Pigeon racers occasionally find themselves at odds with their neighbours or council over their pigeons. Often the situation arises because of unfamiliarity with racing pigeons. Sometimes the only experience that members of the public have with pigeons is feral pigeons and they think that all pigeons including racing pigeons are the same. The information below is aimed at helping all involved.
Similarly suburban councils often find themselves in a difficult situation. Many councillors have little or no knowledge or experience with pigeons and yet they are the ones who need to make a decision as to whether or not to grant a permit for a pigeon loft. Potential neighbours of a pigeon fancier can be wary about the impact that a loft, perhaps housing 100 or more pigeons, in a nearby or neighbouring property may have on their lifestyle or health.
It is hoped that the information below addresses and answers many of the concerns and questions that a new neighbour of a pigeon fancier may have, and also assists councils make an informed decision regarding any pigeon permit applications.
What is a Racing or Exhibition Pigeon?
For many people, their only exposure to or knowledge of pigeons is from observing feral pigeons. Racing pigeons are not feral pigeons. Feral pigeons are wild pigeons of mixed breeding. Racing and show pigeons are pedigree animals that are owned, cared for and managed by their owners. A common analogy is that the difference between a racing and a feral pigeon is the same as that between a wild brumby and a thoroughbred race horse. Pigeons are domestic animals that are released once or twice daily for exercise, and predominantly live in the pigeon loft provided by their owner. Pictured below are some typical racing pigeons.
Management and Housing
Racing pigeons are kept in specially built and equipped lofts. Typically, lofts are designed with both ease of cleaning and bird management in mind. Racing pigeons are kept inside their lofts by fanciers except when they are on training flights or competing in races. It is usual for fanciers to exercise their birds around the loft once or twice daily for a period of one to two hours. During this training session, the birds are usually encouraged to fly. When released, they do not ‘sit around’. They are released at particular times to exercise and are trained to re-enter the loft on the owner’s command. When not flying, they typically land on their loft and in fact tend to become anxious if separated from the loft vicinity. They do not roost in local trees (although they may sit in trees within several metres of the loft) or neighbourhood fences or roofs. Pictured below is a typical Australian racing pigeon loft.
Cleanliness
For racing pigeons to be competitive, they need to be healthy. To keep pigeons healthy, they need to be well cared for and maintained in a hygienic environment. To say that many pigeon keepers are fanatical about the cleanliness of their loft would not be an understatement. It is standard practice for racing lofts to be cleaned daily. Cleaning involves scraping, and sometimes vacuuming, the floor and perches. Droppings are usually removed from the property in sealed containers or bags. Grain for feeding, in order to ensure freshness, is usually stored in sealed drums or other such containers. It is unusual for food to be left lying in open trays. The birds are hand fed once or twice daily.
It is standard for pigeon racers to have their birds regularly checked by an avian veterinarian, and most follow medical regimes set out by their vets to prevent disease and keep their birds healthy. Indeed, other bird fanciers attempt to emulate racing pigeon fanciers’ standards for health excellence. Racing pigeon fanciers are aware that, if their birds are not healthy or maintained in a hygienic manner, they are simply not competitive.
Droppings
People are concerned that when the pigeons are at liberty they will pass droppings, and that these droppings will contaminate roofs, outdoor living areas, or water supplies. Certainly some droppings will be passed while the birds are out at liberty, but the majority are passed within the loft. Digestive tract transit times in birds are very fast compared to mammals and, in pigeons, once food moves into the stomach it can be passed as a dropping in only two hours. Pigeons are usually called into their loft after a training session and fed. They then spend 12–24 hours in the loft before the next training session, depending on whether they are exercised once or twice daily. By the next training session, the vast majority of the meal given after the previous training session has been digested and passed. Pigeon fanciers deliberately organise their birds day so this occurs. Birds exercise much better once they have finished digesting and also are more responsive to the owner’s commands if they are anticipating a feed. Most fanciers release their birds from the loft in the morning and then clean the loft while the birds are exercising. Usually after about one hour, the birds are called back into the loft and are fed. The birds then rest in the loft during the day. If a second training session is given to the birds, then the process is repeated in the evening. One result of this is that the majority of droppings are passed in the loft.
It is worth noting that, unlike other birds such as chickens that have large caecums (similar to a mammal appendix), pigeons only have vestigial caecums. This means they are not hind gut fermenters and therefore do not, in health, carry in their bowels many of the species of bacteria capable of causing disease in people. Although not recommended, it is probable that even if a person ate a pigeon dropping, it would not make that person sick. By comparison, the droppings of meat eating animals such as dogs and cats pose a significant health threat to humans.
