Vancouver police superintendent Michelle Davey posted this picture on her twitter account @VPDSuperDavey as an example of the dire conditions in the city’s Downtown Eastside.
Pigeons spotted making a nest out of #needles in a #DTES SRO room. Sad reality of the #opioidcrisis #fentanyl #frontline #notstaged pic.twitter.com/M0DDVLkL28
— Supt. Michelle Davey (@VPDSuperDavey) May 3, 2017
The tweet sparked a huge reaction and media interest from as far away as the Guardian Newspaper.
Some commentators of the tweet said the pigeons’ nest was proof that Vancouver’s liberal drug policy, which includes the first supervised injection site in North America, wasn’t working.
@VPDSuperDavey that’s what happens when you give these wastes of life free clean needles at your “safe injection clinics”. Poor birds. ☠️
— erinlee771 (@erinlee771) May 4, 2017
Others said the photograph indicated a far more dire situation of the human suffering that is happening in the neighbourhood.
@VPDSuperDavey @gordmcintyre The sanitary conditions is what strikes me. We shouldn’t need Bird eggs to draw our attention to the human suffering that is occurring.
— Wade Usborne (@wadeusborne) May 4, 2017
Still others doubted the veracity of the photo saying the needles look a bit too uniform.
@VPDSuperDavey Amazing how a bird carrying needles 1 at a time places them mostly parallel to each other – almost like a human carrying them by the handful
— Karl Coryat (@edwardcurrent) May 4, 2017
Thus, our conclusion is inconclusive. Is this photo the canary in the mineshaft or a canard?
Wow! I really dont know what to say. This is just appalling that there are that many needles laying around for this bird to make a nest! I am so glad those babies didnt have to enter this world high and disease infested from being poked.