January 2009 Rescue Updates
1/31
and there were lots more folks who helped but hopefully, that covers the majority of the biggies. PARDON if I'm forgetting anyone. My head is still spinning a bit.
1/22-24
He died peacefully. Country seems to be doing OK. She spends more time out and about in the loft now and I think she must have been staying in their nest spot with Tank because he wasn't feeling well. I'm sure she misses him. Tank was a GREAT mate and a real gentleman pigeon. Click here to read more. I miss him a lot.
I got a call from SF ACC on Wednesday 1/28 saying they were way over capacity in the Small & Exotic Animals Department and that if we couldn't get seven king pigeons out of there in the next 24 hours, they would have to be euthanized. I sent out this urgent e-mail:
Hello-
SF ACC Small Animals is always full and now, dealing with a custody case that brought in 50 rats, is full to over-flowing. Birds are at risk of euthanasia. 7 kings will be put down tomorrow if we can't get them out in time. I CANNOT take them.
They have-
-13 king pigeons
-3 game hens & 3 game roosters
-1 red hen & 1 red rooster
Any placements of these birds will help! If you think you can help in any way, please let me know as I'll be coordinating with ACC.
Thank you,
Elizabeth
On Thursday, thanks to help from Mickaboo volunteers, SaveABunny, Marin Humane Society, Pigeon Talk folks, Andy's Pet Shop, and others, I was able to send out this update:
Wow.
We did good people. No birds will be euthanized.
We were able to pull:
4 hens
6 kings
2 doves
4 roosters (going on Saturday)
from SF ACC's over-stretched Small & Exotic Animals department and pair up the remaining pigeons so they could go 2 to a cage leaving behind 7 pigeons in 4 cages for a total count of 19 cages freed up (as of Sat when the 4 roosters go, 15 today).
I want to thank you all for everything you did as well as call special attention to a couple of particularly involved folks-
A special thank you to-
Maria C for becoming a king-pij adopter (SF to Stockton transport still needed)
Mike R for being a foster stand-by & transporting 4 hens & 4 kings to Marin Humane Society
Tricia B & Marin Humane Society for TAKING 4 hens & 4 kings
Marcy S (SaveABunny) for hooking us up with MHS
Lissa S & Andy's Pet Shop for adding 2 more cages to their very full arc & taking on 4 more birds
Martha K for once AGAIN saying yes! to transporting roosters
K for once again saying yes! to taking & placing all the roosters (!!)
Diane V for researching shipping options, being ready to drive 250 miles and her all-around "whatever it takes" help for the kings and surprise doves
Dezzirae for offering to donate funds to cover shipping
Ivette for offering yet another donation and her consistent support
Eric Z & SF ACC for caring, day after day, for the overwhelming flood of animals and for helping us to do our thing
and there were lots more folks who helped but hopefully, that covers the majority of the biggies. PARDON if I'm forgetting anyone. My head is still spinning a bit.
8 ]
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And here are some pictures of the birds we were, working together, able to help.
1/24
Check out the column that Linda Goldston wrote about king pigeons in today's San Jose Mercury News! (http://www.mercurynews.com/pets/ci_11538108) And we actually have 16 fostered pigeons available for adoption (not just the 4 at Andy's).
1/22-24
On Thursday 1/22, I was at the computer with Tookie, my green-cheek conure, on my shoulder when he suddenly startled and alarm-called. I looked out the window and saw a hawk [Cooper's or Sharp-shinned] land on a telephone pole. He kept looking down at a car parked below and flicking his tail with nervous energy.
I figured he'd injured one of the neighborhood pigeons and that it was hiding under the car. I put Tookie away and ran out to check. Instead of a pigeon, I found a mockingbird hiding there. Of course, I caught it and brought it indoors. I didn't see any injury but it was thin. It seemed to me to be a young bird [not a baby] and I had noticed him hanging around on the fence for a couple of days prior. It was hanging around, alone & still, and I figured it was fledging and waiting for its parents' feedings.
