Pigeons are not at fault for the Glasgow Hospital tragedy
Recently, the Six Counties Pigeon Support Group (6CPS) in Northern Ireland shared a video on social media of a pigeon who had died trapped in a net under the bridge of a busy street. This was, as 6CPS pointed out, a strange and indefensible spot for netting--a practice which is, in itself, indefensible and which results in thousands of birds suffering and dying annually. (Learn more at End Bird Netting.)
However, not everybody thinks this is a problem. People who profit off the 'pest control' industry, for example, are invested in spreading the idea that pigeons are uniquely disease-carrying animals whose very existence risks our health. One such individual decided to comment on 6CPS's post, stating that as someone who works in pest control, he 'knew' that pigeons were diseased and that their droppings were extremely dangerous.*
As proof, he pointed at the tragic case of Milly Main, a 10 year old girl at the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde hospital who died in 2017 while recovering from cancer as a result of what was first believed to be a cryptococcal fungal infection brought on by inhaling the dust from pigeon droppings. It was later discovered to have been Stenotrophomonas, a water-borne illness caused by filthy and poorly maintained ventilation and water systems so badly managed that they would occasionally drip into the wards. The problems began even before the hospital opened, with tests carried out in December 2014 highlighting the presence of microbes in the water supply; despite this, the hospital was still pushed to open just a few months later without even enough staff to maintain the campus.
For over a decade, whistleblowers attempted to bring attention to problems, only for senior management to say that they were 'attention-seeking' and 'sensationalising'. When patients who asked why their children were being given bottled water or why the pediatric ward had closed, they received inadequate answers. Multiple points of failure and neglect on the part of the hospital management resulted in illness and death for several people.*
But what do pigeons have to do with it? Because one of the many points of failure did involve pigeons. Since at least 2016, hospital staff had been aware that there were pigeons actively nesting and dying in rooms linked to their ventilation system and senior management had done nothing to stop it. While pest control was repeatedly brought in to remove the birds' bodies, and multiple environmental reports throughout 2017 and 2018 noted a heavy build-up of droppings and the need to replace corroded pipes, the pipes were not fixed and the areas were not blocked off to prevent the pigeons' access. When, in 2019, a clean-up was initiated by GP Environmental, they were on the hospital grounds daily 'for weeks, if not months' cleaning up droppings.
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As of 2026, NHSGGC has been named as a suspect in a corporate homicide investigation looking into the preventable deaths of at least four people at the hospital campus. Multiple forms of water-borne bacteria, aspergillus mould and cryptococcal fungus (this last one likely from the pigeons) have been listed as contributing factors to their deaths.
It should be clear that the pigeons were only incidental to the main issue. No hospital should have microbes in their water supply, nor water that drips into their wards, and no hospital should have animals of any sort living and piling up years of droppings near ventilation systems, especially ones designed to provide air to immunocompromised people. It is absurd and unrealistic to compare what happened in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde hospital to the average person interacting with pigeons whether on the street or as a pet.
We hope that the patients and families affected by this get the justice they deserve, even though surely nothing will ever be enough to make up for what they've been through. This is a lesson about deceit, deliberate neglect, and a total failure on the part of senior management to take accountability or responsibility for the lives placed in their care. It is not a lesson about why pest control companies are justified in killing pigeons.
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*Contrary to what pest control companies have insisted over the last 60 years or so, pigeons are not major carriers of disease. Many studies have demonstrated that there is very little risk from pigeons, even for people who work in occupations that bring them into close contact with the birds. Learn more here and check out Humane Wildlife Solutions for effective, cruelty-free methods of dealing with wildlife conflict.
*Note: this is not a condemnation of the NHS itself, which deserves more funding, better management, and an end to continued privatisation.
Sources:
- Forbes, Nick, Dead pigeons found in hospital years before action taken, inquiry told, The Independent, 30 August 2024
- Brooks, Libby, Scottish health board admits hospital water system linked to fatal infections, The Guardian, 19 January 2026
- Brooks, Libby, ‘Molly never got to hear it’: fury as denials finally end on Glasgow hospital infections, The Guardian, 23 January 2026
- Watson, Colum, The hospital deaths that could lead to criminal charges, BBC News, 31 January 2026