Pigeons in Switzerland: Symbol of peace and mass shooting

Pigeons are among humankind's oldest companions. For over 7,000 years, they have been domesticated, revered as messengers, providers of food, and symbols of peace. In Switzerland today, the pigeon is perhaps the most despised and least protected animal of all. The wood pigeon and the collared dove are hunted as small game, while the feral pigeon (city pigeon) is huntable year-round and systematically controlled in Swiss cities through feeding bans, deterrents, and official killing. The closely related European turtle dove, once a symbol of love, is listed as "vulnerable" on the global Red List and is threatened with extinction in Switzerland. The Swiss City Pigeons Association sums up the absurdity perfectly: The city pigeon is a homeless, human-bred domestic animal that we treat like a pest.

Profile

Domestic pigeon / city pigeon ( Columba livia f. domestica )

The feral pigeon is descended from the rock dove ( Columba livia ), which was domesticated over 7,000 years ago in the Mediterranean region and the Near East. Through selective breeding, hundreds of breeds were created, including homing pigeons, meat pigeons, and ornamental pigeons. Escaped and released birds formed feral populations that now live in almost every Swiss city. The feral pigeon is 30 to 35 centimeters long and weighs 250 to 380 grams. Its plumage varies considerably, from the wild type (blue-gray with two black wing bars and a metallic green-violet iridescent neck) to brown, white, and pied varieties. This diversity is a sign of its domesticated origins. The feral pigeon breeds year-round, as the breeding instinct was bred into it during domestication. It lays two eggs per brood, with up to six broods per year. In Switzerland, the city pigeon is a game bird that can be hunted all year round according to the Federal Law on Hunting (JSG, Art. 5) (SRF, 2026; Government Council of Basel-Stadt, 2025).

Common Wood Pigeon ( Columba palumbus )

The common wood pigeon, with a body length of 40 to 42 centimeters and a weight of 450 to 520 grams, is the largest pigeon species in Europe. Its distinguishing features are a white neck patch and white wing bars, which are noticeable in flight. The common wood pigeon is a regular breeding bird and passage migrant in Switzerland. During their migration, they avoid the Alps and fly primarily along the Jura Mountains and through the Swiss Plateau. In October, huge flocks of migrating birds can be observed in certain areas (Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach). The common wood pigeon lives in hedgerows, forests, parks, and increasingly in cities. Its diet consists of seeds, buds, berries, beechnuts, and acorns. Its wingspan is 68 to 77 centimeters. It breeds two to three times a year, laying two eggs each time, with an incubation period of 17 days. The common wood pigeon is a game bird in Switzerland (JSG, Art. 5 para. 3).

Eurasian Collared Dove ( Streptopelia decaocto )

The Eurasian collared dove, with a body length of 31 to 33 centimeters and a weight of 150 to 200 grams, is significantly smaller and more delicate than the common wood pigeon. Its plumage is a uniform light beige-brown, with the most striking feature being a deep black nape stripe. The Eurasian collared dove has one of the most remarkable dispersal histories in ornithology: Originally from Southeast Asia and the Near East, it began a spectacular expansion northwestward in the 1930s. It reached Vienna in 1943, Augsburg in 1946, the Netherlands in 1949, and Great Britain in 1956. In Switzerland, the population is estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 breeding pairs. The Eurasian collared dove is a synanthropic species that lives almost exclusively near human settlements. It prefers to nest in coniferous trees and can breed year-round under favorable conditions. The Eurasian collared dove is a game bird in Switzerland. The number of animals hunted in Switzerland has fluctuated between 80 and 760 over the last 15 years (Wikipedia, Eurasian Collared Dove; Federal Hunting Statistics).

The city pigeon: A pet without rights

Domesticated, abandoned, persecuted

The city pigeon is not a wild animal. Genetically, it is a domesticated animal that, through millennia of selective breeding, has developed traits that are disadvantageous in the wild: year-round breeding activity regardless of food availability, reduced flight response, strong site attachment, and diminished territorial behavior. The Swiss City Pigeons Association documents: "City pigeons are homeless, domesticated animals bred by humans. The breeding drive was bred into them during domestication" (Watson, 2023). The legal experts at the Animal Law Foundation note: "In Zurich, city pigeons are also considered wild animals, a legally questionable practice" (Animal Law, 2023).

