A tourist in Thailand stumbled across a bizarre photo opportunity that involves unnecessarily disturbing flocks of birds for clicks and likes.
On TikTok, Lucia (@babygirllucia) shared a video of multiple people startling flocks of pigeons in Chiang Mai in Thailand, admitting they were completely baffled by the practice.
@babygirllucia like???? uhhhhh hello??? can someone explain??? we don't touch the pigeons in nyc nor do we take photos w a flock of them????? #touristtrap #thailand #chiangmai #nyc #touris ♬ original sound - ⁺˚⋆｡°✩lucia✩°｡⋆˚⁺
"Can someone explain?" they wondered in the caption of the video. "We don't touch the pigeons in New York City nor do we take photos w[ith] a flock of them?"
It turns out the pigeons have become a popular tourist photo op in Chiang Mai at the city's famous Phae Gate, according to The Times of India.
The outlet reported that people are actually paid by tourists to startle the birds into fluttering for photos, creating an Instagram-worthy picture that looks "natural."
Pigeons are often disregarded and degraded in urban areas as "rats with wings," but they are in fact a key part of a city's ecosystem, eating scraps of food that would attract pests and be left out to rot, per The University of London.
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The institute also pointed out that, despite their reputation, pigeons are actually very clean animals, and there is little evidence to suggest they are responsible for significant transmission of disease to humans.
Humans domesticated pigeons thousands of years ago, and while they're used to us, it's still important to treat them with respect and care.
This kind of casual harassment of birds in an urban environment is bad, but the disruption of animals is often worse in places like national parks, where people literally risk life and limb to get photos with animals.
Unfortunately, those encounters can lead to some animals being euthanized if an encounter goes wrong.
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People in the comments of the original poster's TikTok were upset by the tourists' actions.
"Don't disturb them," one person wrote.
Another added, "Just harassing birds for no good reason."
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