Shipping Pigeons

Today I boxed up eight of my foster pigeons and shipped them to a wonderful adopter in Wisconsin. I sent Sparks & Alejandra, Mocha & Smokey, Art & Gus and Ike & B.B. They're going overnight and are guaranteed to arrive by 3pm tomorrow. Along the way, they're cramped in a small space and are surely frightened by this sudden, radical and completely unexpected and inexplicable change from their normal life in my loft to a strange and alien experience flying across the country in a box in a cargo plane.




I brought Sparks home from SF ACC on 3/19/08 and have fostered him ever since (except for a month-long stint where he was doing PR and fostered at Andy's Pet Shop). He had been sold in a live food market for $5 as squab. Before ending up in the shelter, he had been attacked by a dog and was seriously injured. His vet care cost over $800. He made a full recovery and, when I brought Alejandra home to foster on 4/5/08, she caught his eye. They've been a couple for over a year now.

I'm thrilled to have found a wonderful adopter and great home for these birds but it is hard to catch them, squeeze them in a box and take them to the post office. I wish I could explain that this is going to turn out really well and that they're going to love their new home. But I can't tell them anything except goodbye.




This is the second time I've done the shipping myself (I shipped eight pigeons to Georgia on 4/20) and the fifth time that MickaCoo has shipped king pigeons. We get all up in the potential adopters' business- requiring applications and pictures and references and telephone interviews and payment for shipping which isn't cheap. It's amazing what they put up with but even so, if we're not convinced that they are sincere, responsible, informed adopters that are prepared to take care of these birds for the rest of their lives, we're not placing birds with them. So far, everything has gone well. The kings are safe and sound and well cared for and much loved by their new people in Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia and soon Wisconsin (check out Success Stories for more info). And the adoption of these 20 birds has saved the lives of bunches of others that were stuck in the shelters with no place to go- Sweetlips, Dixie, Lee, Lulu, Frances, Jazzy, Abby, Tum Tum...




For my first year and a half of rescuing king pigeons, I adamantly refused to ship birds, not only because of the risks of having to approve adopters long distance, the shipping dangers and trauma (though there is certainly all that), but because I believe in rescuing locally and didn't want to just export our homeless bird problem somewhere else. Through a long and gradual process, (see the King Care-A-Van if you want more info on that) I have come to the place where I am willing to do it, for several reasons.

One is that I have become convinced that there is an inordinate number of king pigeons in the Bay Area and that pigeons don't end up in shelters at near the rates they do in ours in most of the country and so there are more pigeons needing rescue here. Number two is the demeanor of king pigeons. I don't know if I'd even risk shipping a feral pigeon but kings have been bred down to a level of calm, docility and mellowness that is extraordinary. While I will worry every moment my eight foster pigeons are in transit today and tomorrow, I have a good idea of how they will cope with being boxed up and bounced around and so I'm willing to expose them to that. Three is because it is a well established practice amongst pigeon racers and breeders and there are far more successful outcomes than not. I'm working with experts and not doing this alone. Four is because they face euthanasia if we don't find them homes. In addition to the 14 currently in MickaCoo foster care (3 at Andy's, 9 with me and 2 at foster homes), there will be more arriving at shelters any day. Mostly, they don't get adopted. Mostly, they either get MickaCoo or they get euthanized.

We're still working on finding local homes as well as drivers, pilots, horse-haulers and all kinds of other transport methods because I'd still rather not ship. I hope one of these days I don't have to ship.

Keep a good thought for Sparks & Alejandra and Mocha & Smokey and Art & Gus and Ike & B.B. I'll update this post when they arrive tomorrow.

Until there are homes for all of them- don't buy, don't breed, adopt.

Tuesday, May 12th Update:
Despite having been sent Express Mail and guaranteed for delivery today by 3pm, my pigeons did not arrive. Both myself and the adopter have made many efforts to get information from various contacts within the USPS on their whereabouts but we still have no information. They left SF on time but where they are now, we don't know. They are probably in Milwaukee or maybe even Madison and will probably be delivered tomorrow and will probably be fine but it sucks and I'm miserable and the adopter is miserable and you can bet my poor birds aren't too thrilled either. The previous four shipments worked great and provided timely tracking information along the way. This time- not.

Tuesday, May 12th Update, 11:47PM (Wisconsin time):
The Madison Post Office called my adopters, Xa & Choua, at 11:30 pm (!!) to say the birds had arrived and they got out of bed and went to pick them up. And they called me to let me know. All of a sudden, I had a much better night. The kings are all safe and sound and they didn't have to spend another night in that box. I LOVE finding great homes for these birds but I HATE shipping. Pictures and more info will follow.