I was wrong though. I noticed after an hour or so that it wasn't well. It wasn't hungry and was too sleepy. By the time I decided to take him to wildlife rescue, he was dying. He had old [dark] blood in his poop. His problems preceded the hawk. He died quietly in my hand, poor thing. I've since learned that he was an adult. l feel badly that I hadn't helped when I first noticed him hanging around [I had been all proud of myself for not interfering with his 'fledging'] and that I stole the hawk's meal. I got all up in Nature's business.
After all this, I went out to check on the pigeons in the loft and found my sweet friend Tank being hassled by young thugs Tony & Dill. I picked Tank up and could tell he'd lost weight. I brought him in and weighed him. He had weighed 860 grams on 12/4, 810 on 12/20 and 660 now. I set him up in a hospital crate on the kitchen counter and went outdoors to get his mate, Country. Once I had them settled I could see that Tank's breathing was labored. I made plans to take him to the vet in the morning.
Tank was an incredible pigeon who, last May got bit by a mosquito on his jaw (where there are few feathers) and ended up losing his lower beak to the pigeon pox. (It was bizarre and terrible and he's the only one it happened to.) He had to learn to eat without his lower beak and it was heartbreaking to watch him trying & trying. I adopted him & Country then and have kept a special eye on him ever since.
On Friday I took him and Country [for comfort & support] to UC Davis Small Animal Clinic. His breathing was still bad and so they went into an oxygen tank before getting examined. An ultrasound showed his liver was grossly enlarged. He had been eating but, by Saturday morning, he wasn't and his weight dropped to 590. When I got there, I could see he was very uncomfortable with labored breathing even in the oxygen and crouched down rather than in his normal stance. His diagnosis was untreatable cancer and we euthanized him that afternoon.
I wanted to take him home but he was suffering and so we did it there. Beforehand, I took them both outside [pij love leaving the vet just like a dog or cat] and I wanted to give that to Tank.
The vet let me inject the sedative, something I wanted to do because Tank was comfortable with me and trusted me. We sat outside for twenty minutes. I held him for awhile and then put him in the carrier with his mate. Country gave him a couple of quick beak-touches to his head, as if to welcome and check on him.
I figured he'd injured one of the neighborhood pigeons and that it was hiding under the car. I put Tookie away and ran out to check. Instead of a pigeon, I found a mockingbird hiding there. Of course, I caught it and brought it indoors. I didn't see any injury but it was thin. It seemed to me to be a young bird [not a baby] and I had noticed him hanging around on the fence for a couple of days prior. It was hanging around, alone & still, and I figured it was fledging and waiting for its parents' feedings.
I was wrong though. I noticed after an hour or so that it wasn't well. It wasn't hungry and was too sleepy. By the time I decided to take him to wildlife rescue, he was dying. He had old [dark] blood in his poop. His problems preceded the hawk. He died quietly in my hand, poor thing. I've since learned that he was an adult. l feel badly that I hadn't helped when I first noticed him hanging around [I had been all proud of myself for not interfering with his 'fledging'] and that I stole the hawk's meal. I got all up in Nature's business.
After all this, I went out to check on the pigeons in the loft and found my sweet friend Tank being hassled by young thugs Tony & Dill. I picked Tank up and could tell he'd lost weight. I brought him in and weighed him. He had weighed 860 grams on 12/4, 810 on 12/20 and 660 now. I set him up in a hospital crate on the kitchen counter and went outdoors to get his mate, Country. Once I had them settled I could see that Tank's breathing was labored. I made plans to take him to the vet in the morning.
Tank was an incredible pigeon who, last May got bit by a mosquito on his jaw (where there are few feathers) and ended up losing his lower beak to the pigeon pox. (It was bizarre and terrible and he's the only one it happened to.) He had to learn to eat without his lower beak and it was heartbreaking to watch him trying & trying. I adopted him & Country then and have kept a special eye on him ever since.
On Friday I took him and Country [for comfort & support] to UC Davis Small Animal Clinic. His breathing was still bad and so they went into an oxygen tank before getting examined. An ultrasound showed his liver was grossly enlarged. He had been eating but, by Saturday morning, he wasn't and his weight dropped to 590. When I got there, I could see he was very uncomfortable with labored breathing even in the oxygen and crouched down rather than in his normal stance. His diagnosis was untreatable cancer and we euthanized him that afternoon.