Despite these facts, Swiss hunting law classifies feral pigeons as wild animals (JSG, Art. 5). This has far-reaching consequences: urban pigeons enjoy no protection under domestic animal law, they can be hunted year-round, and feeding bans are enforced with the argument that wild animals do not depend on human feeding. This argument ignores biological reality: urban pigeons breed even when food is scarce because their reproductive drive is genetically determined, not driven by food availability as in true wild animals.

Feeding bans: Regulation through starvation

Since January 1, 2023, a completely revised hunting law has been in effect in the Canton of Zurich, including a comprehensive ban on feeding wild animals, which also applies to urban pigeons. Despite the ban, organized groups continue to feed pigeons. The City of Zurich describes the problem as worsening (SRF, 2025). The Swiss Urban Pigeon Management Foundation warns: "Closing off all food sources for pigeons in a city and consistently enforcing a feeding ban would amount to a killing measure by starvation. This form of population reduction is associated with considerable suffering and pain for the animals and is incompatible with animal welfare legislation" (Urban Pigeons Switzerland, Urban Pigeon Management in Swiss Cities).

The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) confirms: "No means may be used to control pigeons that cause the animals unjustifiable pain and injury" (FSVO, Pigeons). In practice, however, measures that raise animal welfare concerns are used: spiked collars that can lead to serious injuries; nets behind which pigeons can slip and from which they cannot find their way out; and the systematic withholding of food from animals that are genetically unable to adjust their reproduction to the available food supply.

The Augsburg Model: The only solution that works

The only demonstrably effective and animal-welfare-compliant method for controlling urban pigeon populations is the so-called Augsburg Model: supervised dovecotes where the birds are fed appropriately, find nesting sites, and have their eggs replaced with dummy eggs (birth control). In Basel, the Grand Council approved a pilot project with five supervised dovecotes in January 2026, allocating 830,000 Swiss francs for it (SRF, 2026). In Lucerne, the city has been operating an urban pigeon project with two dovecotes and reproduction control since 2001. Zurich has three dovecotes, which, according to the Swiss Urban Pigeons Association, are insufficient. A petition with over 9,000 signatures calls for expansion (SRF, 2025).

More on this topic: Animal welfare problem: Wild animals die agonizing deaths because of hobby hunters

The hunt: Shooting practice during migration

Legal situation

According to the Federal Hunting Act (JSG, Art. 5 para. 3), the common wood pigeon and the collared dove are game species. The feral domestic pigeon can be hunted year-round. In the canton of Basel-Landschaft, for example, the hunting season for the common wood pigeon and the collared dove runs from August 1st to February 15th (Canton BL, Hunting Seasons 2024/25). The cantons can extend or restrict the closed seasons. BirdLife Switzerland comments: "Not only is hunting hares completely unnecessary from an ecological perspective, but so is hunting birds" (BirdLife Switzerland, Hunting Statistics). The NABU (German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) calls for the common wood pigeon to be removed from hunting regulations and transferred to nature conservation law (NABU, Common Wood Pigeon).

The scale of the shootdown

In Switzerland, the common wood pigeon and the collared dove are recorded in the federal hunting statistics. The number of collared doves hunted varies extremely, ranging from 80 to 760 birds over 15 years, with the canton of Zurich accounting for 65 percent (Wikipedia, Collared Dove; Federal Hunting Statistics). Common wood pigeons are hunted in larger numbers; precise nationwide figures are difficult to obtain, as the statistics sometimes group dove species together. BirdLife Switzerland includes dove hunting among the more than 23,000 wild bird kills recorded in Switzerland in 2019 (BirdLife Switzerland, Hunting Statistics).

