It is very common in parts of India to respect the cow. But not only in a way that you don’t kill them and eat them, but if they stumble upon the middle of the road; all traffic must halt until the cow decides to leave or someone urges it on to move. But, there will never be any kind of hassle or complaining, people will usually comply with the animal.

I feel the NYC pigeon is a similar breed of animal. Not necessarily the Queens, Bronx or Long Island pigeon, but specifically the Manhattan pigeon. Sometimes you find you have to let it do all the decision making and manage yourself according to its rules. The video below is a perfect example. I took it a few weeks ago at the Staten Island Ferry terminal, which by the way is so much nicer than it used to be.