Till Wednesday, four pigeons of pink and blue color have been found. Some of them were found mutilated.
Pink and blue pigeons have been a prominent sight this week in Helsinki and Vantaa.
HelpParrot received reports of pigeons on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, says Jonna Tahavanainen, chairman of the association. There have been no new reports of colored pigeons till Thursday morning.
The owner of the pigeons is yet to be traced. Photo: Reader’s photo
Tahavanainen believes that the pigeons found are high-flying pigeons. They are not wild pigeons, but domesticated pigeons.
Two pigeons were caught and two were found dead. Two caged pigeons were found in Alpikilla and Vikki, Helsinki, and dead ones were found in Ita-Hakkila and Vesala, Vantaa.
The two birds that were found alive were tired and hungry. Tahvanainen says that the condition of the two dead was probably even worse, as they were beaten to death and did not survive.
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The owner of the pigeons is not yet known, but according to Tahvanainen, all the pigeons probably belong to the same household, as the same color has been used to paint the pigeons.
Tahvanainen cannot say why the painted pigeons were suddenly found this week, or why the pigeons were painted.
There are various rumors about why pigeons are painted. The owner isn’t known either, so you can’t ask him either, says Tahavanainen.
Colored pigeons are not a common occurrence, at least in Finland. Last year, HelpParrot received a total of over 200 reports of lost pet birds. At that time, the association received a pictorial report of a pink and white pigeon, but it was not caught.
If a colored pigeon is found in the wild, it must be captured and taken to the Discovery Zoo in that area, in the case of these pigeons to the Discovery Zoo in Vikki. A domesticated pigeon will not last long in the wild, as it cannot find food and does not have a flock of its own.
You can do the capture yourself, for example by luring the bird into a box with air holes in it with food. You must use it with care, as pigeons can be scared of it. If the pigeon is very tired, you can hold it by hand, for example with a towel.