Joy's Death

Sometimes cracks in the rescue system result in tragedy. In this case, a bird who someone cared enough about to put a blank band on her foot was allowed to free fly (unsafe for king pigeons) and was injured by a predator. (I think it was a dog because she had injuries on both sides of her body but it might have been a hawk or a cat.)

On 12/12, the injured bird was found at 7th & Lake in SF and taken to the SF animal shelter. A wound was noted, considered to be healing and no treatment was provided.

On 12/15, I was notified about her by shelter staff.

On 12/16, I inquired about her condition and asked that she be started on antibiotics but she wasn't.

On 12/19, I picked her up and her wound was smelly and seeping bloody fluid. I tried to get her emergency treatment but none was available. I started her on oral antibiotics but it was too little too late.

On 12/20, I named her Joy in the hope that I could save her and took her to the vet. His exam revealed how terribly infected her wound had become. She had massive amounts of necrotic tissue and was euthanized because she was suffering with virtually no hope of recovering. We have rescued more than 500 pigeons and doves since 2007 and Joy is only the third that we have euthanized. I hate taking away their last chance to live but, in this case as with the previous two, it was the only mercy we could offer.

I've included graphic pictures below. The first shows her wound on the day I picked her up and the following pictures show what was revealed the next day by the vet's examination.

I do think that Joy could have survived her initial wound if she had gotten care sooner. Please support your community shelters and rescues. They are overburdened and under-resourced.

WARNING: PHOTOS ARE GRAPHIC

Birds that are wounded NEED ANTIBIOTICS ASAP!