescue or animal sanctuary near you,’ they wrote.
n a statement the Wild Bird Fund condemned the behavior of those who released the bird into the wild dyed pink.
‘This poor bird has it bad enough as a domestic bird unable to find food in the wild, fly well or escape predators, but being a bright, unusual color makes him every more of a target,’ it said.
Many Facebook followers of the fund’s page were thankful the pink pigeon had been helped, though as disheartened as the employees were that the naturally white pigeon would have been dyed to begin with.
‘It has to be more widely advertised that weddings, etc, are no place to release this poor birds. Many people just don’t realize the harm they are doing. There should be a campaign to make people more aware,’ wrote Jill Koos.
Stephanie Schick wrote that as a fellow ‘rehabber’ herself, she’s ‘seen such an uptick in dyeing birds for gender reveal parties and other such ridiculous events.
‘Makes me sick to my stomach. These birds have it hard enough without being dyed. Where there is one there are certainly going to be more, as they usually release these dyed birds in flocks SMH,’ she wrote.