No Pigeons as Pets in Chicago

By Rachelle Bowden in Miscellaneous on Dec 27, 2005 2:02PM

The American Racing Pigeon Union says that Chicago is the only city that bans pet pigeons and that it's not fair. On Thursday, a US Circuit Courts of Appeals judge upheld a lower ruling on the ban against some claims by enthusiasts that the ordinance is unconstitutional. Karl Wollenhaupt, who is a member of the Chicago racing pigeon club, says "This sport has been in existence for hundreds of years, but the city says these birds are bad, dirty and evil. These are birds of pedigree."

The case pitted the property rights of about 70 members of Chicago's pigeon-racing club, the Greater Chicago Combine and Center, against their neighbors who complained about the cooing noise, tons of scattered feathers, and droppings everywhere. The ruling said that balancing the interests of pigeon club members and their neighbors was not the court's role.

What do you think? Should people be able to keep and race pigeons? Are we more prejudiced against them in cities because we see the "wild" ones making messes everywhere? It seems like even these trained & vaccinated pets were making a mess of the neighborhood, so why should they be allowed?

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