What Crust! Thieves Snatch Pigeons For Pie Birds By The Boxful Taken From Square, Sold To Restaurants

Right beneath Admiral Lord Nelson’s imperious nose topping his statue in London’s Trafalgar Square, two mystery men are rustling the pigeons.

So far more than 1,000 have been snatched by the boxful - and the suspicion is the pigeons that strut around one of the capital’s most famous landmarks are ending up on restaurant platters.

“It is disgusting,” said square cleaner Harold Beresford, who reported the avian abductions to the police.

“The pigeons are the main attraction for children and tourists who come down here,” added Beresford, 41.

The pigeons, who perch in and around Nelson’s towering column, are as much a part of the capital’s life as ravens at the Tower of London.

Now two pigeon snatchers are at large, scooping up the friendly birds in batches of 40 at a time and taking them off in a large box.

Beresford suspects they’re being harvested for pigeon pie.

The Sun newspaper said one of the snatchers is Jason Lidbury, 17, who was quoted as saying he caught at least 1,500 pigeons over six months and sold them for about 30 cents apiece.

“I was doing everyone a favor,” he told the paper. “They’re just vermin, really, aren’t they?”

He said he assumed the mystery buyer sold them to unscrupulous restaurants.

“I always knew pigeons were eaten in this country like Chinese people are supposed to eat dog and I thought it would be an easy way to make money,” Lidbury told the The Sun.

But he told the paper his pigeon-snatching days are over.

Bernard Rayner, whose family has sold seed for the pigeons in Trafalgar Square for three generations, says he has spotted one of the thieves a dozen times over the past two months. Recently, an accomplice showed up as well.

On Tuesday, Beresford went to the police, and Scotland Yard is investigating.

The two men were described as being in their early 20s, one wears a red baseball cap, and they have south London accents.

“He takes 40-50 pigeons at a time,” said Rayner, who estimated Trafalgar Square is at least 1,000 pigeons short now. “He takes away so many that I am sure he ends up breaking their wings (in the boxes).”

A spokesman at London’s Scotland Yard police headquarters said there’d been no arrests, but bobbies on the beat have collected eyewitness reports about the pigeons being carted off in boxes.

“Police are still investigating,” a police spokeswoman said.

Police officer Roy Riggs was quoted in The Sun on Friday as saying he told one of the men he was committing an offense under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, but the man took no notice.