the rescue report: Valiant

Around 10 PM on New Year's Eve 2011-12, a woman who rescues feral cats (and so has the rescuer's eye) caught a glimpse of something hiding under a car. She thought it was a white cat but it turned out to be two baby king pigeons. She found me & MickaCoo Pigeon & Dove Rescue online but we were full up. I talked her through how to care for them and what to do when she took them to SF Animal Care & Control and I promised her that we would track them once there and save them when they needed us. She named the two Valiant and Vivian.

On 1/7 we learned that Valiant had a respiratory infection and so bumped them up the waiting list and into a foster home. MickaCoo volunteer Janelle took them home from the shelter and she and her partner JJ lovingly cared for them for weeks. Valiant needed weekly trips out to Medical Center for Birds and daily meds.

Despite all their TLC and the expertise of the avian vets, Valiant's severe respiratory problem continued. (Vivian was healthy throughout.) I picked them up from Janelle at her work to take them into my foster care on 2/21.

I picked up where Janelle & JJ left off and continued their care and vet visits.

Along the way, Valiant had a very strange molt of all the feathers around his preen gland. I've only seen that happen in one other bird since (poor, late baby Miya).

We spent a lot of time and money and hit a dead end in how to cure Valiant's persistent (and sometimes very dramatic) respiratory problem. He spent time outside in the aviary when he felt well enough and spent his nights fostered inside.

And then one day, Valiant cured himself. We have no idea what happened or how but he stopped the open mouthed, raspy, gasping breathing and never resumed.

Here he is, King of the Lettuce.

We really like this picture and use it a lot.

Along the way, as commonly happens, Vivian reached sexual maturity earlier than Valiant and he lost his childhood sweetheart Vivian to a slightly older bachelor named Carmine.

He handled it in good stride and became a hard-working outreach and demo pigeon for MickaCoo.

And along the way he met an older lady king pigeon named Ricky and they got hitched. (We call her a MickaCoogar because she is three years old and he's not yet one.)

He's still a hard worker though!

Valiant and his mate Ricky are a wonderful, charismatic pair of king pigeons who need a home. If you're interested in adopting Valiant & Ricky or any of the other many pigeons & doves in MickaCoo's foster care, please complete our online application. Thank you!

October 2014 Update:
Would you believe that the incredible Valiant & his beautiful mate Ricky still need a home? They are working extra hard to make new friends for pigeons and are serving as our ambassadors in a new partnership with the Humane Society of Silicon Valley.