Sweet Pigeon Looking for Home, Guest Post by Heidi Timinsky

Hello or I should say coo coo. My name is Pige’onay, that is what my foster mom, Heidi named me. Heidi and her husband Scott and their dog, Hula were on a walk in a beautiful meadow in Lake Tahoe, CA when Hula flushed me out from under a bridge. Heidi didn't think anything of it because I am a bird and of course I would just fly away. Only Heidi didn't know that I had been raised as a racing pigeon and released over two months ago, 40 miles from my home but I was never able to find my way home. Now I was 600 miles away from my home and for two months I had been LOST, lonely and basically about to starve to death and die because I don't have a wild bone in my body. I was so weak from being lost and hungry for so long that when Hula went to chase me, I used my last ounce of strength to fly but I could only get a foot of the ground and then I collapsed after I flew about 100 feet. I heard Heidi screaming at Hula to stop. Oh boy was I glad Hula listened to Heidi. Turns out Hula usually doesn't listen to our mom (that's what I like to call her now).

Yeah, mom says Hula has chased HUGE bears and given her a heat attack because she won't stop but Hula sure stopped that day. Actually, I owe it to Hula for finding me because she saved my life. In about one more day I would have been dead for sure. I tried to walk away from this family but I kept tipping over and that's when Heidi knew she had to save me. Heidi thought for sure I had a broken leg or wing, but it was just the starvation that was making me so weak and helpless.

My foster mom and dad hooked me up with the coolest little cage. Mom and Dad are doing the best they can for me because they live in a one-bedroom condo and I have to be off the ground because Hula only likes me up high. She’s actually a little scared of little ole’ me. Mom says Hula has always been sensitive. So the only place mom and dad found for me to hang out is on top of their wood-burning stove!!! Luckily for me, even though there is still snow on the ground in Tahoe, mom promised she will not heat the house but come winter it is there only form of heat. They have a little yard but in winter mom showed me pictures and you wouldn't believe the amount of snow, almost 20 feet sometimes piles up and you can't even access the yard. So, as much as mom and dad and Hula love me, I need to find a forever home where I can be loved. Mom thinks I will be much happier if I can stretch out and walk around some more and especiallyfind another pigeon to love me. Mom also is adamant that I live in an enclosed sanctuary because she never wants me to get back to my owner who raced me to make money. She is very against that sport and thinks since I couldn't get home from 40 miles away, I obviously should not be released again.

I'd be so grateful and so would my foster mom and dad if you could adopt me and love me for the rest of my life. Heidi will probably want to talk with you before you adopt me because she has become very overprotective. She didn't know anything about pigeons until she met me. She didn't even think about pigeons since we don't really hang out in Lake Tahoe, CA that much. Now what she does know about me and all my other pigeon friends makes her very happy to speak out on our behalves and educate others about how horrible pigeon racing is as well as the joys of having us as pets.

P.S. By the way, mom and dad say I am a lovely pigeon and completely healthy now (maybe too fat b/c mom and dad really don't know how much to feed me so they feed me all the time. They figured since I starved for two months, I needed extra food). I also enjoy hanging out in their laps. Dad says I'm very pretty and mom loves me but says I eat like a pig. Mom thought I would daintily pick at my food, but I get my beak in there and move that food around, all over mom's floor! I will miss my foster mom and dad but I am so looking forward to finding my new forever home and hanging with some other pigeon peeps again.

Thank you to Heidi and Scott and Hula for saving Pige'onay. Please contact Heidi if you'd like more info or to adopt Pige'onay.