Small children chasing pigeons in the park - harmless or mean?

I think all little ones chase pigeons, or anything else, it’s not malicious, it’s fun to them, they don’t know not too, until they are told.

We teach our children respect of other people, animals, belongings or whatever.

Unfortunately discipline and respect are not part of some people’s make up anymore.

A few years ago whilst on holiday in Devon with my family, we saw a man kick a seagull hard, so they’re not always quick enough to fly away. This man then felt justified in aiming another hefty kick and despite lots of shocked faces no one said a word to him. We were some way down the street but when we caught up it was obvious the poor bird was badly hurt, so my wonderful son in law got a cardboard box from a nearby shop and took the bird to a vet. Unfortunately it was too badly injured and had to be euthanised.

I know the OP’s grandchild was ‘only’ chasing pigeons but it has to start somewhere. Some children seem to be born with empathy for other more vulnerable beings. Others have to be taught empathy. If the parents think it’s ok to chase and scare animals then it’s not a good start. I’m glad the OP’s daughter has good instincts.

Thank you Doodledog

Honestly, some of the replies on here are extremely over the top. You would think my 2 year old granddaughter was stoning these pigeons to death while I happily stood by watching.
She is 2 years old. She was running around with a few pigeons in the park for all of 2 minutes, she probably thought she was just playing.
She doesn’t chase geese or ducks, or ‘torment’ any other animals.
I wish I’d never started this thread as some of the replies are not just ridiculous over the top, but actually upsetting.

My puppy's favourite game is being chased after. No stones. No violence. Just fun. I dont think we can really know what's in a pigeon's brain and if a pigeon can be traumatised by litle people squealing in delight.
Honestly I am way more bothered by the fate of animals bred and killed in horrible ways so we can eat cheap meat.

how would you feel if someone was screaming and chasing you.
Not thrilled, but the huge, enormous and massive difference is that I can’t fly away! The OP’s GD can chase them all day but she’s never going to catch one, and the pigeons know that - they might be irritated but they won’t be scared.

And she was not throwing stones at them - why do people constantly bring that up?

It doesn’t matter that birds do some things that humans don’t like. Birds are stripping my Mulberry tree and pooping on the lawn at the moment which is most annoying. The important thing is not to encourage children to be unkind to sentient creatures for fun.

At Cliveden the other day I saw a huge family (twenty or so members) having a picnic and one mother was with her two boys at the edge of the duck pond throwing stones at the duck and ducklings.

You would never have seen that sort of behaviour even ten years ago.

when my son was small i would take him to george square in glasgow and we would feed the pigeons, they would jump up to the bench and take food out of our hand, i would not let my son chase them and recently when out he told his son not to chase them, how would you feel if someone was screaming and chasing you. take some food and let your gd feed them but not chase them.

My kids used to chase seagulls with their arms held out, pretending to fly. Obviously potential serial killers. Humph.

This thread has taken a bizarre turn. A little child chasing pigeons is not an abusive child throwing stones at birds and hitting them with sticks!
Pigeons are used to every sort of noise and movement from people and vehicles. They flock, they land, they scarper and return. Little put them off - even in cities where they fire guns to scare them off - they still return.
By all
Means discourage the child if that’s what the parent wants - but let’s hope the fools who feed wild pigeons are told off too / they are attracting rats to cities and parks!

BlueBelle

No viceversa I would nt want to share my house with rats and mice ( although I did when I lived in the tropics) but I would find a humane way of removing rats or mice from my home I wouldn’t want to kill them They have as much right to life as you and I do we can’t just kill everything we don’t like
Humans carry diseases look at Covid !!! Need I say more

A humane way of removing mice and rats from your home?
I’d love to hear how you’d do that.

If you call pest control, they get killed.

No mice or rats I’ve encountered (apart from DGS’ pet rats) have ever sat around waiting to be humanely removed.
Instead, they run across your floors furniture and work surfaces, micturating as they go, chew your wires and gnaw holes in your skirting.
Thats while they’re not busy procreating.

