Chicago pigeons deported to Indiana

Steffeny Smith took this photo of men trapping and carting off dozens of pigeons in Chicago. It turns out the city is working with an Indiana farmer who wants the Windy City's birds. / Steffeny Smith/WBBM

CHICAGO Chicago's great pigeon problem may have eased slightly, but it also has some residents crying foul over the fowl removal.

Social worker Steffeny Smith was disturbed by what she saw last Friday from an office window along North Broadway Avenue. As she describes it, two men shot a large net over 60 to 70 pigeons, trapping them.

The birds reacted with great distress, thrashing violently.

"I threw the window open because I was really triggered by it, it was just so horrifying," Smith told CBS Station WBBM. "You could hear the pigeons crying. They were, like, smashed into the ground."

When she went down to investigate, she received an unusual explanation: "He said they're carrying them off to Indiana," Smith told WBBM correspondent Brad Edwards. "You've got to be kidding me. You really are telling me that I'm supposed to believe that? Like, really?"

It turns out, the nemesis of all pigeons is 46th Ward Ald. James Cappleman, who has already proposed a $1,000 fine for feeding pigeons.

His office confirmed there have been pigeon removals.

"An Indiana farmer contacted us and offered to capture and take pigeons to his farm," Cappleman Spokeswoman Tressa Feher said in a statement. "He wanted them alive."

The alderman's office says the farmer has come to Chicago four times, but did not elaborate.

Smith -- no fan of pigeons herself -- finds the whole enterprise unnerving, particularly in a distressed neighborhood like Uptown. "It was so bizarre and so disturbing, it couldn't even compute to me," she says.

Any complaints that the practice might be inhumane are moot. The state's Department of Natural Resources classifies pigeons as a nuisance; they are not protected.

Smith wonders if the remaining pigeons have learned something, following the earlier removals.

"What's compelling is the feed is still here, four days later," she says at the spot where she saw the capture occur. "None of the pigeons are eating this feed. They know."

[Valhalla0907]

I'm curious as to that use the farmer has for the pigeons. It has to be feed or fertilizer, there is no market for meat. He had some very fancy equipment for a farmer.

[Grimaldy]

That farmer would probably be John Gruel, in Ainsworth, Indiana.
He is one of the people who sponsors live pigeon shoots. That is the he-men of the community gather with shotguns and release the birds from a box. While the bird is standing around trying to get oriented the macho-men blow it apart with shotguns at relatively close range. Whats the point of having a gun if you can't kill something with it, right fellas.

Shame Alderman Cappelman if this was your doing! Shame on the City of Chicago for promoting the slaughter of defenseless birds
by gun toting morons. What's next, the local school?

Those pigeons by the way belong to the People of Illinois, not the aldermen of Chicago and sure as hell not to the farmers of Indiana.

[fendferyerself]

another problem that is going to rear its ugly head over the next 2 decades? Canadian Geese!

[fendferyerself]

that woman that was horrified should have jumped in her car and followed that truck to Indiana. That way, on the conveyor belt, she could have held up her arm and yelled out her last words
"Soilent Green is PIGEONS!"

[fendferyerself]

ever wonder why we don't eat pigeons, like we do with chickens?
Is there any difference ? Granted, a bit smaller.
If you have a lot of pigeons and a lot of concrete and high rises, it equates to a mess and a germy one at that. Unfortunately the pigeons have got to go.
Ok what is the story with this man in Indiana? We need follow up!

[JackVigdor]

Some people do eat pigeons. They tend to be an oily tastingbird and hard to prepare since plucking the feathers is difficult since they are so small and have such thin skin. Also, the wild "flying rat" pigeons carry diseases.

[[oweghn]

Maybe the farmer could put out some soul food and capture Rahm Emanual.

[gbreadmann]

And 24 hours later the pigeons use their homing senses and fly back, faster than the farmer can drive to and from Chicago. You could drop them 1000 miles away and they'll be back faster than the person dropping them off.

[guest173]

I wish Texas would declare Ashe Juniper mountain cedar trees a nuisance and ban them, chop them down and replant something better. This stupid allergen plagues sooo many people here. If they can ban pigeons, they can ban trees that make people sick all winter.

[w_roos]

Yee haw! Tear 'em all down an put up a parkin lot!

[mjlewis6]

Pigeons are rats with wings.

But altogether, a likely local resource for fines if someone feeds them.

Perhaps they could be trained to vote with their droppings and elect a more benevolent Alderman than Cappleman. Afterall, they have learned to survive in Chicago, of all places, without a job !!!!

Wait a minute, they do provide jobs for car washes, janitors, building window cleaners, steeplejacks... to say nothing of medical professionals for H1N1 viruses, pest control...etc. And Chicago is now exporting pigeons....to Indiana. WOW. Put that on the tourist brochure and watch them in action.

[6543mike]

Steffeney Smith sounds like a very stupid person. How does she feel about the killing of termites?

[mastrbruce]

I saw these guys apprehending the birds. Kind of sad to watch.