I wanted to take him home but he was suffering and so we did it there. Beforehand, I took them both outside [pij love leaving the vet just like a dog or cat] and I wanted to give that to Tank.
The vet let me inject the sedative, something I wanted to do because Tank was comfortable with me and trusted me. We sat outside for twenty minutes. I held him for awhile and then put him in the carrier with his mate. Country gave him a couple of quick beak-touches to his head, as if to welcome and check on him.
He died peacefully. Country seems to be doing OK. She spends more time out and about in the loft now and I think she must have been staying in their nest spot with Tank because he wasn't feeling well. I'm sure she misses him. Tank was a GREAT mate and a real gentleman pigeon. Click here to read more. I miss him a lot.
1/19
On Friday, I picked up four finches from SF ACC and drove them to Mickaboo's Finch Coordinator in Redwood City and met the latest five king pigeons that I have neither foster nor adoptive homes for. MickaCoo has 15 foster pigeons that need homes and there are 14 others (that I know about) currently in Bay Area shelters...
On Saturday I spent the day at a Pet Fair in Mountain View with Santino as my Demo Pij and Gus and Art (newlyweds) along for the ride. No adoptions are pending but I talked to a lot of folks and asked them to help spread the word.
Currently I'm working on qualifying an adopter in Southern California (where I can drive birds to myself) and in Georgia (where I'll need the help of a volunteer trucker or other long-distance driver).
Gus and Art make a cute couple.
And the recovering-from-grease feral Slim is now mated with another rescued feral, Charlie Brown White Socks and they're a great couple. Soon, they'll be a released couple! Single mom, Mocha, gave up on her and Slim's egg after two days.
The broke-leg feral I named Dab is still recuperating in a crate but the crate is now out in the loft rather than on my kitchen counter. Soon she'll be able to join the flock in the loft.
I pulled another pair of eggs from Tess and Dill today. I HATE having to do that. I replace them with wooden eggs but sure wish I could leave them to hatch their real eggs and raise their babies.
I'm stressing because I spend WAY too much time helping pigeons and even so there are (and always will be) a bunch of homeless ones stuck in shelters. Before I started doing this, many were being euthanized. I'm not the only one who's helped the Bay Area king pigeons, but right now I'm doing most of it and I can't continue, especially at this rate of HOURS spent caring for, transporting, fundraising and doing outreach every day. I need to get my mom's stuff finished up and I need to get back to work. As much as I love these birds, I sometimes wish I'd never heard of them. Now I'm perpetually stuck in a I-can't-keep-doing-this-but-I-can't-stop-doing-this conundrum. What do you think?
1/13 Happy Birthday, Marissa!
I've been trying to catch a broke-leg feral in my backyard flock for almost a week and I FINALLY got her today. She's been standing around on her one good leg or lying down on my patio, my loft roof, my deck rail... I can't stand seeing them hurt when I can't help them. I've got her now though and her prognosis I'd say is very good. (She'd probably recover OK without me but her chances are better now that she doesn't have to compete nor dodge hawks while injured. She's able to launch for flight one-legged but it makes her a split second late...). I've examined her, treated her for parasites and pain and will keep her caged and quiet while her injury heals. I'm not looking to tame her, just give her a chance to recover. I'm not sure how she got hurt but her breast feathers are gone and she has a little scabbed area on her keel so it's probably an impact injury.
Mocha, who by becoming sweethearts with Slim (and creating a monster), is now a single mom. Slim had NO game until Mocha sidled up and chose him as her boyfriend. That went to his head and he started fooling around with Art and now Charlie Brown White Socks, too! Art chases Mocha off and Slim doesn't stand up for her. Now she's got an egg and a nest and an attitude but no husband.
1/11
SF ACC had five red roosters and a rescuer in San Juan Bautista was willing to take them and a Mickaboo volunteer was willing to transport them from San Jose to SJB so I went to SF ACC to pick them up. They're big, lovely birds and were very congenial to transport.
