Pigeons strut in cowboy hats on video, perplexing Las Vegas: ‘Did they glue them?’
Pigeons that were caught in a viral video strutting around Las Vegas in cowboy hats have raised alarm among local animal advocates.
The video of the behatted birds, which was posted last Thursday, had been viewed more than 57,000 times on Facebook as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Just another day in the neighborhood,” Bobby Lee wrote in a post sharing the short clip.
But while the Wild West accessories might look funny, representatives of Lofty Hopes, a pigeon advocacy and rescue group in the Nevada city, aren’t laughing.
“We are headed to the location to see if we can find these birds, trap them, and get these hats off,” the rescuers wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday, sharing the clip of the pigeons. “They appear to be glued on.”
The clip also went wild on Twitter, where it was shared Friday by Las Vegas Locally.
“There are consequences to legalizing marijuana,” the tweet said.
Lee captured the video near Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway, KTNV reports.
Lee said the video was taken after he happened to spot one of the animals out of the corner of his eye, according to Storyful.
“I saw something red on the pigeon’s head and looked down to these awesome things,” Lee told Storyful. “The rodeo is in town so that’s the only explanation I have.”
Lee apparently wasn’t the only person to spot the birds: A Twitter user posted a video on Monday showing a pigeon sporting a cowboy hat, tagging Las Vegas Locally and writing “howdy partner” on the clip.
Even Mariah Hillman, who runs Lofty Hopes, at first reacted positively to the hats.
“At first, I was like, oh my god that’s cute!” Hillman told KVVU. “Then, I was like, wait a minute – how did they get those hats on there?”
Hillman told the TV station the hats could hurt the animals.
“Did they glue them? And what does that mean for them?” Hillman asked KVVU. “Is it something that’s going to impede their flight or attract predators?”
Hillman asked others to help care for the pigeons until the hats can be removed.
“If you see these birds, just feed them until I get here,” she told KVVU. “I’m only 3 miles away and I’ll come trap them.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Pigeons strut in cowboy hats on video, perplexing Las Vegas: ‘Did they glue them?’."
