The Baby Pigeon
It was rush hour, bumper to bumper traffic and
my young son needed me to take him somewhere
important. I was tired, hot from the weather
and just getting off from a long day at work. We
came to a train underpass on the busy freeway,
and as I started down the hill I saw the little
Pigeon.
This little one I think was trying to learn to
fly only to find out he is not a flyer, he is a
*faller* and he fell to the pavement and was now
being ran over.
At least three vehicles passed over top of his
little body. He was dodging in between the
vehicle tires in the rush hour traffic, trying
desperately to get out of the way. No one
bothered to even stop or slow down and as I
drove I prayed he was still alive when I got to
him. I stopped, threw on my hazard lights,
jumped out of the truck and
picked him up fast, as people drove around me
swearing and honking their horns at me.
I handed him over
to my son who held him to his chest and started
to cry saying over and over to the little bird
"please don't die little guy it will be
ok" (he is 10 years old what can I
say?)
I now drove off towards the pet store that I
work at, (I have little extra money, if any) but
I knew that I had to at least get what I could
for this little bird. So I got my son to keep
him in the truck as I went in and got a box,
some hand feeding formula and some actual Pigeon
food. I felt that no one seemed to understand
my desire to save this little Pigeon?
As soon as I got him home
I set up a temporary home for him in my large
dog kennel, as I didn't have any extra bird
cages (I also have three large parrots but no
extra cages) I lay out a towel and begin to
check him over, he had a few broken blood
feathers that were just starting, so I got the
clamps and pulled each one out and wiped the
blood off of his feathers, he didn't look like
he was badly hurt at all other than blood
feathers at that time. For the most part I think
he was just in Shock. so I put a heating
pad on low in the bottom of the kennel wrapped
in a towel and placed him on the heating pad. I
started to make some hand feeding formula, and
took him out and gave him a taste of the formula
which he promptly spit back at me. I cleaned
myself off and tried again, and again he spat it
all back at me, and I held him close to me and
cried, wishing I could get him to eat something
because at least then I would know he was going
have a fighting chance of living thru all of
this, as I knew that a lot of
animals/birds die simply from shock alone.
I couldn't give up on him he was young and had a
whole life in front of him... so
I set him down and gave him a cup of warm water
with a pinch of sugar and salt in it to re
hydrate him so it would help him to get over the
Shock. As soon as I set the cup in front of him
he popped his beak in and started drinking...
and drinking which was a great relief to me...
so I thought ok, since you are drinking lets see
if you can eat too, I held the cup of pigeon
seed up to his chest and he promptly started
pecking away at it and gobbling up the seed! I
was SO happy! He was eating and drinking! He may
just make it!!!
This is a
pic of him the very first night:
He had been with us almost two weeks and his leg
had lost its limp, and he was always stretching
his wings and flapping away, so I was pretty
sure he was all healed so I started to look for
homes for him and placed this ad on line hoping
to find someone who loved Pigeons and would be
willing to raise him in a more natural
environment.
I said in
the ad: *Baby pigeon, needs
someone to take care of him for life. I would
prefer him to go to a home with other Pigeons,
where he can learn from them and be happy.
I would simply just
let him go free again but I am worried that he
may not be able to find food for himself or
survive in the wild. He drinks and eats Pigeon
food just fine and is very tame. He just lost
his little baby swirl fluff on his head so he is
very young.
A lady contacted me from Autumn
Hollow Sanctuary inviting me to bring my little
*faller* out to her. I am happy to say that the
little guy is being well taken care of, in his
new home out in Alberta Beach at Autumn Hollow.
The woman was a Godsend that's for sure.
As good as I am with birds, I
still can't speak Pigeon, but I wanted this guy
to remain free and happy and learn to be a
normal Pigeon. I wanted him to be safe after
all of his ordeal he has been through.
So this story has a happy
ending, with this one little pigeons life saved.
To this day I still can
not believe that so many people just simply
drove OVER him like he was a piece of garbage,
and that they couldn't take a few minutes out of
their drive home to get out of their cars and
either move him to the side of the road or even
pick him up and help him as I did. I'm sorry
but, to be honest, sometimes people disgust me
with their attitudes towards animals/birds, that
they are throw away
creatures. And believe me having
worked in the pet industry for the past 5 years,
I've seen a lot of people who should only own
Pet Rocks and nothing more.
I've always had animals, I cant even remember a
time I didn't have any. I've had Goats to
Salamanders, to Hamsters, Birds of all kinds,
anything and everything you can think of and I
love each and every one, to me they are my
family. Irreplaceable. I've
never given an animal up to anyone before so
even giving this little Pigeon to the Sanctuary
is a new thing for me, but I do know it is the
best thing for him as well. He could not
have lived his life fully in my apartment.
I've saved a lot of animals in my
lifetime, from baby weasels, birds, horses to
yes, even skunks and field mice so I guess
really saving this little Pigeon to me really
wasn't anything at all or at least I don't see
it as anything amazing, I was just glad that he
has pulled through and now has a chance to live
HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I do feel this
little *faller* was placed in my path for a
reason, and I am thankful that I had the chance
to help him out when I could.
Thank You
Cyndi
