End Speciecism Pins and Buttons
Description: This project began almost intuitively. At first, I was simply drawing two hands floating through a city at night. A dark vision surrounded by water and inhabited by birds. Slowly, these hands transformed into dovecotes, shelters integrated into the urban landscape, inhabited by birds of peace. For a long time, I have been reflecting on the way pigeons coexist with us in cities. They live among us, on our buildings, within our ruins, in forgotten spaces, yet they are often ignored or rejected. Imagining dovecotes integrated into the city is also a way of imagining a different relationship between humans, animals, and architecture, a more peaceful coexistence.
Description: This artwork is part of an ongoing series dedicated to raising awareness about stringfoot pigeons. Stringfoot is a preventable condition caused when discarded human-made fibers, such as hair, thread, fishing line, or plastic string, become tightly wrapped around a pigeon’s feet. As circulation is cut off, the fibers can cause severe pain, deformities, loss of toes, chronic infections, and permanent disability. Rather than defining these birds by their injuries, this series seeks to restore their dignity. Pigeons living with stringfoot are often overlooked or perceived as “ugly,” yet they are among the most resilient of urban wildlife. Despite enduring constant pain and hardship, they continue to fly, forage, care for their mates and young.
Description: This artwork is part of an ongoing series dedicated to raising awareness about stringfoot pigeons. Stringfoot is a preventable condition caused when discarded human-made fibers, such as hair, thread, fishing line, or plastic string, become tightly wrapped around a pigeon’s feet. As circulation is cut off, the fibers can cause severe pain, deformities, loss of toes, chronic infections, and permanent disability. Rather than defining these birds by their injuries, this series seeks to restore their dignity. Pigeons living with stringfoot are often overlooked or perceived as “ugly,” yet they are among the most resilient of urban wildlife. Despite enduring constant pain and hardship, they continue to fly, forage, care for their mates and young.
Description: This artwork is part of an ongoing series dedicated to raising awareness about stringfoot pigeons. Stringfoot is a preventable condition caused when discarded human-made fibers, such as hair, thread, fishing line, or plastic string, become tightly wrapped around a pigeon’s feet. As circulation is cut off, the fibers can cause severe pain, deformities, loss of toes, chronic infections, and permanent disability. Rather than defining these birds by their injuries, this series seeks to restore their dignity. Pigeons living with stringfoot are often overlooked or perceived as “ugly,” yet they are among the most resilient of urban wildlife. Despite enduring constant pain and hardship, they continue to fly, forage, care for their mates and young.
Description: This artwork is part of an ongoing series dedicated to raising awareness about stringfoot pigeons. Stringfoot is a preventable condition caused when discarded human-made fibers, such as hair, thread, fishing line, or plastic string, become tightly wrapped around a pigeon’s feet. As circulation is cut off, the fibers can cause severe pain, deformities, loss of toes, chronic infections, and permanent disability. Rather than defining these birds by their injuries, this series seeks to restore their dignity. Pigeons living with stringfoot are often overlooked or perceived as “ugly,” yet they are among the most resilient of urban wildlife. Despite enduring constant pain and hardship, they continue to fly, forage, care for their mates and young.
Description: This artwork is part of an ongoing series dedicated to raising awareness about stringfoot pigeons. Stringfoot is a preventable condition caused when discarded human-made fibers, such as hair, thread, fishing line, or plastic string, become tightly wrapped around a pigeon’s feet. As circulation is cut off, the fibers can cause severe pain, deformities, loss of toes, chronic infections, and permanent disability. Rather than defining these birds by their injuries, this series seeks to restore their dignity. Pigeons living with stringfoot are often overlooked or perceived as “ugly,” yet they are among the most resilient of urban wildlife. Despite enduring constant pain and hardship, they continue to fly, forage, care for their mates and young.
Description: This artwork is part of an ongoing series dedicated to raising awareness about stringfoot pigeons. Stringfoot is a preventable condition caused when discarded human-made fibers, such as hair, thread, fishing line, or plastic string, become tightly wrapped around a pigeon’s feet. As circulation is cut off, the fibers can cause severe pain, deformities, loss of toes, chronic infections, and permanent disability. Rather than defining these birds by their injuries, this series seeks to restore their dignity. Pigeons living with stringfoot are often overlooked or perceived as “ugly,” yet they are among the most resilient of urban wildlife. Despite enduring constant pain and hardship, they continue to fly, forage, care for their mates and young.
