Foibles of Man

Yesterday, I passed by the famous temple again during the lunch hour, and saw an unusual sight - there were no pigeons to be seen. Instead, I saw a man holding a very long extendable pole while standing around where the regular pigeons used to be.

I stopped in my tracks and overheard a woman telling her friend that the pigeons were fed substances which made them drowsy, so that the man with the pole could pack them into bags. I looked around and true enough, saw several white plastic bags lying on the ground, the content of which were still moving gently. The man would use his long pole to catch the pigeons that were still left sitting in the trees, probably drowsy from whatever substance they had been fed with.

I felt uneasy looking at the scenario, just like I always feel uneasy when I see "authorised" people shooting crows with guns. In the first place, the pigeons were attracted to hang around outside the temple because people had been throwing rice and bread liberally to feed them. Now, it seems like their presence is unwelcome to some folks, so the poor pigeons have to pay for the feeble actions of man with their lives.