Pigeons Left to Die: Ecolab and National Highways Ignored Rescue Pleas for three days
This isn’t a festive story, but it’s one that must be told.
Ecolab and National Highways failed animal lives: a group of pigeons who became trapped in bird netting installed beneath a bridge on the B5206 in Wigan. For three days, they were left to suffer, starving, and without water, despite repeated pleas from local wildlife rescuers.
This wasn’t just cruel. It may have been illegal. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and netting regulations, companies notified of trapped birds are required to act within 24 hours. Ecolab and National Highways didn’t.
Video footage of one of the many trapped pigeons.
They left the birds. They ignored the law. They ignored the suffering. They ignored every call for help.
But animal lovers didn’t.
Wildlife advocates rallied. Locals raised the alarm. And under pressure from this growing concern, Ecolab reportedly returned on the third day and removed ALL of the netting. They claimed responsibility for the removal, but make no mistake: it was the pressure from animal lovers that made that happen.
And that removal tells us something vital: the netting was never essential. If it could be taken down so quickly, why was it there in the first place?
That’s why we’re calling on Ecolab to go further. Not just this bridge. All of them. Every stretch of netting they’ve installed puts birds at risk. This incident proves they can remove it and it is not essential. Now they must.
There are humane, effective alternatives. Solutions that deter birds without endangering them, like those offered by Humane Wildlife Solutions.
So we’re urging Ecolab:
Adopt an anti-bird netting policy.
Choose compassion over cruelty.
Because if three trapped pigeons can be saved through public pressure, imagine how many more could be spared if companies like Ecolab simply chose to care.
Support Protect the Wild with a small monthly donation
We only ask for a few pounds a month because our strength isn’t big donors or hidden backers. It’s thousands of ordinary people chipping in small amounts. Together, that becomes unstoppable.
Your support powers everything we do to defend British wildlife:
undercover investigations, hard-hitting animations, fearless journalism, detailed reports, equipment and mental health support for activists, protests, and pressure campaigns that hold the powerful to account.
Our goal is 100 new monthly supporters.
We’re currently at 78.
Can you help us get there? 💚
I've always thought that Pigeons ae such delightful little souls and yet they are so often demonized - why?
Signed and sent! I sincerely hope these sweet pigeons were okay 🤞❤️💖💖. Bird netting is cruel and uneccessary when more humane alternatives exist!! Bird netting really is similar to snares, trapping them and then not bothering to check on them or release them, leaving them to die! This should be banned and Ecolab should hang their heads in shame and start doing more humane alternatives instead!!