Description: This pigeon, symbol of peace, of faith, of message, has been carried, invoked, believed in. Raised as a sign, lowered as an offering. Around it, hands gather. They reach, they hold, they frame… but their intention remains uncertain. Are they protecting, healing, guiding? Or are they claiming, praying, sacrificing? Between devotion and possession, the gesture trembles. For centuries, pigeons have been used to carry meaning heavier than their wings, as messengers, as omens, as living answers to questions that perhaps never had any. And still, we continue to believe. To project. To ask them to hold what we cannot resolve ourselves. “What about me?”, asks the White Dove....
Description: This artwork is part of an ongoing series dedicated to raising awareness about stringfoot pigeons. Stringfoot is a preventable condition caused when discarded human-made fibers, such as hair, thread, fishing line, or plastic string, become tightly wrapped around a pigeon’s feet. As circulation is cut off, the fibers can cause severe pain, deformities, loss of toes, chronic infections, and permanent disability. Rather than defining these birds by their injuries, this series seeks to restore their dignity. Pigeons living with stringfoot are often overlooked or perceived as “ugly,” yet they are among the most resilient of urban wildlife. Despite enduring constant pain and hardship, they continue to fly, forage, care for their mates and young.
Description: The bird of peace doesn’t look at both. She hopes and turns toward the hand that might offer, even when nothing is certain. Even when there may be nothing to receive. Because something in her still trusts. But in the streets, we don’t see Peace. We see a Pigeon. Too close. Too ordinary. Too many. A nuisance. We push her away. The same wings we praise as a symbol becomes something we refuse to touch. Hands that give. Hands that take. And somewhere in between, peace is left to survive on what we choose to offer.
Description: ''My very first pigeon was found by me by the residential building in the early morning of June 25, 2018. She was about 15 days old, a baby dinosaur who touched my heart at first sight. She became my inseparable beloved feathered friend and she lives with me at home with my other pigeons.''(Sveta, Dnipro, Ukraine)
Description: This is an original design created by Elodie M. Richard artist: Wear this apparel with pride, celebrate pigeons as war heroes, life savers and messengers!! Loyal, friendly creatures, they have been domesticated by us for at least 10 000 years !! They literally helped humans around the world, carve their history. Unfortunately since the end of WW2, we tend to forget the priceless services and misleading propaganda treats them as pests. Pigeons deserve so much better than what they get!! We owe Them a great deal and it is time to give their dignity back, respect and care for them, in our urban environments, and as rescues that make wonderful pets. Pigeon rescue is not a hobby, it is a movement that aims to end animal abuse and speciesism.
Description: ''Who are you?'' celebrates Pigeons natural curiosity and awesomeness!!, these friendly creatures are loyal, affectionate, very clever, and make wonderful pets !! Wear this apparel with pride! Supporting pigeon rescue and the end of speciesism is a noble cause and it makes this world a better place.
Description: '' I went to the local park to feed some Pigeons but before I even got out of my car I spotted a lone bird in the middle of the road looking lost. She was in danger of getting hit by a car and I quickly realized it was a racing pigeon that had either gotten lost on its way home or had been dumped. After following her for some time me and my boyfriend were able to grab her and put her in a box and take her home. She was very fearful at first but after living in my room with me for 3 months she has blossomed into a smart, curious, and gorgeous bird. Although Plum still won’t let me hold her, I know that our bond will only strengthen with time. '' Plum lives with her human parents in Reno, Nevada.
