International Pigeon Advocacy
Pigeon Advocacy Conference in Staffordshire, UK
In many places, urban pigeons are still discussed primarily in terms of “pest control” and “pigeon deterrence”. In 2025, an event in the UK deliberately took a different perspective: on 20 September 2025, the National Pigeon Advocacy Association (NPAA) held the first Pigeon Advocacy Conference in Staffordshire – a professional networking and knowledge-sharing event focused on the needs, care and protection of pigeons. The inaugural conference sold out.
Veterinary Care, Rehabilitation and Practical Pigeon Rescue
The conference was not only aimed at animal welfare advocates, but brought together practical experience from pigeon rescue with veterinary expertise. The programme covered topics including the medical treatment of injured pigeons, rehabilitation, physiotherapy and the safe capture of pigeons in need of help.
Speakers included Dr Richard Saunders, Aneesa Malik, Jennifer Beasley, Kevin Newell, Shakira Free Miles and Sam Crick. Topics ranged from pigeon physiotherapy and veterinary care to safely capturing pigeons and treating them humanely. Recordings of several of these talks are still listed on the NPAA website.
This set the event apart from conferences where urban pigeons are primarily treated as a municipal problem. The starting point was not: How do we get rid of pigeons? Instead, it asked what these animals need and how the people helping them can be better supported with professional knowledge and expertise.
From Individual Pigeons to a Wider Social Issue
Behind the conference is the National Pigeon Advocacy Association, a collaboration between Little Green Pigeon CIC and people involved in pigeon rehabilitation across the UK. The organisation aims to connect and professionalise work for pigeons that has until now been largely fragmented. Its goals include public education, building a nationwide network of pigeon carers and, in the longer term, working with local authorities.
This broader approach is particularly noteworthy: injured, weakened or starving urban pigeons are not viewed solely as isolated cases. Their situation also depends on how cities manage their pigeon populations as a whole. The NPAA therefore aims to work with local authorities in the long term and promote humane alternatives to conventional pest-control methods.
Why This Conference Matters
A conference dedicated entirely to pigeon advocacy may initially seem like a small niche event. In fact, it reflects a development that is also relevant to Switzerland: people working with urban pigeons are beginning to connect beyond local initiatives and bring together expertise from veterinary medicine, rehabilitation, animal welfare and advocacy.
This is particularly important because many outdated beliefs about urban pigeons remain widespread. At the same time, people working in rehabilitation centres and pigeon rescue have extensive practical experience that has so far received relatively little attention in public debate.
For the first time, the conference created a dedicated space to bring this knowledge together and to consider pigeons not as a “problem”, but as animals with specific needs.
From a First Event to an International Conference
The sold-out inaugural event showed that there is real interest in such an exchange. In 2026, the conference is therefore expanding significantly: the one-day UK event will become the two-day International Pigeon Advocacy Conference, taking place in Derby on 10 and 11 October 2026. The organisers have announced participants and organisations from several countries, as well as talks on pigeon housing, rehabilitation, veterinary care and international pigeon advocacy.
The first conference in 2025 could therefore develop into something that pigeon advocacy has long lacked: an international platform for professional exchange on pigeon welfare, care and sustainable approaches to living alongside pigeons.
The inaugural conference in Staffordshire was an important first step.