I feel for the OP. Her GD is being portrayed as a pigeon-killing maniac and anyone defending the poor child is assumed to be cruel, mean and disrespectful of wildlife. I wouldn't chase a pigeon (I can't run very far or fast for a start) but I do shoo the blighters away when they swoop into the bus station eyeing people's food. As I keep saying, it's not as though they are trapped - they can fly.

No viceversa I would nt want to share my house with rats and mice ( although I did when I lived in the tropics) but I would find a humane way of removing rats or mice from my home I wouldn’t want to kill them They have as much right to life as you and I do we can’t just kill everything we don’t like
Humans carry diseases look at Covid !!! Need I say more

Before someone believing we literally ran all day after lectures to chase pigeons, let's say the pigeons would come and wait to give them to eat crumbs from our pastries and one day my friend decided to try to run after them and they flew away LOL

what wrong there is a small innocent child running after birds

This is hilariously. We chased pigeons in my uni with a silly friend because they were all over the place in my capital city. Never caught one though LOL. They wanted our pastries

The pigeons sit on our grape vine just outside the bedroom windows and coo away at 5 am, so I keep a jug of water handy to throw at them. However, the noise of the big window opening is enough to make them fly away!

Sorry, pigeons. Just go and coo somewhere else.

I do like to see them when it's raining, sitting on the fence, wings up, getting a shower and pecking away at their mites.

Mollygo

FranP

Pigeons - rats with wings, bringing disease and mess. How would you feel if the town square had as many rats as pigeons.

A nasty thing to say? Really?

I think all posters on GN would be offering/asking for advice about getting the rodent control people in, not welcoming the rats into their homes and gardens.
I’m willing to be proved wrong if anyone on this thread wants to tell me they always welcome rats on or in their premises.

We had a neighbour who used to love the rats and fed them.

I did like her very much but she was definitely eccentric.

No and I'm terrified of birds so I would be delighted at her doing this! That apart how is it giving out the wrong message? Most kuds do it...

Well exactly, Mollygo - rats and mice carry a whole range of diseases which can be transmitted to humans. Would anyone really be happy to welcome them into their house or garden? We live next to a burn (stream) and let's just say any rats which are spotted are usually very swiftly dealt with by our resident (four legged) pest controller.

FranP

Pigeons - rats with wings, bringing disease and mess. How would you feel if the town square had as many rats as pigeons.

A nasty thing to say? Really?

I think all posters on GN would be offering/asking for advice about getting the rodent control people in, not welcoming the rats into their homes and gardens.
I’m willing to be proved wrong if anyone on this thread wants to tell me they always welcome rats on or in their premises.

Well said Sillynanny and BlueBelle. Good comments.

What a horrible thing to say FranP rats are highly intelligent in fact more intelligent than many people
This world wasn’t just made for humans to walk over everything else and they are not as dirty as many people and they don’t inject themselves with crap and spew all over the streets They just try and live their lives when in many cases their habitat has been destroyed by man

Pigeons - rats with wings, bringing disease and mess. How would you feel if the town square had as many rats as pigeons?

Yes they are wild life, but they have invaded our towns, dropping their faeces to destroy buildings because they are better fed that way by lazy people.

^but would still not allow a child to torment a bird^torment is a very strong word.

Pulling its feathers out one by one? Poking its eyes out? Tying it in a bag and throwing it in the pond in the park?

Believe me, I've seen nasty older boys and men tormenting animals and tried to stop them.

Running round in the park is what toddlers do. The pigeons have to share the space.

All these two year olds galloping around the parks on their trusty steeds, with their hounds, terrifying the life out of peaceful pigeons.

It's truly shocking.

About time everyone stopped chasing & killing any wild animal that they want to simply because they do not like them! We have driven so many animals away from their natural territory, taken their access to their food that they have no choice but to scavenge where they can! I do not expect anyone to agree with me but this is the way my parents brought me up & at my age I will not change now!