See How Pigeons Saved This Man From a Life on the Streets | Short Film Showcase

[Music] From the first time I seen, I was in love. I'll be honest, that was my love at first sight. As they come down slow, it just moved. Ah, it's good. You see this? That's it! The team? I think this is just great to me.

Listen, what other hobby can you have that you can release a live creature that could fly up in the sky? You can go anywhere you want because I have no strings on them, and you can see they have no... anybody want to do what they want. But guess what? They want to come back home. Because you know why? Because they're taken care of well.

That's what I love. I love to fly my birds, fly my birds and just, you know, think. You just take care, life; just do life. That's it, one day at a time. But it just makes it go by a little bit easier. You know, I come from the baddest neighborhood in Brooklyn, you know, and I've been into my troubles. But guess what? When the modularity of time, I was gonna roof fly my pigeons. So therefore, I was keeping out of trouble. I was keeping away from the streets, keeping me away from the drugs.

I never smoked or drank in my life, so therefore, you know I'm 50 years old now. Now, I grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where drugs and alcohol was rampant. I could have anything I wanted at any given time, but that wasn't my calling. You know, I wanted to do... I’d be up here with the birds until summer time.

I could literally go up on the roof for the birds at seven o'clock in the morning and literally come down by 9:30 at night when it's dark outside. And that's a full day for me. I'd be up there cleaning, flying, trying to catch other people's birds, other people's truckers, my birds, whatever. But I'm having a ball, and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

I've been only 40 years now—40 years I've been doing this—and I still love it the same way I picked up the first day when I first seen those pigeons fly. I still love it the same way. Okay, if I wasn't on the roof all summer long, I'm in Brownsville, guns popping, things going down, robberies, whatever.

My friends died, you know, from different things. Drugs, shootings, whatever. Oh, how are you fitted? It was a save, you know? I mean, the business? I'm on a rooftop, so I'm a fish. I mean, I'm a pig watching what's going on down there, you know? So yeah, hell yeah, it would definitely save you.

[Music] What sort of user? Now after selling you here, this for me to feed them comforts them. Yeah, I mean, it calms them to know that I'm not, you know, chasing them and it's safe. No predators around, except for the hawk to sit on that antenna over there.

But other than that, you know, it's just comforting to them. But then you have also, when I go, oh, they know that's a different sound to make them act accordingly. When it comes down to put them to work in the pigeon today, they could get me to clean their poop, whatever. You know, it's like there's no job that I'd say I won't do.

For nothing out of 365 days out the year, I probably paid more than likely about three hundred and thirty of them. If I'm not doing something at work or whatever type, I'm here. This is where I'm at. That's what I enjoy doing, you know? You can find me any given time on my roof. This is what we do.

This is just the front of everything. You know, maybe when I'm 80 and I can't get up to the roof anymore, maybe I'll start taking care of street pigeons. Who knows? You know, who knows what's gonna happen right now? My main focus, my main thought, would have been for the past 40 years as I enjoy my birds.

[Music] You.

[Music] You.