In less than two weeks, Eskilstuna resident Madeleine has come across ten headless dead pigeons in various places around town.
Last Friday, she found one right outside her gate.
– I thought, but God, how scary, says Madeleine.
Where should you go if you find a dead bird? Eskilstuna resident Madeleine has asked herself that question many times over the past two weeks.
– I have never been part of it. So many. Really unpleasant, she says.
“The head is gone”
First, she saw a large number of dead birds with their heads intact in various places in Eskilstuna.
– But when they appeared without a head, I thought that it is not natural. They haven’t died a natural death and lost their heads. The head is gone, she says.
– The fear was that it might have been a child. Children can be very mean. Or if it’s someone else who has been stupid to the animals.
Wants the pigeons to be cleaned away
Madeleine has posted in a local group on Facebook to search for answers about how the situation should be handled and how the dead pigeons should be cleaned up.
– The pigeons have to go. There are children out playing who might come forward and poke. You have to come up with a solution how to do it.
According to Niklas Aronsson, editor at Vår Fågelvärld, it is highly likely that it is a cat that has gotten loose on the city’s pigeons. Partly because it seems to have happened systematically – but also the approach.
– Many raptors aim to kill birds by removing the head, but normally they would take the prey with them or leave behind a pile of feathers. Therefore, I think it is a cat. Cats often don’t need to eat to survive, but can surprise and bite off the head and then disappear, he says.
When asked what to do with the killed pigeons, the answer is simple: nothing.
– Let nature take care of that. I had thrown them into the nearest bush, says Niklas Aronsson.