A student was left horrified when she returned back to her university accommodation to find that something had broken in and made itself at home.
TikTok user @user12_1577 shared a video of pigeons in her accommodation after she had returned from some time away, looking visibly surprised and slightly stressed before she shows the birds that are dotted around the room.
In the video, which received over 1 million views since it was posted on January 13, she wrote in the text overlay: "Finding pigeons in my Uni [university] flat after Christmas break was not on my bingo card for this year," as she holds her hand over her mouth in shock.
Birds can be seen sitting on a set of shelves as droppings can be seen all over the room.
"[The] whole flat smells of wet bird and I'm alone here till next week," she wrote in the caption of the video.
According to the experts at Birdful, there are a number of reasons pigeons might be attracted to a house or an apartment. Among those reasons is the availability of food, as these urban birds thrive off human food waste. Other reasons include shelter from harsh and adverse weather, and the availability of high-up perches.
While pigeons are a common sight in urban environments around the world, their droppings can have negative effects on human health, Care Hospitals reports. According to Dr. C Satish Reddy, consultant pulmonologist at CARE Hospitals, long-term exposure to pigeon droppings can result in hypersensitivity pneumonitis, allergic reactions, respiratory infections, and chronic respiratory conditions.
The TikTok user who found the pigeons in her university home received hundreds of comments under her video with people sharing their thoughts and reactions on what they were seeing.
"We have mice and seagulls having a gang war in our kitchen," said @joe__croft.
Meanwhile, Soph commented: "Oh my god. I want them. I would cry happy tears if I was blessed with pigeon roommates."
Within the comments section, the creator of the video revealed that the pigeons got into the apartment when a window was left open in the room of someone who had recently moved out.
"I once woke up to three pigeons chilling in the bathroom. Window was open like 6 inches," said Crossbones.
Cat shared: "As someone who is terrified of pigeons, I can confirm this is my worst nightmare."
"This happened to us so many times too. We lived directly under the roof and despite telling everyone not to leave the windows open for too long we had pigeons in our kitchen like six-seven times," said @doingthisbcofboredom.
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