Often perceived as disease-carrying nuisances, pigeons have an image problem around the world.
Japan is no exception, but the birds enjoy some legal immunity, forcing city dwellers to put up with these unwanted guests perching and cooing on their balconies.
Under Japanese wildlife laws, residents cannot kill or dispose of even the most pesky birds without approval from local authorities, a protection that wild pigeons do not enjoy nationally in the United States, although some states, including Massachusetts, have rules against killing them. . If people discover that a pigeon has laid an egg or made a nest on their balcony, they also cannot remove the bird, nest or egg without permission.
And drivers are supposed to drive slowly while the pigeons cross the road, even against the light.
Now the humble pigeon finds itself at the center of a case after a Tokyo taxi driver was accused of deliberately running one over with his cab.
The 50-year-old driver was arrested on December 3 and charged with violating the Wildlife Protection Act, but was not charged. Police said he accelerated after a traffic light turned green, deliberately plowing his taxi into a flock of pigeons at a speed of about 35 miles per hour, killing one of them, according to The Mainichi, to the local newspaper.
An autopsy was ordered. The veterinarian who performed it determined that the pigeon had died from traumatic shock.
The taxi driver could not be reached for comment. The police said Kyodo News told them: “The roads belong to humans, so the pigeons should have avoided the path.” »
Under the Wildlife Act, wild pigeons are not distinguished from other wild birds and can only be killed if they are found to pose a problem, for example if they carry disease or damage crops or livestock.
Even then, local authorities must give permission to kill them.
The penalty for killing a pigeon without permission can be up to a year in prison or a fine of one million Japanese yen, or about $7,000. In 2021 and 2022, around 4,000 pigeons were killed with this permission. Around 200 eggs were collected over the two years.
Because of the law, apartment complexes have had to find other ways to deal with nuisances.
Some resorts choose to scare away birds by hire falconerswho work under permit, to bring in hawks at a cost of thousands of dollars per visit to scare away the pigeons.
Falconers with a hunting license are also authorized to trap and kill pigeons.
They are very busy, given the large number of pigeons nesting on the balconies which keep people up at night. “Some people really hate it,” said Keisuke Ikoma, who runs a falconry business called Green Field.
His company, based in Osaka and present throughout Japan, sends falconers to 3,000 to 4,000 sites a year. Besides apartment complexes, customers include factory owners who worry about pigeon droppings damaging their products.
Legal experts said the taxi driver’s arrest appeared less to do with the fate of the single pigeon than with the social harm caused by the deliberate decision to kill a living being.
“The driver ran over a pigeon at high speed,” said Kazuaki Ishii, a Kyoto lawyer specializing in pet rights. “which violates the social order that the Wildlife Protection and Management Act aims to protect. » Atsushi Hosokawa, an animal rights lawyer, said police seemed to view someone who would run over any animal at 35 mph as a danger to society as a whole. It remains to be determined whether the police actions were commensurate with the seriousness of the allegation, he added.
Japan’s wildlife law was originally designed to prevent excessive hunting of wild animals. In recent years, certain nuisance species, notably deer and wild boar, have been designated for culling. In 1981, authorities considered adding wild pigeons, but did not do so because they feared they would be indistinguishable from pigeons bred for racing.
The taxi driver arouses some sympathy on social networks.
“I just don’t understand why the police tried so hard,” one user said wrote of the arrest on X, formerly Twitter. “It’s so mysterious.”
