Dartford pigeon found with wings glued together in 'wicked' act of cruelty

A group of schoolchildren spotted the sticky bird at just before 9am this morning outside recruitment agency Premier Work Support in the High Street.

The youngsters asked employees there for help and they managed to catch the clearly distressed pigeon before cleaning it up as best they could and putting it in a box.

An RSPCA inspector arrived to deal with the bird whose feathers could not even be separated so firmly were they stuck together.

The feathers were "rock hard" with glue. 

Agency administrator Ann Christie told News Shopper: "We couldn’t understand what the kids were doing until a young girl came in and said ‘Could you help check this pigeon? It looks like it’s been super glued’.

"He was running around with bits of cardboard stuck to him and you couldn’t even pull the feathers apart they were so rock hard.

"We all got covered in glue trying to help him. It’s bad enough putting gel in your hair let alone super glue."

Animal lover Mrs Christie owns a pair of two-year-old Jack Russells who are "like her children" and says she would go "absolutely ballistic" if any harm came to them.

Ann Christie with the pigeon. 

She added: "How can people be so wicked? I have got other words for it but they wouldn’t be printable.

"I don’t understand it. Yes pigeons can be a nuisance but still at the end of the day they are entitled to live like everyone else.

"Where has the humanity gone? It’s disgusting. If they are going to treat animals like that, what are they going to do to humans?

"With Christmas coming up what happened to goodwill to all beings?"

An RSPCA spokeswoman said the glue has been removed from the pigeon and it will be released back into the wild as soon as it has recovered from its ordeal.

She added: "If you saw a person doing anything suspicious to a pigeon on the High Street in Dartford on November 13, you can call the RSPCA's inspector information line on 0300 123 8018."