Tina & Tony

On June 30th, I got a call from Mickaboo volunteer and Wildwood Veterinary Hospital vet tech Louisa who had found and rescued two skinny, sick, fancy pigeons with their tails cut off, huddled together at a gas station. They had been there for a couple of days, she was told. What really gets me is that they stayed together through their ordeal. Somebody had dumped them and they had no place to go and no good way to get there even if they did and they're a mated couple and so they just huddled together and stayed put. Scared, hungry, thirsty, sick, pitiful. They were like Hansel and Gretel except they never had a breadcrumb trail. Thank goodness for Louisa!

Louisa, like most people who rescues birds and/or animals, is past full. She had no idea how she was going to make room for them and she knew that me and MickaCoo Pigeon & Dove Rescue are full up (always) but they needed help and leaving them was not an option.

So she took them in and saw that their many medical ailments, including but probably not limited to pigeon pox, coccidia, malnutrition and parasites, were tended to. Why their previous people had chopped off their tail feathers nobody knows. It does make them look even more like little ragamuffins than they already do. Louisa named them Tina & Tony and Tina rewarded her with an egg the very same night she was rescued. Louisa fostered and medicated and nursed them for two weeks.

On 7/16, MickaCoo volunteer Cheryl coordinated with volunteers Cathy & Tina who were helping to pick up and short-term foster two homers stuck at SJACS and picked all four of these lucky pigeons up in Portola Valley and brought them home. I met her in Pacifica to pick up Tina & Tony.



As bad as they look after two weeks of tender care and lots of nutritious food and medical treatments, I can only imagine what they looked like when Louisa rescued them. They remind me, for some reason, of a pair of salt and pepper shakers. Tina's a little smaller and has orange eyes. Tony has a bit of a cowlick/updo to the feathers on the back of his head and his eyelids are so disfigured with pox that you can barely see his pretty pearl irises. Both are Indian Fantails and this is what they should look like.

Winter is a rescued Indian Fantail that came in almost dead- vets wanted to euthanize her- but she is strong, thriving, fully recovered and quite magnificent now.

But this is how Tony & Tina look (and it's not just the lighting making the difference).

Tony's eyes, especially his right, are almost obscured by his pox-disfigured eyelids.

Nevertheless, they are a mated couple and they love each other, regardless of their butchered feathers and rundown condition.

Perhaps they know they'll someday look like this again. Or not. But they'll be loved and cared for and safe and secure. That I know.

To help pay for Tony and Tina's vet bills, please click here and follow the directions. Thank you.

9/4/10 UPDATE:

Tina & Tony have made great progress in their recovery. Both have gained lots of weight and are molting out their old, tattered feathers and beginning to grow in new, healthier ones. Tony's tests have come back negative for pox, chlamydophilosis and mycoplasma and he's had surgery to remove the overgrown tissue on his eyelids. They are an adorable and very sweet little couple. Added together, their weights (Tony is 376 and Tina is 320) are about equal to one king pigeon.















Tony & Tina are available for adoption. They are easy going and soft-spoken and would make lovely indoor pets. Please contact me at AdoptKings@gmail.com for more info.