I've had this discussion many times over the years. As someone who used to shoot and fish (purely for the pot) and was fanatical  about delivering the one-shot instant kill, I was always amused when people thought it "cruel", yet happily bought supermarket meat that had lived in truly obscene conditions for months, been crammed into a cattle/pig wagon for many, many hours, then queued up to be killed at a slaughter house - dying in fear as they were being able to smell and hear what was coming! ... But I   was cruel !?  I think that people are generaly so far removed from the reality now of where thier food comes from that they mistake thier own personal sensibilities with a definition of cruel. For example, if I see a pheasant or rabbit run over, if it's not dead, I'll finish it off rather than leave it suffering, yet I know good and decent people who have hit rabbits with thier car by accident, but "couldn't possibly"  either get out and kill it, or if they don't know how, run back over it "as that would be horrible and anyway, it's cruel" ... but obviously leaving it to die slowly isn't? !  This is how far our society has got from reality!

If the guy killed the pigeon outright and ate  it, then good for him!  (if he killed it for the sake of killing then no).  Better that than some of the horrible conditions factory chickens are raised in.

This is why although a meat eater, I have every respect for vegetarians -  at least they are not lying to themselves like the vast majority of folk who say to themselves they are not cruel people, yet buy battery "farmed" eggs, and chickens/turkey/ducks that have been raised in horrible conditions but close thier eyes and ears to that inconvenient fact.

Free range chickens are more delicious by a long way too, and I love pigeon!  Anyone got a skateboard I can borrow ?.......