Description: ''Dusya was very sickly baby, she had a lot of health issues, i was waking up very early to check on her. It took a while for her to begin to eat on her own and fight all the diseases. She had bad parasites infestation. She also had trichomoniasis and she wouldn't eat on her own until 6 months old. Just did not know how, so i tube fed her and later handfed her with pearl barley seeds. As for Charlie, he just escaped the nest too early and was strutting Moscow’s streets. He was a healthy baby. I did not plan on keeping him, and thought of releasing him next spring, but Dusya decided otherwise. She was smitten with the baby, wanted to become his mommy. But then Charlie grew up, and they got married. ''
Description: ''Stevie is a strong-willed, loving soul. She bonded to me quickly. When I returned to work, I adopted Cher and Bruce so she would have company while I was out of the house, but she remains my "ride or die". I struggle with chronic illness and she is always by my side at my worst moments. When she is not sitting on the nest she loves to cuddle with me, keep me company, taste all the foods I'm eating, and hop around the apartment foraging for seeds or whatever else she finds. She even prefers to sleep in my room, sometimes on my bed, and have snuggles in the morning when we wake up. I'm so grateful for her'' (Sidney, NYC)
Description: ''Urban environments often lack sufficient natural food sources for pigeons and other birds, forcing them to scavenge unhealthy scraps left by humans, which harm their health. Providing quality seeds every two/three days ensures that pigeons receive some proper nutrition. Pigeons contribute to the urban eco system by dispersing seeds and cleaning up organic matter. Healthy pigeon populations can maintain ecological balance. Cities are shared spaces for both humans and animals, providing food and dovecotes fosters a more humane and respectful relationship between people and pigeons.''
Description: Every time a pigeon is pulled from a hat, hidden under a magician’s cape, or forced into a routine for human entertainment, it is not magic—it is exploitation. Pigeons are living beings. Sensitive, intelligent, social creatures who feel fear, confusion, and pain just like any other animal. In magic acts, they are routinely stuffed into tight spaces, exposed to loud noises, bright lights, and sudden movements. They are often isolated, deprived of their natural behaviors, and discarded when they are no longer “useful.” This is trauma, masked as wonder. What we applaud as spectacle is, in truth, a repeated act of domination. Animals are not here for our amusement or to serve as tools of performance. For them, it is trauma, again and again.
Description: « Wow was rescued by Cicero Animal Control who called Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue and said they had a racing pigeon...this boy is a Chinese Owl pigeon and the only place he can race is straight to the fashion show runway. He always looks like he’s just come from the salon, and he is named because his coo sounds like « cluck cluck WOW! He married the lovely one wing ex-racer Jeddah less than 24 hrs after arriving at Moose’s Flock. » Moose’s Flock Pigeon and Dove Rescue is located in Oceanside, CA (USA)
Description: ''Bailey was found and brought to GLPR when she was only a couple of weeks old, on the sidewalk, with both of her eyes destroyed and blood pouring down the sides of her face. Bailey is completely blind, but she navigates remarkably well using verbal cues and distinguishing between different textured surfaces under her feet to know where she is in the house. She’s also best friends with Ms. Pidge, another former Chicago city pigeon, who faced off with a subway train and lost her entire left wing to the encounter.She is a remarkable bird who patiently introduces people to the intelligence and charming nature of Pigeons wherever she goes. Bailey and Ms Pidge live in Chicago with their human family.''
Description: ''Pidge was covered in some kind of chemical that smelt like petrol, he had really bad cankers, string foot and mites. I bathed him twice at day, cleaned up his feet, treated him for parasites and cankers. For the first week I wasn’t sure if he’d make it but he got a little stronger each day. He lived with me for around a month. Towards the last week with me he’d spend a couple hours each night cooing for his mate. He was a sassy boy who wasn’t afraid to wing slap but we formed a sweet bond during his time with me. '' Pidge was rescued by Lee who lives in Southampton, UK.
