Fresh off the back of “don’t body slam an orca” we’re back with another article about leaving wildlife alone. A rise in wildlife rescue centers taking in dyed birds from gender reveal parties and other events leads us to yet another sentence we can’t believe we have to type: DON’T DYE BIRDS.
On March 28, the Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital in England admitted a pigeon that had been dyed pink – most likely for a gender reveal party, the hospital explained on social media. Among the challenges this pigeon faced, such as being a more obvious target for predators including domestic cats, the toxins from the dye can affect breathing and eating behaviors. “This pigeon sadly didn’t make it, he was incredibly malnourished, dehydrated and had significant wounds caused by [a] cat,” wrote the hospital.
“This pigeon sadly didn’t make it, he was incredibly malnourished, dehydrated and had significant wounds”.
Image courtesy of Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital
A second pigeon was taken to Pudz Animal Sanctuary in South Killingholme, England after being dyed pink. “It’s just for a few minutes of entertainment, then the bird has to live with that for the rest of its life”. Sanctuary founder Shena Fairless told the BBC. The pigeon, which has been named Polly, is fortunately settling in well at the sanctuary and seems to be recovering.
Across the pond in February 2023, a pigeon named Flamingo after the pink hue its feathers had been turned also passed away after it was rescued in New York City. The Wild Bird Fund wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Despite our best efforts to reduce the fumes coming off the dye, while keeping him calm and stable, he died in the night. We believe his death was caused by inhaling the toxins.”
“Dove releases sound romantic, but take away the decorations and Instagram photos, and they are the equivalent of dumping your helpless pets on the side of the road. This is no way to celebrate anything.”
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), cases like those of Polly and Flamingo are becoming more widespread, especially in the UK.
A spokesperson for the charity told the Mirror, “intentionally painting a pigeon’s feathers is unacceptable as it could cause health problems, impair their ability to fly and make them more vulnerable to predators. In addition, dye and paints can be toxic to birds and other animals, and they would be likely to try to clean any such substance from their coat or feathers which could result in them swallowing it. From time to time, we do hear anecdotally about incidents involving animals being affected in this way – and sadly we fear social media trends could be fuelling this.”
Over in Brazil in 2022, a couple dyed an entire waterfall blue for a gender reveal, potentially contaminating an entire town’s water supply, while other gender reveals have caused wildfires and even earthquakes. Maybe just wait until the birth instead?
