Fire latest blow to New York City’s once-thriving pigeon keepers

NEW YORK — A Brooklyn fire last week that wiped out a pigeon keeper’s flock of 500 birds was the latest blow to a working-class pastime that has dwindled from the days it was a passion of a young Mike Tyson and Marlon Brando’s character in “On the Waterfront.”

“Years ago, there was pigeon coops on every roof,” said Paul Wohlfarth, whose family has been raising pigeons in Queens for three generations, part of a tradition that began with immigrants from Italy, Germany and Belgium.

Pigeon owners work year-round, in good weather and bad, to lug bags of feed to the roof, clean out the coops, and care for the birds by giving them vaccines and dietary supplements.

Some of those who stayed passed the tradition to kids in the neighborhood, leading to a “cultural transmission” to African American and Latino communities.