Rio

On 9/17, I received this email-

I found a white king pigeon walking on the side of the road in Joaquin

Miller Park in Oakland last night (9/16/11) he was very close to the

busy road. He is very tame and allowed me to pick he up. He appeared

to have a green band on his leg but upon further inspection it turned

out to be a green twist tie. I currently have him in my apartment in

a spare bird cage. He appeared to be well cared for, his nails are

trimmed and possible his wings but he does appear to be thin.

Unfortunately I can not keep him long term. I have two cockatiels and

a very small apartment and it would be unfair to him. Any guidance

would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time

Me and MickaCoo were full up but I put this lost homer, named Rio by his rescuers, on our waiting list and on 9/25, Shannon & Jennifer brought him to me at the Dublin SPCA Adoption event.

Rio had recovered his strength (from being nearly starved) while in their care and was no longer tame. (It always scares the hell out of me when people tell me they've found "a really tame bird" which, in rescue, usually means a really weak bird.)

He was very happy to find himself once again in the company of other pigeons and had recovered well enough to fly in the aviary without a problem.

He was greeted by Blanco and polite in his aloofness.

Rio (and Blanco and many other pigeons that MickaCoo has rescued) is a small white homing pigeon, likely bred and used as a "wedding release dove" that got lost and nearly starved to death. When ceremonial releases of white "doves" are done properly, they use well cared for and trained white homing pigeons that have the skill and the ability to make it home safely (for the most part). Even when done under the best of circumstances, some birds will be killed by hawks or otherwise lost on the way home. When done improperly, it is a massacre! People who try to do it cheaply sometimes buy white doves or king pigeons (neither of which have any homing instinct nor any ability to survive in the wild) and toss them into the sky expecting to see them fly away somewhere. Where? Where are they going even if they could get there? Back to the feed store or poultry market or pet store that sold them in the first place? These birds land in the parking lot or park (or where ever they were "released") and stand around getting killed by cars, hawks, cats, ravens, gulls, mean people, etc. etc. until some kind soul gathers the survivors up and contacts a shelter or MickaCoo.

Personally, I don't support even the properly-done release of white homers. I know some very wonderful people who do it and I know they take great care of their birds but I don't believe in buying and selling and renting and using animals. As much as I love animals, I'd prefer to live without them if it meant they could escape our ownership of them.

Rio is, I believe, another bachelor (we have a lot) and as of 10/12 was transferred with 7 other fosters from my over-full aviary to the Wulf aviary in Berkeley. He looks happy there and is available for adoption as an aviary bird (not to be used for breeding, business or sport) from MickaCoo Pigeon & Dove Rescue.