For comparison: In Germany, between 655,000 and 917,000 wild pigeons are killed annually (Graumännchen.org). In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, around 639,000 wild pigeons were shot in the 2005/2006 season. The NABU (German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) documents that around half of the wood pigeons shot in North Rhine-Westphalia took place during the breeding season, "which, among other things, results in the orphaning and starvation of the young birds. This is incompatible with the Animal Welfare Act and an ethically responsible approach to animals" (NABU NRW, Wood Pigeon).

The Turtle Dove: The Warning Nobody Hears

The European turtle dove ( Streptopelia turtur ) is the smallest European dove species and has been listed as "vulnerable" (VU) on the IUCN Red List since 2015. Worldwide, one in three turtle doves has disappeared in the last 16 years. In Switzerland, populations are small, declining, and "critically endangered" (BirdLife Switzerland, 2023). A census in Geneva (GOBG, 2017–2019) showed a dramatic decline to just 16 territories, a decrease of 70 percent since 1998. The FOEN/Swiss Ornithological Institute Red List of Breeding Birds of Switzerland (2021) classifies the turtle dove as "critically endangered" (CR) and warns: "The outlook is increasingly bleak. Its survival in Switzerland is in question."

The European turtle dove is not a game bird in Switzerland, but it is dying nonetheless: due to the intensification of agriculture, pesticide use, the loss of fallow land and hedgerows, and hunting and poaching along its migration route through the Mediterranean, where millions of turtle doves are shot every year (BirdLife International, 2018). The turtle dove illustrates what happens when a dove species faces multiple threats. The common wood pigeon and the collared dove are not yet on the Red List. But the turtle dove wasn't there either, until it was too late.

More on this topic: Dossier: Hunting and Biodiversity

Intelligence: More than a "bird brain"

Navigation: The biological GPS

Pigeons possess one of the most complex navigation systems in the animal kingdom. A study by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), published in Science in 2025, has deciphered the neural mechanism of their magnetic sense: Specialized hair cells in the inner ear convert magnetic fields into electrical signals via electromagnetic induction, which are then transmitted via the vestibular nucleus to the mesopallium (a brain region for complex processing). Professor David Keays (LMU) describes the system as a "biological GPS" that functions according to the same physical principle as wireless charging for smartphones (LMU Munich, Science 2025).

As early as 2012, Le-Qing Wu and David Dickman (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston) demonstrated in Science that nerve cells in the brainstem of pigeons encode the direction, intensity, and polarity of the magnetic field, enabling the birds to calculate both compass direction and latitude (Spektrum der Wissenschaft, 2012). Pigeons combine this magnetic sense with a sun compass, olfactory orientation, and visual landmark recognition. A study from the University of Zurich, using a mini neurologger, showed that the brain activity of a homing pigeon increases dramatically when it recognizes a familiar landmark (Vyssotski, Current Biology).

Cognitive abilities

Pigeons can memorize over 800 different images and correctly identify them even weeks later. Researchers from the University of Bochum and the University of Otago (New Zealand) demonstrated in 2016 that pigeons can learn English spelling and distinguish correctly spelled words from made-up words. A US study showed that pigeons process time and space in a similarly abstract way as humans and apes (Meinbezirk.at, 2021). Furthermore, pigeons can form categories, differentiate between art styles (Monet vs. Picasso), recognize faces, and even apply basic mathematical principles. All these abilities have been demonstrated in domesticated pigeons—precisely those animals we disparage as "rats of the air."

Ecological significance

Seed dispersal

Wood pigeons and collared doves feed on berries, beechnuts, acorns, and seeds, dispersing them over long distances through their droppings. As migratory birds, wood pigeons contribute to the connectivity of plant populations that are increasingly isolated due to landscape fragmentation.

food chain

Pigeons are a key prey species for birds of prey. The peregrine falcon has established itself as an urban bird because the city pigeon is its primary prey. The rock dove, the ancestor of the domestic pigeon, was the peregrine falcon's main prey in the Mediterranean region. Goshawks and sparrowhawks also regularly hunt wood pigeons. The eagle owl, the largest European owl, feeds primarily on wood pigeons in many regions (Graumännchen.org). Without pigeons, the populations of these birds of prey and owls would be endangered.

