Meet Paris’ pigeon doctor: ‘No strings attached’

PARIS: It’s a familiar sight in French cities: pigeons with mangled feet and missing toes. But one woman in Paris is on a mission to save the pigeons from their plight.

Contrary to the common belief that the pigeons are harmed by their own dirt or disease, scientists say the problem stems from debris such as threads and human hair getting tangled around their limbs and cutting off the blood supply. The condition, known as “stringfoot,” can leave pigeons missing toes or even whole feet.

Each day, Frenchwoman Catherine Hervais goes to a square near the Pompidou Centre in central Paris to help stricken birds. She lures injured pigeons with seeds, then carefully removes any harmful debris from around their feet with scissors and tweezers.

“What I want to avoid is having too many of them with atrophied legs in my neighbourhood,” Hervais said. “It affects me, of course, but we can’t change the world. So I do what I can and help when I can.”

Reporting by Manuel Ausloos; writing by Elizabeth Howcroft, editing by Richard Lough.