Description: “We met Kluva (Beakie, in English) when I visited my parents. She sat on the shoulder suddenly and I noticed her injured broken wing and beak. We couldn’t leave her. Kluva went to Moscow with me, and I bought a lot of toys, different seeds and big tent for her. Kluva went to vet, took a lot of tests. Also we found out that Kluva is a girl. Kluva was under medication about 2-3 months and, finally, she started to feel better. But we couldn’t fix her broken beak. So, Kluva can’t be free, she lives with me, and I feed her every day. She is very cheerful birdie. She loves domestic plants, fights with my Lego dragon and loves to press keys on my work laptop. Sometimes she sends messages to my colleagues! (Victoria, Moscow, Russia)
Description: ''Pickles joins our family on every adventure, including camping trips. He stands on my left knee when he’s hungry, and gently pecks my hand to make sure I know he’s ready to eat. He is perpetually busy building nests for himself, and because he doesn’t understand he’s a pigeon, doesn’t want the company of a pigeon mate or to sit on fake eggs. Pickles the Pigeon is arguably the happiest, most loved creature on this planet. He enjoys baths, sunshine, socks, stuffed animals, and anything red. He hates car rides and opossums. We will probably never know why he is so special, only that he is. I am Dion and we live in San Francisco, CA, USA. We run benicetopigeons.org. I work at WildCare in San Rafael and volunteer with Palomacy ''
Description: ''I absolutely adore this little bird! He quickly stole my heart and took over control of the household! He has free range of the house pretty much all day long although the spot he picked for his personal space is the top of an armoire/bookshelf. I credit his foster for creating such a positive introduction to humans, as connecting with Gaston happened really quickly. He always starts cooing when he hears me come inside from morning farm chores and flies into the kitchen for treats and ‘kitchen baths’ every day when I need to cook! He loves hanging out with our other special needs pigeon, Cleo, who we have since also adopted.'' Gaston lives with his human parent Carol in Martinsville, Southern Virginia.
Description: ''This is Ollie. Ollie is disabled and was hatched this way. Ollie cannot stand still, nor walk like a typical pigeon, or fly BUT since his young age he has been developing his incredible resilience and strong willed temper, this little bird had absolutely the will to live and energy to move mountains. Ollie is total pure cuteness, he captures the heart of humans who have the chance to get to know him. Ollie loves to cuddle, and is also very playful. He is deeply loved by his human mother Adrienne who is wonderfully taking care of him. We love Ollie!!!'' Location: Bay Area of California, USA
Description: Balthazar was rescued off the street by Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue. He was thin, terrified and had such thick bangles around his legs that he was unable to lie down. I adopted him in the summer of 2021. When he was examined by a vet, we found that he had suffered a terrible accident at some point in his past: his keel had been severely broken and then healed misaligned. His beak was similarly broken and badly healed. These types of injuries are consistent with being thrown hard against a wall. He was a dedicated husbird to his wife Esmé and it was a gift to watch him learn how to be a pigeon, enjoy the life he deserved, and flourish. He will be deeply missed and never forgotten.'' (Jenna, Oceanside, CA, USA)
Description: « No one knows much about Turkey's past except that he was clearly bonded to a human, or had a positive human interactions, at some point in his early life. He was relinquished to a wildlife rehabber with a leg injury, a skin issue and malnutrition. Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue took him in and helped him regain his body weight and strength. While he was at their facility he was known for his love of children and volunteers, his micromanaging of the food and cleaning carts that he was allowed to ride around on, and his willingness to let small children hold him. Turkey came to me 8 months ago and as soon as he arrived at my house it was instantly his. He bonded to me right away.'' (Jenna, Oceanside, CA, USA)
Description: ''Pickles joins our family on every adventure, including camping trips. He stands on my left knee when he’s hungry, and gently pecks my hand to make sure I know he’s ready to eat. He is perpetually busy building nests for himself, and because he doesn’t understand he’s a pigeon, doesn’t want the company of a pigeon mate or to sit on fake eggs. Pickles the Pigeon is arguably the happiest, most loved creature on this planet. He enjoys baths, sunshine, socks, stuffed animals, and anything red. He hates car rides and opossums. We will probably never know why he is so special, only that he is. I am Dion and we live in San Francisco, CA, USA. We run benicetopigeons.org. I work at WildCare in San Rafael and volunteer with Palomacy ''
Description: Pigeon racing is not a sport. It’s animal cruelty dressed in trophies and tradition. Racing pigeons are torn from their families to be used as pawns in a system that thrives on stress, fear, and loss. Their deep bonds are exploited — they’re made to race home from long, exhausting distances, chasing a reunion that may never come. Many never return. Those who do are often discarded if they don’t win — sold for dog training, left to starve, or killed by a snap of the neck. Each “lost” bird is a slave to the racing system. Do not call the number on their band. You’re not returning a pet, you’re sending them back to a life of high stress, suffering and trauma.
