People Keep Spotting Pigeons Wearing Tiny Cowboy Hats In Las Vegas

A local animal rescue is now trying to find the birds.

For reasons yet to be understood, someone in Las Vegas has secured tiny cowboy hats to the heads of at least two pigeons.

This all came to light several days ago after a local man, Bobby Lee, posted a video of the rather dashing pigeons to Facebook.

In the video, you can clearly see two pigeons wearing the hats, each of which are a different color and the perfect size for a pigeon.

The hats don't seem to move at all as the pigeons peck at the ground, suggesting they were glued or otherwise attached somehow, not simply placed on the birds' heads.

The video then went viral after being posted on Twitter by Las Vegas Locally.

Someone is putting tiny cowboy hats on Vegas pigeons. There are consequences to legalizing marijuana.

There have also been several other photos of the pigeons posted online.

On Monday, another video emerged showing the pigeon in the red hat.

That means the hats have been on the pigeons for at least four days. One local animal rescue group is very concerned.

Mariah Hillman is the cofounder of Lofty Hopes, which started as a Las Vegas–area pigeon rescue group last year, although they also now handle other small animals.

"A friend of mine had tagged me in the video," Hillman told BuzzFeed News.

"Originally our first thought is that’s kind of cute, then you’re like wait, those are real birds. How did they get those hats on?"

She took a closer look at the video, looking for strings or other indicators the hats weren't permanently secured. But they didn't see anything and are pretty sure glue was used.

"Considering that they’re still on there days later, it seems to be pretty strong glue," she said.

She's concerned that the hats could be impeding the birds' flight and vision. She said pigeons also have a habit of ostracizing any flock members who could draw attention from predators, sometimes with violence.

She said she's still getting photos and video of the birds, and they all come from the area between the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and McCarran International Airport.

The goal now is to find and catch the birds so the hats can be gently removed. Worst case, if they can't be budged, is the birds would have to be kept until they molt in the spring.

"Either way they’d have to spend some time with us," she said.

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