Carrion removal and soil cleaning

City pigeons remove food scraps and waste from public spaces. This service is never quantified, but it relieves the burden on city cleaning services and reduces the food supply for rats. Where city pigeons are consistently driven away, it is not the residents who benefit, but the rat populations.

What would need to change

Removal of the wood pigeon and collared dove from the list of huntable species : Hunting doves has no justifiable basis under the Animal Welfare Act. The wood pigeon is a migratory bird species, and hunting it during the breeding season leads to the orphaning of young birds. The collared dove population in North Rhine-Westphalia has declined by over 40 percent; hunting it in Switzerland is unjustifiable.
Reclassification of the city pigeon as a feral domestic animal : The legal classification of the city pigeon as a wild animal is scientifically incorrect and ethically untenable. Feral domestic pigeons are genetically domesticated animals whose behavior has been shaped by millennia of selective breeding. They belong under the protection of domestic animal law, not under hunting law.
Managed dovecotes in all Swiss cities based on the Augsburg model : The only demonstrably effective and animal-welfare-compliant method for controlling urban pigeon populations is the combination of managed dovecotes, controlled feeding, and egg exchange. Feeding bans alone do not reduce the pigeon population, as breeding activity is genetically determined. They only lead to malnutrition, disease, and animal suffering.
Ban on animal welfare-violating deterrent measures : Spiked collars that injure pigeons, poisoned bait and nets behind which pigeons are trapped must be banned and consistently prosecuted.
Protection of the European turtle dove and its habitats : Switzerland must advocate internationally for a complete hunting moratorium on the European turtle dove and nationally promote fallow land, hedges and structurally diverse agricultural areas that serve as breeding and feeding habitats for the European turtle dove.

Argumentation

"City pigeons are 'rats of the air' and disease carriers." The term "rats of the air" originates from a 1951 documentary film and is a propaganda term without any scientific basis. While the Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs (BLV) lists theoretical disease risks, actual transmission to humans is extremely rare. Studies show that the risk posed by city pigeons is no greater than that posed by other wild birds. The defamation of city pigeons as a hygiene hazard serves to make the dispersal and killing of a defenseless animal socially acceptable.

"Feeding bans are necessary to control the pigeon population." However, feeding bans do not reduce the pigeon population. Because breeding activity is genetically determined, even malnourished city pigeons reproduce. The result is not fewer pigeons, but sicker pigeons that elicit more sympathy from passersby and are therefore fed more often, even secretly. The Swiss City Pigeon Foundation documents: "As a single measure, a feeding ban has hardly any impact on the population size" (Swiss City Pigeon Foundation, Management Paper). The Augsburg model with supervised pigeon lofts and egg exchange is the only demonstrably effective solution.

"The wood pigeon is common and causes damage in agriculture." The fact that a species is common does not automatically make killing it permissible. Animal welfare law requires a justifiable reason. Damage caused by wood pigeons in Swiss agriculture is localized and manageable with deterrent measures (visual aids, diversionary feeding). In Germany, over 700,000 wild pigeons are shot annually without sustainably reducing the population. If shooting does not have a lasting effect, it is not damage prevention but recreational killing.

"Feral pigeons are wild animals and subject to hunting laws." The legal classification as wild animals does not change the biological reality. Geneticists and behavioral biologists agree: feral pigeons remain genetically domestic animals. Norbert Bernecke quotes in his standard work on animal domestication: "Feral domestic animals remain genetically domestic animals." City pigeons are territorial, not shy, reproductively dependent on humans (bred for year-round breeding), and unable to respond to food shortages with reduced reproduction like wild animals. Treating them as wild animals is a legal fiction that contradicts animal welfare.

"Hunting wild pigeons is a long-standing tradition and part of small game hunting." However, the tradition of pigeon hunting is no argument for its continuation. Millions of migratory birds, including turtle doves, are shot annually in the Mediterranean region. The declining populations of many migratory bird species across Europe demonstrate that cumulative hunting along migration routes is unsustainable. The NABU (German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) therefore calls for all migratory bird species to be removed from hunting regulations. Switzerland should lead the way in this, not lag behind.

