“No seeds, please.” Pigeons in Japanese anti-birdfeed posters show startling self-awareness
The Internet has a great time with the “Please don’t feed the pigeons!” campaign, in which pigeons tell passers-by where they can stick their birdseed.
We all understand the problems that arise from having too many birds in a metropolitan area.
Yes, residents feeding birds can come with all sorts of problems: tempting crows to use the train system, messing with the birds’ diets and… well, increasing the likelihood of getting pooped on while out in the city.
Japan’s local governments have been cracking down on this pesky pigeon problem by putting up posters, and Twitter user @nihmiu snapped a photo of one in Hiroshima, which comes with the dramatic title “Don’t feed the pigeons!” A caption at the bottom warns that spoiling the pigeons with bird treats causes their numbers to increase in the city, meaning that they poop on more things and spread diseases.
▼ Accompanied with a strident “No!” in English for emphasis, the pigeon cries out, “I won’t be able to live independently from humans anymore!”
意識の高い鳩 https://t.co/O3iHqolI2u
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にー (@nihmiu) May 20, 2018
Chaos broke out in the resulting thread, with users posting comical GIFs of birds saying “No!!!”, marvelling at the pigeon’s English abilities and speculating how if this poster is true, it might be easier to wipe out all pigeons in one go. Just get them reliant on birdseed, then take away the birdseed… It’s just diabolical enough to work!
▼ The logic is echoed in this poster, where the bird says, “I can find food on my own!”
User @kammiiiinoo contributed this sinister poster below of pigeons conferring, adding “the businesses in Sendai’s Ichibancho 4-Chome put this sign up, but it’s at a pigeon’s eye level… Maybe they’re all chattering about it even if they can’t read what it says.”
▼ The text reads “Please do not feed the pigeons. It causes problems for the pigeons in the area.”
The usual “Don’t feed the pigeons!” rhetoric is emphasized by the sassy fellow in this poster in Tokyo, saying “Stop it! I don’t need any food.” The contributing user added the remark “The Tokyo pigeon’s very decisive about it.”
A particularly poignant bit of humor popped up towards the end of the thread, courtesy of @quartet1115. The poster reads “Please give people basic income!” and its caption reads “Giving basic income means people who don’t want to work aren’t forced to do so!”. While the real poster is paid for by the city of Hiroshima, this fake poster is paid for by the entirety of Japan. The people in the poster yell out a cheerful “Yes!” as they’re fed their basic income, and yell “Now we can live for ourselves!” in a biting contrast to the avian original.
▼ The “BI” in the poster stands for “Basic Income” – a fixed salary that even the unemployed receive.
It just goes to show you that no matter where you are in the world, you can go from pigeons to politics in just a couple of tweets.
In the mood for more viral bird content? You can always stop by the local sparrow apartments, or sneak a look at how a politican used a dead pigeon on his campaign trail.
Source: Esuteru, Twitter/@nihmiu
Featured image: Twitter/@nihmiu
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