Mike Tyson: He has a huge facial tattoo. He went to prison for rape. Now he is about to launch a reality show about his curious passion for pigeons. But PETA is mad about it. Leave the guy alone!

According to the Daily News, "Taking on Tyson," Tyson's Brooklyn-based Animal Planet series about pigeon racing, has come under fire from PETA because it's cruel to pigeons. Said PETA's statement:

One wonders whether Mike Tyson - as a self-appointed ambassador of and ‘rookie' to pigeon racing - realizes that just as losing racehorses end up in the glue factory, these gentle, loyal birds who race their hearts out in order to get home to their life mates often become lost in storms or have their necks wrung for failing to beat their competitors' time."

Here is why we believe that, all his other faults aside, Mike Tyson would never agree to participate in something that would harm his pigeons. Have you seen the excellent 2008 documentary Tyson? In it, we learn that the reason Mike Tyson became Mike Tyson was basically to protect all pigeons in the world from harm. Writes NPR:

At the heart of the film is a contradiction: Tyson, who grew up in a fractured home in a violent neighborhood, says he spent his life trusting no one and confiding nothing. Yet here he is, in close-up, pouring out what he thinks and feels in a high, gentle, lisping voice. He describes himself as a shy weakling adolescent who was scared of bullies and who spent his free time raising pigeons. The day a neighborhood tough guy picked up one of his birds and slowly wrung its neck was the day Tyson won his first fight. After that, he regarded everyone as a potential pigeon-murderer.

Does this sound like a guy who would let his birds "have their necks wrung for failing to beat their competitors' time?" No, he sounds like freaking Batman for the pigeon set. Don't worry PETA, Tyson's going to take fine care of those disgusting rats with wings