June 2008 Rescue Updates

6/30/08

Andy's Pet Shop
A lot going on! The biggest news is that Lissa Shoun, a Mickaboo volunteer and the new owner of the landmark pet shop, Andy's, in San Jose is adopting out rescued animals rather than contributing to the problems of pet homelessness by selling pets from breeders. I've been invited to place some king pigeons there which will be the biggest boost yet to getting them in the public eye and generating adoptions. This is HUGE for the king pigeons I rescue because I am beyond full up and adopters have been slow to develop. I went to meet with Lissa last Thursday and ran into San Jose Mercury News Reporter Linda Goldston who was there doing a story on this unique approach to the pet business. Thanks to my lucky timing, the kings got a mention in the article, too. Check it out: Andy's Pet Shop Owner Hosts Rescue Animals for Adoption. I took Willow along and he was a big hit, as he always is. In the coming weeks, he and Billie & George and Alejandra & Sparks will be moving on up, as they say.

Rocky as big as a polar bear!
On Wednesday I finally got my clipped-off-as-I-backed-out-of-my-own-driveway driver's side mirror replaced and, while I was waiting, walked down Market Street to check out Rocky's "My Mutt" poster displayed at the PetFood Express on Market at Duboce. It's AWESOME! By donating $250 to Mickaboo through this program, I also got the added benefit of PetFood Express doing a portrait shoot of the pet of my choice (Rocky the king pigeon) and then displaying the poster at one of their stores. It's a GREAT program because Mickaboo gets the donated money same as they regularly would but you get the added exposure and publicity which king pigeons totally need since no one knows what the hell one is nor that they need homes.

McClaren Park Ducks
On Tuesday, 6/24, I went to McLaren Park on the hunt for a pair of Muscovy ducks reportedly dumped at a pond there and too tame to survive like the wild ducks do. Mickaboo volunteer Holly Wong had also got an update that one of the ducks might have a broken leg. It took a while (and a few calls to Holly and a lot of Google mapping on her part) but I found the pond and the pair of Muscovies. They weren't as tame as described (at least anymore) and the one whose leg is wonky was still getting around well- navigating across the water, feeding, bathing, hauling out on the island in the center of the pond and easily evading me. If she'd seemed less fine, I probably would have waded in after her but as it was, I just watched them for awhile and then came home empty handed with that unfulfilled feeling of rescueous interruptus. While there, I did meet a very nice woman named Alison Marks (check out her blog at http://www.spiritinthecity.com/) who offered to take pictures for me while I attempted my approach so I have something I never have- pictures of me in mid-rescue effort.

SF ACC
When I went in for my volunteer shift on Wednesday, I planned on pulling two hens that I knew were there and then transporting them to a Mickaboo adopter in San Jose on Thursday. Of course when I got there, there were three more- two hens brought in together that were found 6/23 on Gambier as strays and a tiny, adorable, please-be-my-mommy chick found as a stray on 6/24 at Gerald and Third Street. I contacted my adopter and she generously agreed to take the extra three. I contacted ACC staff on Thursday morning and they OK'd releasing them and told me about ANOTHER hen that was being kept in a different room (because the Smalls Room was full). Then, when I got there, I found out that hen was sitting on fertile eggs (how'd that happen? why weren't they pulled?) AND there were two pigeons in the overflow room as well. I hadn't planned on taking any pigeons but how can I walk out on a young king? Just out of curiosity, I asked if they needed help finding a rehabber for the young feral pigeon also there (plenty of folks in the city do that) and was told sure or the bird would be euthanized. So now I have two new pigeons- a baby feral I've named Tess and a slightly older and much bigger king I've named Dill. And I took SIX chickens down to my Mickaboo adopter (one of which was sitting on eggs) and two of which have medical issues that I didn't recognize, one serious. This is why I feel like I can't keep doing this and I can't stop doing this.

Tragedy
My friend and pigeon expert, Dan, who has helped and PATIENTLY guided me every single step of this pigeon way has lost his best friend, Yogi. Yogi was the first pigeon he rescued more than six years ago. Yogi was clever and handsome and very, very loved. He began showing signs of illness a couple of weeks ago and was being treated for heart and liver malfunction by avian vets Drs. Fern Van Sant and Laura Bellinghausen and all the staff at For the Birds bird hospital in San Jose. He died yesterday. We are broken-hearted and worse. Hit the sky, Yogi. I'm so sorry, Dan.

6/17/08

Everybody is doing really well. I had a family emergency and took the dog and the parrot with me and my saintly Pet Sitter, Jen, stepped in and took care of the pigeons, the cats and the budgies for a week. But before she did that, she gave me a new bird cage which the budgies are very happy in which makes me very happy. There are only two of them, Bodie and Princess Bitsy Schoolgirl, but they're both girls and sometimes they disagree (mostly because Princess is a bossy bitch) and it's much, much nicer when they're happy. Their old cage was big but not this big.


Still no new adoption placements and my earnest, honest, drafted-to-exactly-meet-the-terms-of-use pigeon post on Craigslist keeps getting flagged down. OMG! Who are these flagger people and WHAT is their problem? I've started doing outreach lots of other places as well and hopefully will get some great placements soon. Sparks and Allejandra, George and Billie, Blue, Rome, Willow- all gorgeous birds that deserve wonderful, forever homes.

Tony Baby is living with Doll but seeing his ex, Rocky, on the side. He's making Doll mad and breaking Rocky's heart. She's literally his 'downstairs girl'. I've been bringing Rocky in the house to give her some extra attention. She was my girl long before she was Tony's anyway.

Tank and Country are courting again, ready to lay another set of eggs. I'm not sure how the kissy-face phase will go with Tank's mandible-disability but I'm betting they'll figure it out. They're an amazing couple.


Speaking of which, George and Billie win the award for most devoted egg-layers. I never see them flirting, honeymooning or hardly even together but they lay eggs on an aggressive schedule. I replaced their latest with wooden dummies on Saturday.






6/4/08

I'm in conversation with some very nice potential adopters and still not accepting any new birds (which isn't easy).

Everybody's doing really well.

Big, beautiful Tank has learned to manage without his lower beak and is eating a lot. Tonight he weighs more than ever- 772 grams! His regular weight was 750 so he's doing great. He and his mate Country are still sitting on their wooden eggs.

Sparks and Alejandra are also sitting on dummy eggs as are George and Billie.

Tony and Doll are STILL trying to decide which nest box to choose and Tony's still fooling around with his ex-mate, Rocky, on the side. He may end up with two mates. It doesn't happen often but my friend and pij-expert Dan has a bird who keeps two mates so, it's not unprecedented. Both Doll and Rocky are being a little bitchy, chasing the other birds away from the Hollywood Squares nestbox area. And it seems to me that they are very carefully ignoring each other.

Rome is perhaps the most beautiful king pigeon I've ever seen.

Louie is doing really well and is also at her all-time high weight of 634. She took a big bath and then sunbathed herself dry yesterday and she's been doing a little flying-in-place all week- a joy to see.

I got to see my old friend Chernish when I went to Dan's loft on Sunday. He's doing great and looks sleek and fit. He's got a really smart little hen named Tucker as his mate and they appropriated a cool, high-up roost spot that the other birds hadn't thought to try yet.

Einstein the seagull has made a lot of progress but the swelling in his left ankle turned out to be an infected fish-hook injury. The infection has eaten away a chunk of bone in his outermost toe. He's had surgery to debried it and is on anti-biotics and painkillers. I'm still very hopeful that he will recover enough to be released back to the wild. He's gotten a lot stronger this past week though he still has a ways to go.