Man caught on video capturing pigeons with net and cage in Scarborough
Posted July 15, 2021 5:56 am.
Last Updated July 15, 2021 3:15 pm.
A Toronto resident recorded a video of a man snatching pigeons in the cityâs east end and when she tried to report it to officials, she said no one wanted to investigate.
On Sunday morning, Bruna Doberstein was on her way home when she witnessed a man and a child capturing the birds with a net and placing them inside a crowded cage in a parking lot at Lawrence Avenue East and Markham Road. Thatâs when she decided to take out her phone and start recording.
âI expected he would stop doing it after he saw that I was recording. But he didnât. He seemed pretty comfortable doing it,â Doberstein told CityNews.
In the video, you can hear Doberstein asking the man why he was trapping the pigeons and that he âcanât do this,â in which he responds âYes I can. I take them to my farm and I raise them.â
Doberstein said she didnât buy it.
âHe wasnât being gentle. He was holding the birds by their wings. A person who would raise the birds would be at least careful and keep them safeâ she said. âI donât know the story but I know itâs not good.â
At that moment, Doberstein decided to call the police. She said that while the officer was courteous, she was told that it wasnât their jurisdiction and they wouldnât be sending an officer.
Instead they told her to call 311. But she said from past experience, Doberstein didnât think they would be of any help in this matter.
This wasnât the first time she witnessed the man capturing a cage full of birds and it also wasnât the first time she tried reporting on what she witnessed.
âIt was the second time I saw this guy. I recognized the truck from almost a year ago in August in the same parking lot.â
She told CityNews that last year she contacted a variety of different municipal and provincial departments with no luck, âI called PAWS (Provincial Animal Welfares services) and The Ministry of Nature and Forestry too and I never heard back.â
This kind of response isnât unusual, according to Camille Labchuck, animal rights lawyer and executive director of Animal Justice.
âIn my experience this is not uncommon when it comes to animal issues and law enforcement agencies,â said Labchuck. âBecause a lot of people have authority also means that nobody does, leading to nobody wanting to pick it up and run with it.â
While Labchuck and her team are disappointed that Toronto Animal Services and police didnât do more, they ultimately had more success with reporting the incident to Provincial Animal Welfare Services and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
âPAWS is the agency that took over enforcement from the OSPCA two years back. They are tasked with investigating any animal cruelty problems.â Labchuck explained. Something many people may not be aware of.
Since the OSPCA announced in 2019 it will no longer enforce animal cruelty laws, there has been no clear guidance of who one should contact to report, investigate and enforce animal cruelty laws.
âYou got a man roughly handling birds by the wings which is not permitted,â Labchuck said. âTo say nothing of the fact that he shouldnât be interacting with pigeons anyways. They are protected species under the federal Migratory Bird Convention Actâ.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry are in charge of enforcing the wildlife act. Labchuck said there could be a clear violation here as residents canât interact with native wildlife without a permit.
However, while both departments took down information, neither would accept the video at this stage.
âThey both advised that providing the video would be a next step if an enforcement officer requires it. Kind of bizarre as itâs relevant evidence at the outset,â Labchuck said.
In 2015, the illegal trapping of pigeons became a widespread issue in the city of New York after hundreds were believed to be stolen for live pigeon shoots in neighbouring states.
