Pellet gun, bird, dinner...

Pigeon, it's what's for supper!

-Blast

you forgot a dash of salt and pepper.

I was always told that pigeons were very disease ridden birds and just maybe a bad idea to eat. Don't have anything to support this but I guess as a last resort they would do.

They don't seem to carry any more in the way of disease (etc) than any other animals, according to the New York City Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene [ http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/epi/epi-pigeon.shtml ]

They say that diseases that humans can get from them (actually, their droppings) is mostly histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and psittacosis, and there aren't many cases of them.

I've never heard of them coming down with Mad Cow Disease (BSE) or that 'hot' E-Coli 0157:H7, both of which show up in animals that we deliberately pay to eat. They're not even free.

And I'm not sure, but I think pigeons are mostly dark meat.

Just keep in mind that people ate passenger pigeons right into extinction in slightly less than 100 years.

Sue

Gotta be better than city Seagulls. They're always hangin out on dumpsters and trash heaps. But then again, I suppose if you're hungry enough, "a rat that flies" as Izzy put it, might start to look like flying fillet mignon.

Out in the country they can also have salmonella, shisto-somaiasis, and fleas, ticks, mites, and lice.

Squab has been on the menu for a long time. Not much different to eating quail; maybe a bit more lean and less meaty, but certainly more than doves.

If the animal looks healthy, eat it. If it looks sick, leave it alone, or else put it out of its misery. I do the same for most rodents.

Even a healthy armadillo ain't worth chowing on in my book.

That is a given. Tabasco is optional...

I just watched an episode of Survivorman where Les is on a tropical island. I think he was on the Cook Islands. Anyway on this episode he catches a bird called a "brown boobie"(sp?) which he plucks, guts, cooks and eats.

As he was doing this he made a comment to the effect that any bird is safe to eat in a survival situation. I agree however, that if the bird looks sick or unhealthy it should not be eaten.

Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer turkey or chicken, but if I was starving, boobie or pigeon or seagul might look pretty good.