But I had to leave five king pigeons there at the shelter because I have no room and have found no one else to take them. It made me sad.
When I got back home from my drive to SJ, I found out that FIVE NEW KINGS came into SF ACC after I left.
1/10
Art spent the night outdoors and I get the feeling I missed her a lot more than she missed me. I went out to check on her (and to see if I could find an excuse to bring her in) and she was quite content to spend the night outdoors with the other pij.
On Friday, I picked up four finches from SF ACC and drove them to Mickaboo's Finch Coordinator in Redwood City and met the latest five king pigeons that I have neither foster nor adoptive homes for. MickaCoo has 15 foster pigeons that need homes and there are 14 others (that I know about) currently in Bay Area shelters...
On Saturday I spent the day at a Pet Fair in Mountain View with Santino as my Demo Pij and Gus and Art (newlyweds) along for the ride. No adoptions are pending but I talked to a lot of folks and asked them to help spread the word.
Currently I'm working on qualifying an adopter in Southern California (where I can drive birds to myself) and in Georgia (where I'll need the help of a volunteer trucker or other long-distance driver).
Gus and Art make a cute couple.
And the recovering-from-grease feral Slim is now mated with another rescued feral, Charlie Brown White Socks and they're a great couple. Soon, they'll be a released couple! Single mom, Mocha, gave up on her and Slim's egg after two days.
The broke-leg feral I named Dab is still recuperating in a crate but the crate is now out in the loft rather than on my kitchen counter. Soon she'll be able to join the flock in the loft.
I pulled another pair of eggs from Tess and Dill today. I HATE having to do that. I replace them with wooden eggs but sure wish I could leave them to hatch their real eggs and raise their babies.
I'm stressing because I spend WAY too much time helping pigeons and even so there are (and always will be) a bunch of homeless ones stuck in shelters. Before I started doing this, many were being euthanized. I'm not the only one who's helped the Bay Area king pigeons, but right now I'm doing most of it and I can't continue, especially at this rate of HOURS spent caring for, transporting, fundraising and doing outreach every day. I need to get my mom's stuff finished up and I need to get back to work. As much as I love these birds, I sometimes wish I'd never heard of them. Now I'm perpetually stuck in a I-can't-keep-doing-this-but-I-can't-stop-doing-this conundrum. What do you think?
1/13 Happy Birthday, Marissa!
I've been trying to catch a broke-leg feral in my backyard flock for almost a week and I FINALLY got her today. She's been standing around on her one good leg or lying down on my patio, my loft roof, my deck rail... I can't stand seeing them hurt when I can't help them. I've got her now though and her prognosis I'd say is very good. (She'd probably recover OK without me but her chances are better now that she doesn't have to compete nor dodge hawks while injured. She's able to launch for flight one-legged but it makes her a split second late...). I've examined her, treated her for parasites and pain and will keep her caged and quiet while her injury heals. I'm not looking to tame her, just give her a chance to recover. I'm not sure how she got hurt but her breast feathers are gone and she has a little scabbed area on her keel so it's probably an impact injury.
Mocha, who by becoming sweethearts with Slim (and creating a monster), is now a single mom. Slim had NO game until Mocha sidled up and chose him as her boyfriend. That went to his head and he started fooling around with Art and now Charlie Brown White Socks, too! Art chases Mocha off and Slim doesn't stand up for her. Now she's got an egg and a nest and an attitude but no husband.
1/11
SF ACC had five red roosters and a rescuer in San Juan Bautista was willing to take them and a Mickaboo volunteer was willing to transport them from San Jose to SJB so I went to SF ACC to pick them up. They're big, lovely birds and were very congenial to transport.
But I had to leave five king pigeons there at the shelter because I have no room and have found no one else to take them. It made me sad.
When I got back home from my drive to SJ, I found out that FIVE NEW KINGS came into SF ACC after I left.
1/10
Art spent the night outdoors and I get the feeling I missed her a lot more than she missed me. I went out to check on her (and to see if I could find an excuse to bring her in) and she was quite content to spend the night outdoors with the other pij.
posted by Elizabeth at
8:00 PM
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