A recent trip to northern Tasmania sparked a contrasting return to urban life in Sydney, revealing a sense of despair over the mundane. Amidst the noise of city living, the overlooked beauty of local wildlife, particularly pigeons, came into focus. These birds, often subjected to cruelty and indifference, symbolize how society can neglect what is familiar and instead prioritize the new and outrageous. The pigeon, a descendant of beloved homing birds, represents the issues humans create, yet often fail to see and acknowledge.
Human brains are naturally predisposed to ignoring the familiar, and focusing on the new, the different, the outrageous. Anything we're surrounded by for too long grows invisible.
Pigeons are noticed only when they seem particularly foul, paid mind only when they annoy us. They are also victim of rampant animal welfare crimes: pelted with rocks, chased from dwellings, killed and maimed en mass.
The humble pigeon is that ethos poured into a feathery, fragile little body. Ironically, pigeons are a problem that we have caused.
Gone were the rolling hills, replaced by convenience stores selling AI-generated posters of monkeys smoking cigars. Everything I observed about city life became evidence for a growing theory that the human race had gone terribly wrong.
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