Stringfoot Heartache

Scroll down for updates.

This is the latest string-foot pigeon that I'm trying to catch (with her mate on the left).

Both of her feet are tangled in black thread and there is a piece of twig (formerly 8" long but now only 4" long) stuck in the tangle. With her feet bound up, not only is she in a lot of pain, but her mobility is affected and her ability to launch quickly enough to escape predators is reduced.

Despite that, I've not been able to catch her for more than a week now, though I have come maddeningly close three times. The first time I almost caught her was by catching the twig that is tangled into her stringfeet and I had her for just a second but as she beat her wings to fly away, the twig broke in half and she was gone.

Every time I try and fail to catch her, it makes her warier and even harder to get near. And stringfoot pigeons are already wary and extra cautious, knowing they are at risk.

She comes to my backyard everyday, along with a few other ferals, looking for stray feed from my coop. I've spent hours trying to catch her, time that I don't have, and I am tormented by her plight. I know that she is the one suffering here, not me, but the angst I feel when I can't help an injured creature is awful. I don't have a problem with blood or gore but I have a very low threshold of tolerance for seeing suffering.

I've almost caught her with a net twice but she is so leary of me that I think now my only hope is to lure her into a cage trap and pull the door shut if she ever goes in. The healthy pigeons go in and eat up the food but her caution keeps her out, so far.

This picture captured a moment of hope for me. She's looking into the cage, looking at the pigeon feed inside that I'm using as bait.

If I can catch her, her prognosis is great. I can remove the damned string and her infected feet will heal and, even if she loses some toes or even a whole foot, she can still survive.

The last thing I want is another pigeon cage but I think I may need to invest in a humane pigeon trap so that I can catch the inevitable stringfoot feral backyard visitors a whole lot quicker and with less stress for all involved.

Recently Academy of Art student Juliua Fraser interviewed me about why you see so many pigeons with messed up feet and created this video.

Here's my old friend Stumpy. He's been visiting for almost 4 years. I never knew him when he had both feet. He's doing great with just the one. He's a very smart and successful old pij.

7/22/11 UPDATE:
I'm still trying and still failing to catch her. She comes around most every day and I've almost caught her a bunch of times and she has in turn become warier and warier of me. I long to catch her and free her from the string that she is tangled in. The good news is that her feet are at least no longer bound together. The entangled toe on her right foot died and came off, leaving her with one useable foot and the other still painfully entangled.