Photo Essay: Stringfoot
Square du Temple - Elie Wiesel, Paris
November, 2025
While visiting Paris in November 2025 for Paris Photo (first time!), my daughter Alexi and I stayed a block away from this tiny little gem of a park that was named for Elie Wiesel. Elie Wiesel was an extraodinary Romanian-born American writer whose books I grew up reading. Most notably his book, Night, which is based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the Holocaust. All week long this little oasis called to us, but the excitement of Paris Photo filled our days.
The week flew by and it wasn’t until our last day that we had time to visit this little park. Walking the garden path as the fog was lifting, the trees, the pond, and the gentle meandering path all created an air of contemplation, so we were unprepared for what we then saw in front of us. As we turned the corner, a man emerged surrounded by a large flock of pigeons in flight. The pigeons were following him, and he was throwing breadcrumbs to them. It looked like a hundreds of birds were around him, and they knew and trusted him. I rushed to get my camera to my eye to respond to the scene. As, my daughter and I approached, he gave us a nod of permission to document what he was about to share with us.
Alexi was able to converse and learned that this gentleman had taken it upon himself to save the pigeons from suffering from Stringfoot. Stringfoot is a common peril that happens to city pigeons who become entangled by human debris, mostly thread, string, hair, and other pollutants. It was a fascinating exchange of kindness that is not supported by the local law enforcement. He is often chased out parks for being who he is.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, I found articles that shared other Parisians doing the same random act of kindness to save the pigeons that we had witnessed in the park. Here’s short clip from Reuters.
