Photo Essay: Pigeon Therapy

It was with great sadness that I read the recent news clip about St. Mark’s Square in Venice - feeding pigeons is now banned. While I understand the need to preserve the marble, the therapeutic value of feeding pigeons will be sorely missed and, I’m afraid, Venice will be a grumpier place for it. When walking through the square we were amazed at the transformations that took place as people held out birdseed – fussy children, dour nuns, and crusty old men all became smiling, even giggling, happy human beings as the pigeons eagerly landed on and around them.

So now, where to go for pigeon therapy? I remember once climbing up out of the subway in Trafalgar Square in London to a pigeon scene that rivaled the “bird party” in the preschooler’s storybook classic, Go Dog Go. But I understand there too pigeon feeding has become a controversial and strictly limited activity. I’ve heard that in California they’re experimenting with pigeon birth control to limit the burgeoning population, one of the several unfortunate side effects of allowing pigeon therapy. My most recent serious pigeon encounter was at the Jain Temple at Mattancherry in Fort Kochi (Cochin) in India. As he has done for many years, and as his father did before him, each day a man arrives at noon. When he shouts to greet the pigeons, they swoop in circles and gather around the temple. He offers prayers and then grain to the hundreds of pigeons as they crowd around and on him. Once again I am amazed at the extraordinary effect this common bird can have on humans.