Warning: This article contains discussion of animal cruelty which some readers may find distressing.
Social media users are freaking out after being reminded of the time someone glued tiny cowboy hats to pigeons' heads.
Back in December 2019, a bunch of our feathery friends were spotted sporting the headwear in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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No, they weren't time-traveling birds on their way to a Chappell Roan concert.
Instead, some random person had glued cowboy hats onto them - and while they do look pretty adorable, it was actually an act of animal cruelty.
Nevada law prohibits the torture or unjustifiable injury, maiming, mutilation, or killing of any living creature.
'Cruelty' includes every act whereby unjustifiable physical pain, suffering, or death is caused or permitted.
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Onlookers reported watching the birds attempt to remove the hats themselves, clearly in distress.
Speaking to the National Audubon Society, Rita McMahon, director of New York City’s Wild Bird Fund, explained how the hats, while tiny to us, had a detrimental impact on the birds.
As pigeons have 340-degree peripheral vision, they see 'much more' than we do, she said.
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The little plastic hats likely cut that field roughly in half, limiting vision to about 190 degrees, and their brims probably hamper the powerful vertical thrust pigeons use to escape.
In Defense of Animals (IDA) added: "The pigeons who have had 'hats' glued to their heads are in imminent danger.
"The 'hats' impair their vision, which makes them more susceptible to predators, and more prone to window strikes or being hit by cars, among other dangers."
While Las Vegas pigeon rescue Lofty Hopes managed to trap two birds and attempt to safely have their hats removed by professionals, sadly two of them later died.
"While the causes of death aren’t known for certain, the birds may have died from stress or inhaling glue fumes since pigeons have very fragile respiratory systems," IDA explained at the time.
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Taking to Reddit, one person posted about the incident in the R/Interestingasf**k community.
"In theory, hilarious and fun. In actuality, cruel and wrong," one person wrote.
"I remember this vividly," another social media user responded. "I was walking to work insanely hung over. I saw these pigeons with cowboy hats and thought I was hallucinating. Then I kept seeing them and realized I was in fact not."
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"As cute as this is, that's really dangerous and painful for the birds. I worry if they got an infection or felt their feathers pulled as they bumped their heads anywhere," someone else said.
Another asked: "So they couldn't like search for 'most mini cowboy hat purchases last 6 months' and find the culprit?"
No one was ever prosecuted for the incident.
And since, cruelty has only escalated: in Reno, Nevada, a man confessed to gluing tiny 'sombreros' onto seven pigeons; in El Paso, Texas, someone cut a squab’s feathers and stuck them to her head to resemble a Native American headdress; and again in Las Vegas, a group fastened MAGA-style caps to an entire flock - then filmed the terrorized birds for a viral video.
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If you see an animal in distress and/or in need of help, call 911 if a crime is in progress. You can also visit a directory of animal abuse investigation agencies by state here.
Ellie Kemp