Pet Pigeons Killed by Animal Control in Los Angeles

Rik Martino loves pigeons, and he has rescued and cared for many pigeons that were injured and ill. In the summer of 2011, hard times fell on Martino and he lost his apartment. But that did not get him down, as he found a street on East Hollywood to “occupy” with about 20 of his pet pigeons. The pigeons were kept in cages because of broken wings, feet, or were too old to fight for food in the survival-of-the-fittest world of feral pigeons. None of the pigeons were sick enough to put down, and responded well to the care that Martino gave them.

However, one can only occupy public space so long before someone complains, and one day an overly-concerned citizen complained about Martino and his pigeons. Animal control confiscated Martino’s pigeons, because they did not approve of the type of cages they were housed in. The officer told Martino he could claim the pigeons at the animal shelter after a few days. When Martino came back to claim his pigeons, animal control told him there wasn’t enough room in the shelter so they euthanized them. “These people are criminals who killed my pets,” said Martino.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmPcIvV33kc

Those Poor Souls. Im sick of this. sick of all Animal Control _'s out there.....Just try to barge threw my door, Either jail or I own my pets. Either way I'll take either road. Preferable owning my pets. I am one with nature wit my pets. My cats too will go for hikes on a leash with me threw massive hiking trails with my friends Dog as well. My pigeons get lots of exercises to prepare themselves for the wild. All the authority has to do is point there fingers and hell breaks tho. Gotta remember I'm a hell raizer. Cant raise hell on a hell raiser . I say i will produce music, make beats, until i sell. When i sell. I make a phew 10k here and there, I go for enough I'll support pigeons, and all them massive population cats, and dogs. These three types alone (Pigeons, cats and dogs) end up mistreated and I won't stand for it. We must take responsibly for our actions not extend the problem by killing off the ones we don't feel putting the time and responsibility for. Shame on yall animal abusers......Shame

SplizzlahSavage--thanks for looking at my post. It's good to know that there are people who care about animals and want to make the world a better place for animals.
Rik is looking for an attorney to file a class action lawsuit against animal control, hoping this will put an end to their practice of killing animals needlessly.

Sorry I'd missed your post, PidgiesLA!

I share your frustration and your anger at what happened to those poor pigeons and to Mr. Martino. All of us who have disabled pet pigeons in the house live in the shadow of what would happen if we found ourselves in the street, like he did...
The shelter should never have euthanised the pigeons without his consent, especially as they were forcibly removed from his care in the first place, and they presented no valid reason for doing so except for "lack of space"!
You can count on my support on this. I'll help raise awareness of this despicable disregard for a decent man and his birds, but meanwhile, here's a link to our list of pigeon-friendly lawyers:
http://www.pigeonangels.com/t831-calling-all-members

Yo man much respects. Sorry for expressing my anger too. It's something I've been upset for awhile it's totally not against your post either. Just crazy you know. i'm glade we're here talking about it. And it doesnt go unmentioned. Thanks for sharing this. And i'll be thinking about how concerning this is . Its such a tradigy and its never to late to step up to this mess make sure nothing spills like this. How could someone in the right mind do this? Sounds like someone just rather care for his time then to give time to others like Animals that could have just had some patience with them, maybe they would of been released to a better environment....Patience something these buggers need to learn "Animal Control" More like "Animal Murda" to me.

PidgiesLA wrote:

SplizzlahSavage--thanks for looking at my post. It's good to know that there are people who care about animals and want to make the world a better place for animals.
Rik is looking for an attorney to file a class action lawsuit against animal control, hoping this will put an end to their practice of killing animals needlessly.

Here's some additional advice and contacts, provided by Elizabeth Young of Mickacoo Pigeon and Dove Rescue:

Elizabeth wrote:

"In these circumstances, he would either need to get an attorney to file a lawsuit (he could try contracting the Animal Legal Defense Fund to get the names of attorneys who do animal law, sometimes pro-bono - see contact info below), wage a political campaign (see our guide to reforming animal control, available free for download, here: http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/politadvocacy.pdf), or solicit the assistance of a bird rescue organization in L.A. that could do these things for him or help him to do them.

Animal Legal Defense Fund
National Headquarters

170 East Cotati Avenue
Cotati, CA 94931

Phone: (707) 795-2533 Fax: (707) 795-7280

General Inquiries: info@aldf.org

http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/politadvocacy.pdf
www.nokilladvocacycenter.org