The feral pigeons' case: putting into crisis classical animal rights theories

SILVINA PEZZETTA

Conferencia; Veganism Paradigm Shift Conference. An Academic Virtual Conference; 2021

Universidad de La Sapienza Roma

Animal rights theories, as Donaldson and Kymlicka have highlighted, are based on a simplistic idea about the boundaries of human and non-human animal territories. This led to the standard division between domesticated and wild animals to develop which rights for each group. Thus, the authors introduced a new category, liminal animals. This category encompasses all animals sharing with us urban spaces, traditionally considered exclusive for humans (and some domesticated species). Feral pigeons (Columba livia) are, with rats, the most pervasive species in cities around the world. Nonetheless, neither have animal rights theories nor advocacy groups devoted much attention to them. In this paper, I present a discussion about how feral pigeons defy the common grounds of animal rights theories -domesticated/wild animals categories; nature/urban areas- in line with Kymlicka and Donaldson’s theory. However, I claim that feral pigeons, because of their origin as domesticated animals and their need for human caring, should be given more than basic negative rights. In fact, they should be considered as positive rights holders including rights to food and medical aid. Moreover, feral pigeons re-ignite the classic tension between conservation and animal rights advocacy. But the categories used by conservationist, native/exotic, seem to lose their force in urban contexts since it is unclear which is the “nature” that the non-native Columba livia jeopardize. Finally, I present two cases of feral pigeons management in Argentina and a local NGO that promotes their protection.