Public Health
The amount of disease that occurs in humans as a result of exposure to pets is relatively low. Figures released by the Department of Human Resources in Victoria (population 5.2 million) show that, on average, 25 people per 100,000 catch a disease from an animal (including horses, dogs, cats and all birds) each year. This also includes all people involved with animals, from abattoir and stable workers through to pet owners. It is interesting to compare this figure to the 23 per 100,000 who, on average, catch a disease from a mosquito each year.
It is reasonable for the neighbours of a pigeon fancier to want to know about the risk of disease from pigeons. The Victorian Department of Human Resources figures show that the risk of pigeons to humans is equal to, or in fact less than, keeping any other pet. Part of the reason for this is because pigeon parasites cannot and do not live on or in humans and vice versa. One reason is that pigeons have a body temperature of 41.8C. Their parasites cannot live at our cool 37.5C. Dogs and cats, on the other hand, have body temperatures of 38.5C. This is within the range of human temperature and each can, to some degree, accommodate the vectors of the other.
A report on the Victorian Department of Primary Industries website by Dr Bronwyn Murdoch titled “Zoonoses” (animal diseases that may also affect humans) states that the most common zoonosis in Australia is a bacterial infection from a dog or cat bite. The most common transmissible zoonoses in Australia from a dog are: ringworm, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, Salmonella and Giardia. All have a higher incidence than the most common zoonosis associated with all birds (namely Psittacosis). The report lists 23 zoonoses as being of significance in Victoria.
In summary these are:
1. Animal bites.
2. Anthrax – bacterial infection due to Bacillus anthracis, caught by coming in contact with infected animals (usually cattle) or contaminated soil.
3. Brucellosis – a bacterial infection caught from cattle or pigs.
4. Cat scratch fever – a bacterial infection due to Bartonella henslae from cat scratches and bites.
5. Antibiotic resistant bacterial infections transmitted from mammals to humans following antibiotic use in livestock and pet mammals.
6. E. coli O157 – a bacterial infection caught from mammals and wild birds.
7. Leptospirosis – a bacterial infection caught by coming into contact with urine from mammals.
8. Listeriosis – a bacterial infection caught from ruminants or their by-products.
9. Mycobacterium – an infection caught from fish, mammals, birds, and contaminated soil.
10. Psittacosis – a bacterial infection due to Chlamydia psittaci caught from birds.
11. Q-fever – a bacterial infection due to Coxiella burnettii, caught by inhaling the organism from placental fluids and urine of mammals. Abattoir workers are particularly at risk.
12. Salmonella – a bacterial infection caught from mammals, poultry and reptiles. The Salmonella species that infect pigeons do not infect humans or indeed any other animal. They are specie specific ie only infect pigeons.
13. Streptococcus – a bacterial infection caught from mammals. Streptococcus is often isolated from the throat and saliva of dogs.
14. Yersiniosis – a bacterial infection caught from dogs, cats and pigs. Usual source of infection are the droppings of pet dogs and cats.
15. Cryptosporidia – a protozoan spread in the droppings of calves, lambs, goats and deer. People become infected by drinking water contaminated with these animals’ droppings.
16. Giardia – a flagellate protozoan spread in the faeces of mammals. Giardia can also be spread through direct contact, and infected dogs and cats are a high zoonotic risk to humans.
17. Toxoplasma – a parasitic protozoan disease caught from cat faeces.
18. Ringworm – a fungal skin infection transmitted from mammals to humans.
19. Hydatid disease – a parasitic disease passed from dogs to humans.
20. Visceral larval migrans – a parasitic disease that primarily affects children, caused by roundworm that lives in the intestine of dogs and cats.
21. Hendra, Nipah and Menangle viruses – viral diseases that are potentially fatal, caught from mammals.
22. Lyssa virus and rabies – viral diseases that are potentially fatal, caught from mammals.
23. Orf – a pox virus disease transmitted to humans from sheep.
These are only listed to demonstrate the comparatively few zoonoses of significance associated with any bird. Of the 23 listed above, only one, Psittacosis, has the potential to spread to humans from domestic birds. Mycobacteriosis can come from any bird, but wild birds are regarded as the principal source. The other 21 are all associated with mammals. It is also worthwhile noting that some of these mammal-related zoonoses are severe, potentially fatal zoonoses. Psittacosis is treated with antibiotics and, since the early 1940s has had a 100% survival rate in infected humans. It should be reiterated that the amount of disease associated with all zoonoses is low.
