Hannah Conway
For unknown reasons, someone in Las Vegas has placed cowboy hats on a couple of pigeons.
This came to light after a local man, Bobby Lee, posted a video of the rather stylish pigeons on Facebook.
In the video, we can see two pigeons wearing hats – which both are a different colour and the perfect size for the head of a pigeon.
For some reason, the hats have been perfectly placed as they do not move on their heads – suggesting they have been glued or attached.
There have also been several other photos of the pigeons posted online.
The hats have been on the pigeons for a fair few days now, and one local animal rescue group is very concerned.
Mariah Hillman is the cofounder of Lofty Hopes, which started as a Las Vegas–area pigeon rescue group last year.
“A friend of mine had tagged me in the video,” Mariah said.
“Originally, our first thought is that’s kind of cute; then you’re like, wait, those are real birds. How did they get those hats on?”
When she took a closer look at the video, she was almost certain that glue has been used to place these hats on the pigeons – as there was no sight of a string or anything else that could have been used.
“Considering that they’re still on there days later, it seems to be pretty strong glue,” she said.
Mariah is concerned that the hats could be impeding the bird’s flight and vision.
“Pigeons also have a habit of ostracising any flock members who could draw attention from predators, sometimes with violence.”
Mariah’s goal is to find and catch the bird so that the hats can be safely removed. In the worst-case scenario, if the hats can not be removed, the birds would need to be kept until they moult in the spring.
“Either way they’d have to spend some time with us,” she said.