(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Animal rights advocates are furious over the trapping of hundreds of pigeons in parking lots in Niles.
A video, which can be found at the bottom of this story, was shot in the parking lot of a strip mall on Golf Road. Chava Sonnier, founder of Midwest Pigeon Rescue, said the footage is unpleasant, but she described what it shows.
“Food has been put down to bring large quantities of pigeons to gather around, and then large nets have been thrown over them to prevent them from flying away,” Sonnier said. “Then you can see individuals reaching under the nets and grabbing pigeons, literally, by the handfuls — by their legs, by their tails — and stuffing them into crates.”
This is legal. Pigeons have no protections.
A Texas-based company called Catch ’em all Pigeons is behind the trapping.
Activists said the company sells the birds for target practice and gets permission from property owners to round them up.
WBBM Newsradio has reached out to Niles Mayor George Alpogianis for comment.
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