Gatsby

Gatsby was found as a stray on 7/16 at Ocean & Faxon and taken to SF ACC. An injured foot coupled with being king pigeon (low rate of adoption) had him slated for euthanasia. Luckily, SF ACC contacted Mickaboo and Mickaboo's new division, MickaCoo (!) and Pigeon Talk got together and sprang into action. He was picked up from the shelter on 7/24. Donations were sought to cover his vet care and a foster home was secured on 7/27 to take him in while until adopted into a forever home. He's got a fractured ankle but is young and healing. He's pretty feisty and very cute and would make a great pet in your home (wearing pigeon pants) and supervising your day to day activities or out in your aviary, sunning and enjoying the fresh air.







9/2 UPDATE FROM FOSTER DAD: I have been the one honored with overseeing Gatsby's rehabilitation. He's doing quite fine. His left leg is much better, swelling way down. He appears to have had 2 toes crushed in addition to his break/fracture of the lower leg. One toe dropped its toenail and it doesn't look like it'll be back. The other one looks pretty normal...he just doesn't have 100% ability in it. His leg is looking pretty good. He still favors the good leg when he is tired, but he uses both with no apprehension. He can perch, stand, fly and alight at will. He's quite the....confident.... fellow. Pretty much walked right into a household of 3 parrots and a convalescing feral pigeon, and took over the place with his brashness. He has put my Amazon in his place (I guess my guy doesn't know what to do with another bird as big as he is!). But they like each other quite a bit now...although my conure certainly feels he has about overstayed his visit... He's full of personality...kinda like having a small dog with wings....he walks about the house pretty much at will and isn't shy to investigate new corners. Last week my niece found him inside the washing machine! (um...it was off, of course...). Thanks, all, for your donations and helping this guy out. He's a great bird, I wish I could keep him myself but...

To adopt Gatsby, please visit MickaCoo!

9/5/08 UPDATE:

While making good progress, Gatsby has required follow up veterinary care for his injured leg and we now have an outstanding balance. If you can help with a donation (and every little bit helps!), please go to www.Mickaboo.org/MickaCoo


3/9/09 UPDATE:
Adopted!! Gatsby was part of Phase 3 of the Great King Care-A-Van and on, 3/9 was shipped, with the help of Pigeon Talk member Kari Jo, to her new home in Ohio via USPS.

It was bittersweet for her Foster Dad, Pigeon Talk member George, and I to say our goodbyes. We were sad to see her go and scared to ship her but the quality of home awaiting her with Pigeon Talk member Lizz, was such that we knew it was the very best thing we could do for her.






She has been renamed Ciel and she is thriving and much beloved! Below are pictures and a report from her Adopter.

March 11, 2009 – the big day…..waiting for the mailman…..he fiiiiiiinally got here, and I’m sure it was amusing for him to watch me scramble out from behind my desk when I spied that big white box he was carrying…. It was like a tryout for Cirque du Soleil.

I opened that box, and peeeeeeered down into it. And there she was, peeeeeeering back up at me. And then she said ‘Unh.’

She blinked at me with those beautiful big dark eyes, and I could hardly breathe. She was here. And mine!

I haven’t even had my first pigeon, Trooper, a whole year yet, and with the addition of Ciel, [“see yell”, means ‘sky’ in french] formerly known as Gatsby, I’m up to five of them!! I am crazy in love with these birds. I love birds in general, I have a bunch of parrots, and now the pigeons are my ‘thing’, but the kings? I think I’ve found my favorites! This girl spends every minute with me. I own a dog daycare, and she’s been here at school every day since she moved east. We go home, and at night, she sleeps on a special squishy pillow on my bed. After I pet her belly for a few minutes, we both fall asleep with her tummy resting on my hand.

She’s learning how to ‘surf’ on the dashboard of the car as I turn corners, but she definitely prefers my shoulder. On the window side. My theory is, so that more people can see and admire her.

She’s a lot like Trooper, my first pigeon who was an injured homer, in that whatever snuggling is given out, it’s received with much beak-smacking, and eye-closing. But Ciel takes it to a whole other level….like this is what she was BORN to do!!!! She LOVES to be held and kissed, and pet, and talked to….it’s unbelievable. Probably has a lot to do with the fabulous care she got from Elizabeth and her foster dad, George. I can’t thank those two people enough, for their parts in making it possible for this precious little person to be in my life.

After it was clear that Trooper the Miracle Bird was going to live, and be a house bird, I started taking a look at other pigeon breeds and colors, purely out of curiosity. I thought it would be nice to have a pal for him, and Freya, who was a little feral girl from Boston, that had a mangled wing, then came to live at our house. She’s a teeny little thing, but absolutely beautiful----still learning to accept that having a momma is a really really good thing.

But I kept wishing for a white pigeon….there was just something about them….. I started reading about the king pigeons in Elizabeth’s blog, and on Pigeon Talk, and my heart just ached for them! So sad and beautiful! I wanted to be able to do SOMEthing to help them, but they were on the other side of the country….what could I possibly do? And then the Great King Care-a-van came to be…….a few months later, my giant sweet girl was delivered to me.

I honestly am floored at how much I adore her. She’s pure crystal white with the cutest little coral-red legs and feet, and these eyes that are sooooo dark! In just the right light you can see that they’re a super deep grey, ringed by a dark orange. She struts around my desk, like she’s been doing it all her life, and even though she’s a little leery of all the dogs, she doesn’t hesitate to bust out the beak of death or haul off with a heavy-duty roundhouse with a wing, when she thinks it’s needed. She’s to the point now, in just a week, that she actually will perch on one of my dogs if they’re laying in the sunbeam, so that she can get some sunbeam, too. If Chamois, my greyhound, even lifts her head up to look at her….Ciel’s head goes back and the wing gets cocked back, and Chamois, [smart girl that she is] lays her head right back down.

I wish more people could meet these kids. I’ve been taking her everywhere I can so folks can see how amazing they are, and then get one of their own someday! Never in a million years would I have thought about having a pigeon as a pet, let alone getting one mailed here from San Francisco, but ohhhhh, she makes me so happy. There’s just something so sweet about this big beautiful bird, that melts me, when I can scoop her up, hold her to me, and kiss her on her head or her cheek, and she closes her eyes, and just soaks it up….everyone says that Ciel is lucky to have been rescued, and found a good home and a momma that loves her, but I know better.

I’M the lucky one.

-Lizz