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16715
From: Alan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Pigeons are having their toes amputated by waste human hair
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Pigeons with mutilated feet are a common sight in cities – and human hair appears to be the grizzly culprit. It turns out that the greater the number of hairdressers on a city block, the more pigeons have missing toes. This is not the first explanation for the birds’ missing toes. One widespread belief is that pigeons get foot infections from standing in their own excrement. Some think that the environment makes them prone to infectious diseases, and others believe that chemical and metal spikes used to deter them are causing the injuries. But pigeon experts have also noticed that birds often have string or human hair wrapped around their toes and feet. This can eventually tighten, cutting off circulation and leading to tissue death and the toe falling off. This observation prompted Frédéric Jiguet at the National Museum of Natural History in France and his colleagues to study the relationship between the foot health of pigeons and possible sources of these hairs or strings. To do this, they studied the number of foot mutilations in pigeons found at 46 sites across Paris, and how these related to different features in the environment. Pigeons were more likely to have mutilated toes in city blocks where air and noise pollution was high, and where a greater number of people lived, they found. In addition, the greater the number of hairdressers on a city block, the higher the chance pigeons were to have lost toes – seemingly because waste hair is escaping into the environment. “Hair cut at the hairdressers are removed by garbage collection services with household wastes, and during this process, we could expect residual cut hair to end on the sideways and pavements,” the authors wrote. If the birds can’t untangle themselves, the hairs begin garroting the toes – causing what is known as “stringfoot”. The good news is that having green spaces near the city blocks seems to protect the pigeons from losing toes. The study also found that foot health had nothing to do with how old the pigeons were. Nor did it have any relation to how dark their plumage was, which is typically a marker of of how resistant they are to pathogens. Nevertheless, the authors noted that there are usually more hairdressers in more densely populated parts of cities, and this could have explained some of the link to foot mutilations. |
16716
From: Alan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Pigeons are having their toes amputated by waste human hair
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Despite the consensus, there are still many myths on why city pigeons have bad feet. There is even a common misconception, mainly in the United States, that leaving hair and string out in the backyard for the birds is helpful. “OK, who hasn’t seen the suggestion to put scraps of yarn, twine, string and even human hair out for the birds during nesting time?” Wrote ourherbgarden.com in response to an advisory post by the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue Centre. “We get in many baby songbirds every year missing limbs due to string-like materials in nests,” the Centre said after an influx of online posts recommending the unintentionally hurtful practice. |
16718
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Pigeons are having their toes amputated by waste human hair
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I have never seen nor heard the suggestion to put scraps of hair, twine, string and human hair out for birds during nesting time....There's so much other stuff here like moss and twigs, leaves, I never gave it a thought to add man made stuff or human hair scraps to the outdoors for birds nests. Stranger world every day. |
Responses:
[16719]
16719
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Pigeons are having their toes amputated by waste human hair
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Okay on second thought I do put out man made bird houses fir birds to put nesting stuff in. I just don't put nesting material out, there's no need to. |
Responses:
None
16717
From: Terry/S.Utah, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Pigeons are having their toes amputated by waste human hair
| Time to ban anyone having hair. |
Responses:
[16720]
16720
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Pigeons are having their toes amputated by waste human hair
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Human ban aught to cover it...dominion gone awry. |
Responses:
None
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