Pigeons Are Mumbaikars—and Mums Too: PETA India’s New Billboard Defends Misunderstood Birds  

For Immediate Release:

07 July 2025

Contact:

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Sanskriti Bansore; [email protected]

Mumbai – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has erected billboards in Mumbai, featuring a mother pigeon nesting with her chicks, honouring mother pigeons as Mums and Mumbaikars, reminding fellow Mumbaikars that pigeons are just as much a part of this city as their human neighbours—and are just as sensitive and deserving of respect as the dogs, cats, and other animals who share our streets. Only a speciesist – a misguided person who discriminates based on species – would treat them poorly or differently.

The billboards are located in Kabutarkhana, Bhavani Shankar Road, Dadar West, Mumbai, 400028 and Andheri Lokhandwala Market, Near McDonald’s, Mumbai, 400053. 

Pigeons are considered very good parents—with males and females sharing incubation and brooding duties. They are also incredibly intelligent. They can distinguish works of art from different artists, learn to recognise more than 50 written words, count numbers as well as primates can, and beat humans in complex memorization tasks. A 10-year study of pigeon flight patterns above roads designed by humans conducted at Oxford University found that the birds rely more on their knowledge of human transport routes than on their internal magnetic compasses. One scientist remarked, “We followed some which flew up the Oxford bypass and even turned off at particular junctions. It’s very human-like.”

“Mother pigeons, just like human mothers, are extremely attentive to their young ones,” says PETA India Director of Veterinary Services Dr. Mini Aravindan. “Pigeons are thinking, feeling animals, and like humans, they don’t want to be harassed on the streets. PETA India urges everyone to consider pigeons are no different from other Mumbaikars surviving and thriving and raising their families in the city, and they deserve respect.”

PETA India points out common rock pigeons are native to India while many were brought over by Europeans to eat and shoot for ‘fun’. A review of studies and literature shows that the risk of them spreading diseases to humans is extremely low, even for people who have frequent close contact with them. Pigeons also seem generally resistant to bird flu – which has been spreading across India and the world – and are highly unlikely to spread it. By contrast, chickens, cows, and other animals raised on cramped, filthy farms are known carriers and spreaders of bird flu and many other zoonotic pathogens dangerous to humans.

In March, following the release of a documentary from the Bombay Natural History Society and JSW Foundation which unfairly and inaccurately maligns pigeons as posing a danger to human health, PETA India erected a billboard at  Dadar’s Kabutar Khana, labelling pigeons “sky puppies” to invite empathy for these gentle, delightful birds.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow PETA India on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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