Note:  It is a customary practice of competitive pigeon racers to kill large numbers of birds they deem inferior or surplus.  This includes "basket culling", which means that birds are carelessly released far from home and any who don't make it back to their family and friends (in essence, abandoned) are deemed not worthy of keeping, anyway.

A tactic to build and maintain a false public image by the competitive pigeon racing community is to cover up the killing and to portray the pigeon fancy as wholesome and benign.  As you will see, below, nothing could be further from the truth.

----- Original Message ----- Edited for length.
From: Dave [Roth]
Subject: Re: BREEDING: Teaching kids (and Animal Dave) to kill

[Dave wrote:] First of all, the standards are decided by people, not by nature. To kill to meet such artificial standards is an arbitrary decision.  To say that breeders of pigeons, dogs, cats, fish, etc., MUST kill to meet goals does a great disservice to the many on this list who have the talent, expertise, and compassion to succeed without killing.  It is also offensive to people who raise pigeons because they love their birds.  ...
. . .
Where there's a will there's a way.  If lethal culling was unacceptable in the pigeon fancy..., there would be much more carefully controlled breeding and ways more widely used to deal with "nonstandard animals" without harming them or turning them loose [at their peril].

[Schneider's] Comment:    Anyone who finds they are not willing or able to ... cull as needed, the animals produced from a regimented breeding program, should not be breeding the animals in the first place. Anyone who thinks they can breed animals in an attempt to achieve a standardized goal, improving on existing stock, without culling those substandard offspring produced as part of the process, is a fool...
. . .
I'm always encouraged when someone in the pigeon sport tells of how they ... know the importance of humanely killing (culling) the offspring along the way that did not meet their designed goal of a quality standard pigeon.

...I also cull.  You may call it murder, killing or whatever, but it has to be done.  ...Culling is not a disgraceful thing to do, it is a must.  If you do right by your birds then you must cull...
. . .
I do cull, I readily admit it and really believe that anyone that doesn't isn't doing justice to their own birds.  Now as to someone who just raises pigeons just for their own enjoyment and satisfaction then their is no reason for them to cull anything, because it doesn't matter to them whether the birds meets any standard or not, if they don't roll or home its no big deal because they are just enjoying them.  For the rest of us this isn't true.

...I don't think the subject of culling ... is good publicity for the hobby ...
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...It is only a matter of time before some do gooder tries to get some law passed to control you and your birds.  I think we should do everything we can to put our best foot forward.

Bob,
. . .
...it IS better if WE are awa[re] of trends and forstall silly legislation.  Leaving it to extremists to make the first move is foolish as politicians love [] easy vote getting ,alledgedly loving one's feathered friends sure is one.

        Here are some thoughts from Pragmatist Dave about competition and killing:

        DRUGS.  It might be possible to get more performance from pigeons by drugging them.  Why is that not acceptable?  Does it give an unfair advantage to those who would use drugs as opposed to those who wouldn't?  Do those who breed many and kill many birds just to keep a few have an unfair advantage over those who don't?  Why is that any more acceptable than the use of drugs?  Aren't both deadly to the birds and, in our much more animal protective society, hazardous to the pigeon sport/fancy, too?

        The use of steroids in many sports was at one time thought to be the only way to win.  So, some winners were 'roid freaks.  All that proved was that some people would go to extremes to succeed.  How is that different from those who go to the extreme of breeding and killing birds to succeed and thus, have forced others to think they must do the same if they want to win?

        "Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity." - George Bernard Shaw

        RACING:  Automobile racing organizations place restrictions on design.  Why? Because advances in engineering and technology have made it too dangerous for the drivers to race unlimited and only wealthy or heavily sponsored racers would be able to compete.  So, the restrictions allow greater participation and thereby enable winning through talent, expertise, and determination rather than just money.  Wouldn't doing the same for pigeon racing more reflect the capabilities of the breeders in the successes of their birds, expand the sport, and improve safety for the birds, for the same reasons?

        SHOW:  Standards are set by people, not by nature.  If current standards reflect results of copious lethal culling, why not make them conform to kinder breeding practices.  One would hate to think that the ones who make the rules do so for their own advantage and not in the best interest of the fancy.

        To the ardent defenders of killer culling:  Fess up.  Aren't you afraid of the real competition you would have from the better and nicer breeders if the playing field were more level?

        All it takes is a change of attitude and, if necessary, leadership, to make pigeon racing and showing much more popular -- and more acceptable to the general public.  Pigeon breeders who don't like the currently accepted brutality should get together and make change happen -- before someone else does.

        "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito." - African Proverb

In short the little man and woman who keeps a loft of  pigeons as nature intended is on a hiding to nothing against the big boys. What the hell! does he/she get the same pleasure  as i do when my birds come home from a race and trap in to our loft, those birds have come home to us, not because of money system or drugs, they come home cause THEY LIKE LIVING WHERE THEY DO. if they are placed and win a card - what a bonus!!!!!

...how would you kill a pigeon...  We have seen here that the methods described range from feeding rat poison, drowning, gassing, popping them in the head, cutting their heads off, pulling their heads off and last but not least bearing [sic] them alive.

... Racers that have done nothing as a young bird or as a yearling and show no signs of being a potentially good breeder are culled. Yes. Culled [killed].  ... I haven't come across anyone wanting to keep a pigeon as a pet and I wouldn't give a cull to anyone wanting to improve their stock. ...I don't have the time, money, or energy to keep birds that have not proven themselves as racers nor showing potential in being a good breeder.

I have been breeding pigeons for over twenty-five years ... Normally I raise around fifty birds each year.  ...I have never had more than two or three that I have kept at the end of the year.  Everything else is culled.  Since I don't fly oldbirds [sic] if the bird does not produce in the breeding loft as a yearling then it is also culled.

Sounds harsh, but I am interested in winning. ...
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To be successful in pigeons you have to treat them like a business...

Last night at the Club we asked advice from one or two of the "Old hands" who suggested culling him immediately ...
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Linda Ledger
Osborne Lofts
England

For the homing pigeons culling isn't necessary because you can fly them and those that aren't good enough will be lost. If a bird comes from the races late every time and it isn't in the prizes you simply send it to a longer race and if it comes you send to a longer one and so on.

Subject: YB races
From: Chris ... Drummond

By cutting YB losses, we hope to 'appear' as though we are more concerned for the birds. 

Subject: Racers 1st-White dove 2nd

In regards to the white bird release business...  I got all the white birds I could lay my hands on and flew them through the races...  What is left, are what I bred....