This is the way pigeons repay the generosity of a dried food seller by raiding his store and eating his goods.

Incredibly, the store owner said he was not bothered by the pigeons helping themselves to his goods, as it makes him happy to see them feeding.

The footage was shot at the store in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, which is in Xinjiang, northern China, on Saturday, August 17.

The video shows the pigeons standing on rows of dried food, including nuts, fruits, and sacks of other edible produce, eating as much as they can. The camera then pans outside, where loads more pigeons are on the pavement, also eating food that had been scattered by the owner.

Speaking about the video, he said: 'When I open up the business every morning, I always scatter some food for the waiting pigeons outside. If they are still hungry after that, they come inside directly to eat. Allowing the pigeons to eat something makes me feel good.'

He said that they did not eat very much anyway, but he did not mention the fact that pigeons are usually regarded as likely to spread diseases, not to mention the risk that they might also soil the food with their droppings.

Local officials did not comment on the viral video or the store owner's allowing the pigeons to walk on the food that is then sold to the public.