Quick links

Posts on Wild beim Wild:

Related dossiers

Sources

Federal Hunting Statistics, FOEN/Wildlife Switzerland: http://www.jagdstatistik.ch
Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach: Common Wood Pigeon, species portrait (vogelwarte.ch)
BirdLife Switzerland: The current hunting statistics and the revised hunting law (birdlife.ch)
BirdLife Switzerland (2023): New Red List of Threatened Species Worldwide, Classification for Switzerland (birdlife.ch)
BirdLife International (2018): State of the World's Birds, Red List of Birds
BAFU / Swiss Ornithological Institute (2021): Red List of Breeding Birds of Switzerland (European Turtle Dove: CR)
NABU NRW: Wood pigeon, hunting and breeding season culling (nabu.de)
NABU: Position paper on hunting, demand to remove wood pigeon from hunting regulations (nabu.de)
Government Council of Basel-Stadt (2025): Urban pigeon concept, pilot project supervised pigeon lofts (bs.ch)
SRF (2026): Basel is to get five dovecotes, initiative wants more (srf.ch)
SRF (2025): Recalcitrant pigeon feeders defy the law (srf.ch)
Watson (2023): A pigeon war is raging in Zurich (watson.ch)
City of Zurich: Pigeons, feeding ban from 2023 (stadt-zuerich.ch)
BLV Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs: Pigeons (blv.admin.ch)
City Pigeons Switzerland: City pigeon management in Swiss cities (stadttauben.ch)
Animal Law Foundation: City pigeon as a wild animal, legally questionable (tierimrecht.org, quoted in Watson)
Keays, D. et al. (2025): Magnetic sense in pigeons, inner ear and electromagnetic induction. Science (LMU Munich)
Wu, L.-Q. and Dickman, D. (2012): The GPS of homing pigeons is located in the brain. Science (Baylor College of Medicine)
Vyssotski, A. et al.: Brain activity of free-flying homing pigeons, mini-neurologger. Current Biology (University of Zurich)
Wikipedia: Eurasian Collared Dove, population in Switzerland (15,000–20,000 breeding pairs, hunting bag 80–760)
Graumännchen.org: Wild pigeons (wood pigeon cull in Germany 655,000–917,000)
Canton of Basel-Landschaft: Hunting seasons 2024/25 (wood pigeon, collared dove)
IG Wild beim Wild (2022/2025): Hunting Statistics 2022 (wildbeimwild.com)
Federal Act on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (JSG, SR 922.0)
Animal Welfare Act (TSchG, SR 455)

Our claim

Pigeons are fascinating animals. They possess a biological navigation system, which science only began to decipher in 2025—a kind of "GPS in the inner ear" based on the principle of electromagnetic induction. They can memorize hundreds of images, process time and space abstractly, and learn the rules of human spelling. They have served humans as messengers in wars, shaped a millennia-old cultural history as symbols of peace and love, and, as research subjects, have provided essential insights into neurobiology and cognition.

And what do we do with them? We shoot the wood pigeon during its autumn migration because it's considered "delicious game." We hunt the collared dove, which has only been established in Switzerland for a few decades. We vilify the city pigeon as a "rat of the air" and try to starve it out by banning feeding, even though we ourselves bred them as pets and then released them. And we watch as the European turtle dove, once a symbol of love, is threatened with extinction in Switzerland and is shot down by the millions on its migration route through the Mediterranean.

The consequence is clear: the wood pigeon and the collared dove must be removed from the list of huntable species. The feral pigeon must be recognized as a domestic animal and provided with supervised dovecotes in all Swiss cities, following the Augsburg model. And Switzerland must advocate internationally for a complete hunting moratorium on the European turtle dove. This dossier will be continuously updated as new figures, studies, or political developments necessitate it.

More on the topic of hobby hunting: In our dossier on hunting, we compile fact checks, analyses and background reports.