in case you were wondering why there needs to be better animal cruelty and welfare awareness for even something as niche as pigeons:
this is an American Fantail. they’re a popular breed among older pigeon-keepers who want a ‘challenge.’ this bird is not just posing like this, it cannot move its head far from where it is in this picture. this is NOT a similar situation to Seramas (who set up to look Like That, and are overall pretty normal-looking chickens), this bird is just tragically deformed
this is a posed skeleton of an American Fantail with the breed standard drawing overlaid. i’ve seen these birds at shows. they can barely move and they jump at every noise because they cannot see what could be coming at them. they’re either skittish or completely shut down, and watching them try to get food is just heartbreaking (they have to turn sideways and swing their head down their tail to peck at their seed. i don’t know how they even manage to drink). sometimes when the try to walk to their food they nearly fall over because their tip-toes stance is what they’re like a majority of the time and their fan is heavy enough that they can barely support it with such delicate balance
the kicker is, people are fascinated by these birds. they marvel in how such a monstrosity is alive and want to try their hand at raising fantails themselves, because that’s what the experts do! these are the bird that everyone chooses to point out as a marvel of artificial selection, but anyone who has been around pigeons for any stretch of time knows that they are intelligent, social birds. they rely on nodding to communicate a large portion of their language, and guess what an American Fantail can’t do?
of the issues with animal welfare in bird breeding, the problem with American Fantails is one of the clearest ones with which to illustrate just how little some people care for animals. people breeding these birds are not beginners who don’t know better, they are people who have been raising pigeons for 10, 20, 50 years and got bored with birds who can function. the people who breed birds like the American Fantail view pigeons as disposable, as something not to care for but to shape as you want to create an extreme caricature of an animal. the Jacobin, Zitterhall, and Modena are also examples of this, but no breeder is as proud of himself for perpetuating an animal that cannot function as an American Fantail breeder
God bless you for finding a skeleton!
Story time, guys.
The first time I went to a pigeon show, I went expecting to meet other people who loved pigeons.
One of the first clubs I ran into was the American Fantail club.
And overhearing them talk about what a struggle it is to keep them in that perfect shape when nature wants to revert them back to bird shaped was horrifying.
This is how these poor little birds have to move their heads.
Here are a few video compilations of they way they move.
This is the healthiest American Fantail I have ever seen in person:
Speedy is a trainwreck of a bird, but he can lift his head, lower his tail fan, and stand flat footed, which I don’t see any of the Show Quality fantails even coming close to pulling off.
Once we trimmed his beak, he was able to eat normally.
Now look how he moves;
Here’s his intro video.
And here is how the rest of the flock reacted to him.
None of the other birds have any idea what to do or how to respond to him.
Nothing about this breed is even remotely near the concept of humane.
