Palomacy Rescues & Rehomes Pigeons & Doves

 All birds deserve love, but there is something about a senior dove at the end of their life, after years spent trapped and alone in a tiny cage, or a frail elderly pigeon dumped on the street, that makes us drop everything and run to help. Palomacy donors understand this.

How could we do otherwise?  

Palomacy is called on to help vulnerable birds throughout the year, and this has been a season of senior citizen birds in desperate circumstances. It's truly a blessing to give the gift of safety and love to birds in the autumn of their lives, when they have known only isolation and monotony.

Lionel and Braveheart

Lionel and Braveheart lived in tiny cages, stacked such that they could not even see each other, with little enrichment, for over twenty years. Palomacy was asked to help euthanize them when their owner could no longer care for them. Instead, Care Director Jill brought them home and introduced them to the feeling of sunshine on their feathers, the joy of bathing in fresh cool water, and the company of other doves. Even better, in less than a week, she found a kind and loving forever home for them, where they will live out their days in comfort.

Your donations have given Lionel and Braveheart a soft place to land, and each other - instead of euthanasia.

Goji Berry and Blue Spruce

Goji Berry and Blue Spruce were lucky to be found alive after their owner died. Once again we received two elderly doves who had spent their lives in cramped cages placed too far apart for any kind of interaction. Their sensitive social hearts deserve so much better, and they are now with super volunteer and dove-whisperer Liese Hunter.

Your donations have given Goji Berry and Blue Spruce a comfortable retirement rather than a sad, unknown end.

Zenith

Just as we were catching our breath, we got a call from Sacramento. A crew cleaning up a vacant house had found a dove in the backyard, in a falling-apart aviary with a caved-in roof. For several months, kind neighbors had been providing food and water to 20+ year old Zenith, the lone - and lonesome - survivor of his flock. Though he is currently skeptical of the lady dove he is rooming with, we suspect he will warm up to her - and to humans - with time and patience.

Your donations have given Zenith hope and a chance at fulfillment.

Rummy

Rummy, an elderly roller pigeon, was dumped outside a warehouse. He walked up to the first person he saw and allowed himself to be picked up. He struggles to eat independently and shows some neurological symptoms, requiring hospitalization, pain management, and extensive diagnostic veterinary care. He is sweet and stoic, and he certainly can't understand why he was discarded so cruelly. Rummy is safe now, and nourished, and valued.

Your donations have given solace to bewildered, discarded senior pigeon Rummy.

These stories are just a snapshot of what we have done with your help. In the past twelve months, we have taken in 160 lucky-to-be-alive birds. Many arrived with complicated illnesses and traumatic injuries, paying a heavy price for other people's indifference. These birds bring the number now in Palomacy's foster care to nearly 300. 

With your help, their fortunes change, their health returns, and their futures are brighter!

Your support also allows us to run an emergency phone line, where volunteers assist an average of 10 to 15 callers a day from all over the country and beyond. Our Facebook group has grown to nearly 50K members and our team of moderators provides 24-hour-a-day expertise and encouragement to a global group of bird lovers.

We depend on your support for everything we do, and costs keep rising. We need to raise $30,000 by the end of December to continue rescuing these vulnerable, sweet, brave birds.

GivingTuesday is coming, so please save the date! Starting Monday, December 1st at 9 pm Pacific Standard Time (click here to find the local start time for your area!), we will have 36 hours to raise our fundraising goal for the year's end. GlobalGiving is offering $500,000 in bonus funds this year, and the more you give, the more we will receive. This is an excellent way to amplify your donation so that we can keep saying yes to these birds in need. Bookmark this page or watch our social media feeds for updates as GivingTuesday approaches! 

And our 2026 Calendar is now available - these make wonderful holiday gifts and the proceeds support our life-saving work! 

Thank you so much for helping us help them! 

Links:

• Order your 2026 Palomacy wall Calendar!
• Saving Coral: A Rescue Story
• Adoptable birds need you!

ADOPTED! 

Tuna: In March, a nice man found an injured racing pigeon in his yard and contacted Palomacy's help line. The volunteers arranged for her to be taken for avian vet care. Tuna, barely three months old, had suffered a predator attack as well as a previously fractured leg that had never been treated. It folded in on itself and fused improperly. Thank goodness, Tuna's life of abuse is now behind her. She has been healing and blossoming in loving foster care that has now become her forever home.

Ruby and Rebel: Adorable gentle little fancy married couple pigeons Ruby and Rebel were unsold breeder giveaways taken spur-of-the-moment by a well-meaning family just passing through a bird show. They didn't know how to care for them, weren't given any resources or guidance and, not surprisingly, things did not go well. They lived almost a year in an unsafe dog crate in the yard. They laid eggs and hatched babies that predators killed through the too big cage bar gaps. Thankfully the family found Palomacy and we made room to bring Ruby and Rebel into our safe, expert care. After only two months being fostered, they are now adopted! Home, loved, understood, protected. (And no longer hatching babies!) 

Pearl: Widowed Ringneck dove Pearl was living all alone in an unsafe cage on a patio. Her person approached Palomacy to adopt a new dove friend for her but the cage wasn't safe and so the application could not be approved. Pearl needed help though and we were able to persuade her person to surrender her into our care. Now Pearl is not only safe but also adopted. She is beloved by both her dove and human family.

FOSTERED!

Cornell: Gorgeous, distinguished, chocolate brown and just as sweet little manbird Cornell has been fostered with us since 2018. He had been independently rescued by an amazing adopter of ours who unfortunately, several years later due to family and financial crisis, had to transfer her whole flock into our care. He's been the most perfect little gentleman with us for seven years. Quiet, gentle, never marrying despite pHarmony opportunities and never adopted despite his wonderfulness and then, this February, all of a sudden, something wasn't right. Diagnosed with a tumor on his kidney, his foster family has been working with our vet partners to support him through chemotherapy. His treatment is working and he's tolerating it well, thanks to the attentive care of his foster family. 

Swan and Cooper: Young and demure little Swan, originally an oops baby, came into Palomacy's foster care in 2020 eager to find a mate. In 2017, Cooper had been a "surplus" racing pigeon sold to be used as a "dog bird". His flight and tail feathers were cut as short as they could possibly be so that he had no chance of getting away when he was "planted" in a field to be found by hunting dogs in training. He was bought and "set free" by a kind-hearted person who didn't understand his plight and then he was very lucky to be rescued alive. Widowed after the passing of his mate Boba, he married Swan in 2020 and they have been a very devoted and adoptable couple ever since.

TODAY...

Every day, with your generous support, we are coaching the people, rescuing the birds, making a difference as the far-reaching, life-saving compassionate community we are together. Today is GlobalGiving's July Bonus Day, an annual 24-hour crowdfunding campaign designed to inspire high-dollar donations ($100 or more). Eligible donations (one per donor) between $100 and $1000 will earn a portion of GlobalGiving's $125,000 Incentive Fund (up to $2000)! The more we raise, the more incentive funds we will receive. An additional $9,000 in bonus prizes is also available for top-performing projects! And there's more: thanks to the generosity of an anonymous Palomacy donor, we have a pledge to match your donation today (for any amount) at 100%* up to a total $2,000! (*Via Palomacy donor, not GlobalGiving funds). The campaign is happening now and continues for the next 24 hours. You can see how we are doing on the leaderboard. THANK YOU!

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Links:

• See Palomacy's Available & Recently Adopted Birds
• Answers for Your Frequently Asked Questions
• See Palomacy's 2026 Calendar Photo & Art Contest On Now