Psittacosis
Psittacosis is caused by the organism Chlamydia psittaci. This organism is a bacteria and is antibiotic responsive. It is essentially a bird disease that, under exceptional conditions, can ‘jump’ to people. Approximately 50% of human cases are self-resolving without treatment, in 7 days. The organism can cause a severe flu-like condition in humans that is treated primarily with antibiotics. The report by Dr Murdoch states that ‘this disease is usually contracted by inhalation of dust containing faecal matter from infected birds. Clinical signs are most severe in immunosuppressed individuals and birds carrying the disease range from being clinically normal to very ill.’ In the same report, the DPI’s advice to decrease the risk of infection is:
..”.all ill birds should be handled carefully and never allow any bird to place their head near your mouth. Good personal hygiene, such as washing hands with soap after handling your bird and dampening down the floor of your bird’s cage before cleaning to prevent aerosolisation of dusty faecal matter will help prevent transmission of this disease to people.”
A 2012 report titled “Communicable Diseases Intelligence” released by Australia’s Department of Health and Aging, states that, on average, 42 cases per year of Psittacosis were recorded in Victoria (population 5.2m) from 2005–2011, giving a rate of 0.8 per 100,000 population. Of these, 50% required hospitalisation. There were no deaths. On average, 48% of these cases were attributed to exposure to domestic birds (38% parrots, 10% other birds), 45% were attributed to exposure to wild birds, and 8% were attributed to an occupational bird exposure. In the 10% recorded as ‘other birds’, the bird species were not recorded. Some of these could have been pigeons. If all of these 10% of cases were in fact associated with exposure to pigeons, this would give a chance of 0.8 per 1 million head of population of catching psittacosis from a pigeon.
A 2009 report titled “Surveillance of Notifiable Infectious Diseases in Victoria – Zoonoses”, released by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, states that there was an increase in the number of Psittacosis cases in people living in rural areas. This was attributed to ‘the large areas of protected catchments, mountain forests and bushlands in the municipality which are home to many psittacine birds including parrots and cockatiels both of which serve as a reservoir for Chlamydia psittaci.’
In the “Communicable Diseases Intelligence” report referred to previously, the national Australian (total population 25m) figures for Psittacosis infection are documented. From 2003–2008, the number of infections ranged from 239 (2004) to 93 (2007), giving a national rate of 0.4–1.1 per 100,000 population. The report states the mode of transmission ‘is by inhaling bacteria usually from contaminated faeces, nasal or eye secretions and dust from infected birds’. The same report states that the people at risk of contracting psittacosis include ‘bird owners, pet shop employees, veterinarians, poultry processing workers, zoo workers and taxidermists. Older adults and pregnant women may have a more severe illness.’ The report does not include neighbours or other people at a distance from birds as a risk group.
It is reasonable to assume that the risk of infection would decrease (up to a point) the further one is away from a loft or birds generally. As the disease is rare in people intimately involved in all birds, it is also reasonable to assume it is even rarer in people at a distance from a loft. Indeed, the Victorian Department of Primary Industry’s 2007 report ‘Zoonoses – Animal diseases that may also affect humans’ shows that fully 100% of cases were through occupational bird exposure, hand feeding wild birds (mostly parrots) and through handling (including hand rearing) birds.
Pigeons infected with Chlamydia may show no symptoms. In birds that develop clinical disease, symptoms range from the mild (usually a ‘cold’ with red watery eyes and nasal discharge) through to the severe (a quiet fluffed up bird that does not want to eat). Some deaths occur. It is reasonable to expect that pigeon fanciers would seek veterinary assistance if any of their birds developed this type of health problem. This would further decrease the potential for human exposure to the organism. In fact many fanciers, being aware of the disease, ask their veterinarian to regularly check their birds for this disease, even if the birds are showing no symptoms.
Figures released by the American Racing Pigeon Union state that ‘despite an estimated 18 million bird keepers in the United States, according to the CDC, there was only 50–100 new cases per year through 1993’. This gives a slightly higher rate of approximately 1.8 per 100,000 population, when compared to the Australian figures.
The overall conclusion is that psittacosis is a rare disease. Of the recorded cases, only a few could possibly be associated with exposure to pigeons. Intimate exposure to the birds is required to risk catching the disease and the measures adopted by pigeon fanciers to maintain their bird’s health further decrease the chance of exposure from a racing loft. The risk to a pigeon fancier’s neighbour is very, very small.
Other health issues
There are two other conditions related to pigeons that can affect humans:
1. Fungal infection – fungi can germinate and grow on accumulated moist droppings. As they grow they release spores into the environment that, if inhaled, can cause respiratory infection in humans. One fungus in particular, Cryptococcus sp., is associated with growing on pigeon droppings (and also eucalyptus mulch). Regular cleaning and effective removing of droppings eliminate the problem.
