The Day the Pigeons Died

There's no way I'm going to report everything that happens at the zoo every week, so I'll just pick a story or two. This week it's just one story, and it's crazy. Ask Robin about the song.

On Saturday I got to the zoo a few minutes late and nobody was in the breakroom or the food room. James was working with the jaguars and he told me that Denise and the rest of the keepers were at the zebra barn. So I walked down there just as the truck with everyone in it was driving towards me. I stuck my thumb out like a hitch hiker and jumped on the back with the other Lauren. She explained that they'd been locking the pigeons in the barn. Everyone had to help because they had to close all four doors at the same time. Those birds drive Denise nuts; they pick on the zebras, scatter their hay and build nests in the rafters. I'm trying to help you think of the pigeons as the bad guys.

I asked Lauren what was going to happen to the pigeons, and she drew her finger across her throat! Ah! So, I started wondering out loud if we were going to cut them up, poison them, inject them, or take them somewhere.... Lauren said it would probably be something like banging their heads against the wall (and she was laughing a little). My eyes were probably really big.

We rode the truck back the food room and picked up the food for the day. First we snuck some hay into the zebra barn. We were careful not to let any pigeons fly out. Then we were on our way to the giraffes when we saw the bird keepers driving up in their little golf-cart-carry-all-mobile. Have I introduced you to the bird keepers before? There's a guy named Travis, he's about my age and turkeys are his specialty. Then there's Diane. She hasn't ever really talked to me. I think she's 40. She wears a khaki hat and glasses and seems small. Travis and Diane hopped off their Carry All and grabbed their nets. I had my doubts.

So the four of us (2 bird keepers plus Denise and me) snuck into the barn and turned off all the lights. I don't know why the lights had to be off, but it made it scarier. We were hunting pigeons. Denise and I were supposed to scare the birds into the corners where Diane and Travis were waiting.

With a net in her hand, Diane turned into a sneaky hunter with ninja-like agility and speed. It was amazing! She was catching two birds, one after the other, in the same net, in the same second! After she caught a few birds, she brought them back to the door (by the light) to inspect them. This is when I learned that we were catching the pigeons to feed to the various birds of prey in the zoo. Apparently pigeon meat is excellent for their digestive system. ?

So, Diane, holding the birds wings back with one hand, felt their feathery tummy with her thumb to see if their pelvic bone had a big hole in it. You see, if it has a big hole in it, that means that it's a female and they've had eggs before. If there's no hole in the bone, it's a male. The plan was to keep the females for breeding, and kill the males for meat! Yikes! So, after Diane finished commenting on the pretty patterns on their wings, she put the females in a box and took the males outside. She turned her back to me held the bird between her elbow and her body and POPPED HIS HEAD OFF with her other hand!! OK, the head didn't come all the way off, but it sure wasn't attached to the body any more. Then Diane threw the writhing dead pigeon body into a waiting box where it flailed around and squirted blood everywhere. I didn't watch that part, I just saw the box afterwards and figured out what had happened. !!

Denise and I were excellent bird-scarers. I really liked jumping up and down, waving my arms and yelling "Not this way! Not this way!" when the birds flew my direction. Diane and Travis caught eight pigeons. Four males died, three females lived and one male lived because Denise really liked his coloring. Sure. So, the four dead birds go in the freezer to get rid of any "cooties in the crock" wherever the crock is. And the four live birds go into the pigeon holding area to have babies that will be used for food later. Wow. And that's part of the circle of life at the zoo.

I don't know what the moral is. I guess to be a smart pigeon and hang out on the roof instead of inside the barn. But it was definitely a new experience for me, and a really crazy story!