The 83-year-old Cabbage Hill resident limped out to the frame-and-screen coop behind his rowhouse and was greeted by the soft cooing of pigeons.
"As long as I can remember, I've had them," he said, fumbling at the lock to the door of the coop, as large as a bedroom.
"The rollers, those are mine," he said, referring to the breed of pigeons that makes acrobatic somersaults while in flight.
Before him, his father raised racing homing pigeons out back of the home. The family has raised and flown pigeons here for well over 100 years.
But now, the city has ordered the man's family and others in the city to get rid of their pigeons.
"They're killing him," said the man's wife.
In recent weeks, at least four pigeon fanciers have been given warning letters and instructed to remove pigeon coops or face a fine. Health concerns are cited.
Facing pushback from longtime pigeon lovers, city officials say the current ordinance does not allow the raising of pigeons.
And they say they only act if a complaint is received.
"It's not as if we ran out of crows and are now going after pigeons," Pat Brogan, Mayor Rick Gray's chief of staff, said. "We're not out looking for pigeons, but if there is a complaint, we do follow the ordinance as it's written."
However, Karen Dinkel, the city's animal enforcement officer, said she has been instructed to "remove the pigeons from the city."
She said most of the recent actions have been complaint-driven but noted one city resident was told to remove pigeons after a coop was seen in his backyard by a city housing inspector.
Whatever the motivation, the result may be the snuffing out of a passive hobby that once was a fixture in urban areas across the country.
Marlon Brando won an Oscar tending to his New York rooftop pigeons in the 1954 film "On the Waterfront."
Boxer Mike Tyson has raised pigeons since he was 10 as a peaceful escape from an often violent street life. He has coops in Brooklyn, Jersey City, N.J., and Las Vegas.
In Lancaster city, raising pigeons for show and to race was so popular there was a city-based Red Rose Pigeon Club.
Though raising pigeons as a hobby has declined dramatically in recent decades, the area is still a stronghold.
The National Pigeon Association's Grand National show, the hobby's premier event in the United States, was held in Lancaster in 1997 and 2009. It drew thousands of fanciers and approximately 6,500 pigeons vied for medals.
According to a 1967 story on local pigeon clubs that ran in the Intelligencer Journal, "under Pennsylvania state law, pigeons may be kept in the middle of a city or in any housing development with a permit."
The current city ordinance, amended to address animals in 1996, does not specifically address pigeons.
They are not found on a list of animals that may be kept. Ferrets, lizards, rats and nonpoisonous snakes are permitted.
Caged birds are allowed inside homes but the list includes only birds "ordinarily keep (sic) in cages in households." The ordinance also excludes the keeping of any animal, except for fish, in quantities of more than six.
Janet Spleen, city clerk, said when the 1996 amendments were made, "They thought they covered everything, but it (pigeons) wasn't addressed."
When animal officer Dinkel began issuing warnings to get rid of pigeons, she was met with protests and claims of a "grandfather clause."
Dinkel asked city hall for help. In an Oct. 14 memo to several city health and other officials, Brogan wrote:
"The Mayor checked with the Solicitor about the issue of 'grandfathered' pigeon coops and there is no grandfathering in place that would make these allowable."
Another memo circulated by a health official on Dec. 5 read: "Ten years ago the problem with pigeons surfaced during the Smithgall administration. At that time, the solicitors looked at the ordinances and told us to not go any further. I never issued any citations."
Letters were sent to a city pigeon fancier at that time requesting that the area surrounding the pigeons be kept clean and sanitary.
But now, the city is going further and is issuing citations.
"I just don't understand the city. Pigeons never did anything to them," said Alfred Heisler, 66, a longtime pigeon-raiser.
In October, Heisler was approached by Dinkel and told to get rid of his pigeons because they were a health hazard and against city regulations.
Heisler, who has raised rolling or homing pigeons on Hebrank Avenue since he was 10, said he can't afford to fight the order.
In a fit of anger, he sold some of his 38 roller pigeons and gave others to a pigeon fancier outside the city, hoping he may yet get them back.
"She (Dinkel) told me because they spread germs," he said. "Every animal can spread germs. People can spread germs.
"If people were complaining because my coop was dirty or something … but I never had a complaint, never," Heisler said.
The family of the 83-year-old man said a neighbor once complained about the pigeons, blaming a mice problem on them. The coop did need to be cleaned up, and it was. A fence was built around the yard.
Another time, someone felt letting the homing pigeons out to fly was inhumane, unaware that that's what they do. But that's it, a son said.
His father's memory is failing, he said. The city is "taking his one memory away."
The family has 150 pigeons, down from nearly 300, and was packing up more on Wednesday to sell at a local market.
Several pigeon owners indicated they are not ready to give up the old ways and intend to fight the pigeon purge.
Dinkel, for her part, says she is not enjoying her job.
"Would I do a job like this if I was anti-animal? I love animals. My grandfather lived on South Prince Street, and he used to have chickens. I'm not trying to be difficult — I'm trying to follow the law.
"And I do understand the pigeon hobby. These guys are very passionate with their hobbies, but they're living in the city.
"If you live in a city rowhome and there are 300 to 400 pigeons, it's not sanitary. It's living close. It's hard to have everyone get along."
Source: Lancaster Online
