CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A local bird store owner has a lot of questions after a couple allegedly pulled into his business parking lot and started catching and caging dozens of wild pigeons.
Its not the only place or time this incident has taken place.
This has been reportedly happening around town, leaving the owner wondering if the act is legal and what are the birds used for?
There are legitimate companies that will trap and humanely remove nuisance pigeons from homes or businesses. However, Owner of Feathered Friends & Company Marcus Lozano said he nor any neighboring businesses ever called for someone to do that.
"Birds are my life," he said.
Lozano said he and his staff even give out left over seed to the wild birds outside. Feed he would otherwise have to throw out.
"We have seagulls, we have pigeons even cardinals that come out here," he said.
This week, Lozano was deeply disturbed over a photo he saw that showed a man, along with someone else putting birds into crates in the back of a truck. He added that the man had laid traps and threw a cast net and caught 100 of the pigeons at once.
"Ultimately our first thought is that it's cruel," he said. Cruelty to animals you are packing these birds into small crates and putting them into the bed of a truck."
Lozano said they tried to stop them since the man was on private property.
"My employees came out, people at the donation station said 'what are you doing? stop doing that we're calling the police.' And the gentleman didn't seem to care. He said 'go ahead call the cops do whatever you need to do,'" he said.
Taking to social media, Lozano posted the ordeal on his page, where others joined the conversation to say they've seen the exact same thing play out in other areas of town.
"A lot of people who say there were people at Lakeview Park at Holly and Roddfield who were catching pigeons. So we have a lot of other people witnessing this happen in other areas of town," he said.
Wanting clarification, 3NEWS spoke with the City of Corpus Christi and learned that they don't contract with any organizations to capture pigeons. The city was unable to make any definitive statement about the legality of what the people might be doing with the birds.
"The truth of the matter is we don't know why he is coming onto private property," said Lozano. "He's taking these pigeons and for what purpose? Are they eating them? Are they racing them? Are they using them as bait? Its very odd and kind of disturbing."
In 2019, in a separate case, a couple was charged with animal cruelty after hundreds of pigeons were found trapped in crates in downtown Houston.
According to our sister station KHOU, one of the suspects told a deputy the birds would be sold and used for some form of hunting activity.
3NEWS also reached out to Texas Parks and Wildlife which said that wild pigeons are not protected and are considered an invasive species -- meaning they can be killed.
"It is not illegal but it sure seems ethically wrong," Lozano said.
Lozano said that he hopes to learn more about the incident and encourages residents call police if they notice any similar activity so officers can determine the intent of the trappers.
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