2. Hypersensitive pneumonitis – in the same way that some people are allergic to inhaled dog or cat fur or dander, some people are allergic to feather debris. In allergic people, inhalation of feather debris can inflame the lungs. This condition is sometimes referred to as ‘pigeon fancier lung’. This is not an infectious disease and is not something that is transmitted, being more akin to other allergic conditions such as hay fever. Regular loft cleaning and sometimes screen planting to control air flow both decrease exposure. The condition usually occurs in people who enter the loft, and is less likely to occur the further a person is away from the loft.
Noise
Almost everyone is familiar with the cooing sound made by doves. Pigeons make similar sounds. The flapping of wings is usually the loudest noise heard in the loft. When birds are in flight, they are silent except for the sound of the wind through their wings. Of the common birds kept as pets, pigeons are one of the quietest, and the noise coming from the loft does not transmit very far. By comparison, another bird group commonly kept as pets, the parrots, are comparatively noisy with their calls and screeches being audible from a reasonable distance. This is particularly so with the larger parrots such as cockatoos. In 1995, the American Racing Pigeon Union, an organisation with several thousand members, commissioned a noise survey of pigeon lofts and nearby areas in an effort to actually calibrate the noise associated with pigeons. The principal findings of the study are reproduced verbatim below, from the booklet “Homing pigeons: Perception vs reality.”
“To help understand the results of noise tests and for comparison, the soft rustle of leaves is 10dB. The noise level at night in an ordinary bedroom is approximately 15dB. This is about the same noise level one encounters on a walk in the woods. A quiet street in the evening with no traffic is 30dB. A library’s noise level is 35dB. While conventional speech is 60–70dB at a distance of 3 feet. This is why the librarian always shushes you. A business office with computers, copying machines and movement of people makes around 65dB of sound. Average street traffic is 85dB, while a rock band howls at 110dB, more than Niagara Falls at 80–90dB but still less than a jet aircraft at takeoff which generates 125db at 100m distance. Where do pigeons fit into this scheme? At the Terracon test sites, noise was measured at lofts with 2,000, 600, 200 and 100 birds. Surprisingly the 600 bird loft was louder than the 2,000 bird loft but just barely. These sites recorded 59.2dB and 61.1dB respectively. The 200 bird loft made 54.7dB of noise while the 100 bird loft, probably the most common size for American fanciers at the peak of population recorded 52.9dB. These readings were all taken INSIDE THE LOFTS. Therefore, INSIDE a 100 pigeon loft it is about as noisy as people speaking in conversation tones. Actually a bit less, because normal speech is about 60–70dB. Common sense dictates that at 20, 30 or 40 feet distance the noise levels would be commensurately less. Backyard lofts are usually some distance from neighbouring lots and houses. It would seem that the noise level off site, then, would not be at a level that could be considered a nuisance since it is at a lower level than normal conversation. This conclusion was supported by Terracon in its study of the 100 pigeon loft. A monitoring device was put on a Fence line approximately 25 feet from the loft. Tests revealed a noise level of 57.4dB during the day and 55.4dB during the night. The pigeons were then REMOVED from the loft and the noise level tested again. The daytime average was 49.1dB while the night time average was 44.6dB. The source of the noise with the pigeons REMOVED was attributed to street traffic from two thoroughfares, one approximately 300 feet from the loft and another approximately 100 feet away. Additionally, a slight ‘whistling’ was caused by wind passing between slats in the fence and a ‘squeak’ came from a ventilater on the fanciers house. There is no such thing as ‘absolute silence’. Life is full of noises from uncontrolled sources. Wind, rain, thunderstorms, birds, traffic, construction noises and the like are all part of modern life. Although the perception of ‘loudness’ is a subjective phenomenon, it is considered doubtful that any of the average sound levels recorded during the noise survey of the pigeon lofts would be perceived as ‘loud’ by the average individual. Like loudness, annoyance by noise is highly subjective and is difficult to relate to the sound which causes it. Noise becomes more annoying as it gets louder than the background noise on which it is superimposed. Unsteady noises or those that contain tones (such as train whistles, sirens and car horns) tend to be the most annoying. In the Terracon tests, at 25 feet, the pigeons in the 100 bird loft only contributed between 8–10dB of additional sound to the existing background noise. This is equivalent to the soft rustle of leaves.’
Summary
As with most pets, if cleanliness and common sense are used, pigeons fit well into the suburban landscape. They represent considerably less risk to human health than other commonly-kept pets. Keeping and caring for pigeons, as with other pets, has proven psychological benefits. Pigeon keeping is a hobby enjoyed by millions of people around the world and is something that can be enjoyed by family and shared with children in the quiet of a home. The birds themselves are robust, long-lived, and can become very tame and responsive to their owners. It is hoped that these notes provide a basis for informed council decisions regarding these birds.