By Elizabeth Young | Founder, Executive Director
One million domestic King pigeons are bred annually in California for meat (squab). A few wind up in rescue rather than as the dinner on a fancy plate they were intended to be. With your support, Palomacy helps these and other lucky survivors get adopted rather than euthanized. With your help, we are closing a deadly gap in the animal welfare community. Every one of these birds is an individual. Here's the story of three: Patch, Alfred and Bert.
Instead of being butchered when they were four weeks old, Patch, Alfred and Bert were purchased live from a poultry market. We don't know how many were "released" (either in a misguided effort to liberate them or for ceremonial use) but we do know how many were rescued- three.
The Good Samaritan who found the three baby pigeons huddled together in a park on June 20th, 2016, knew they were out of place and so he gathered them up and brought them to the San Francisco SPCA. Though they don't usually take in birds, their Humane Education team, already fostering four of Palomacy's pigeons in the Summer Camp program, made an exception for them.
All of our foster homes and aviaries were full up (we always are with usually 120+ pigeons and doves in our care plus a waiting list) and so the extra help from the Humane Ed team was critical. I went to check on the pigeon youngsters that afternoon and they were sick. While adult pigeons are hardy, the youngsters, their immune systems undeveloped and exposed to so much stress through the "harvesting", transport and sales/"release" process, are frail. We got them settled in and started on antibiotics. They had eluded the butcher and survived an inhumane "release". They were very lucky to be alive.
Everyone fell in love with the strikingly marked black and white pigeon kids. And, as if they weren't eye-catching enough, Alfred and Bert's feathers were stained with pink food coloring- something that the poultry sellers do to mark batches of birds. Unfortunately, despite all the loving care of the SF SPCA team and the best efforts of our avian vets at Medical Center for Birds, Patch, the sickest of the trio, passed away on July 11th. Necropsy revealed the extent of his infection which affected multiple organs as well as the lack of immune response.
Time went on and Alfred and Bert grew to maturity. The four adult pigeons fostered in the aviary with them, Rose and José and Hannah and Oakley, had been tolerant of them as youngsters but as puberty set in, tensions arose within the flock. Bert who had been a confident and bossy bird (despite his crossed beak) began to get bullied and to decline. He lost weight, needed to be separated from the flock and required repeated vet visits to treat multiple issues. Maggie, Manager of the Humane Education Department and all of her team, went so above and beyond helping to not only care for and transport Bert (many miles) but also contributing very generously towards his mounting vet expenses. Eventually, I took Bert into my foster care for additional medical support and Alfred went to try out living with a pair of Palomacy supporters, Aria and Julie, who had gone to the trouble and expense of moving out of their apartment and into another just so they could adopt a pet pigeon.
For Alfred and Aria and Julie, it was love right from the start! Alfred is home, adopted. She (yes, she we now know) really blossomed in their care and Alfred is one of the happiest, most beautiful pigeons ever! She loves her people and all the ways they dote on her including giving her free range of their apartment, minced veggies and fresh greens, on-demand sink showers, a special cozy after-bath lounge, coconut oil foot rubs, all the charger cords she can steal for nest-building, etc. etc. and she returns their love with all her sweetness and the deep affection that only pigeons can give. She even has her own awesome Instagram account and now she has a mate too- a very lucky and charming unreleasable Rock pigeon named Pirate has joined the family!
Bert is still fostered with me, still getting eye drops every day in order to defeat the persistent pseudamonis sinus infection once and for all. He is gaining weight and feeling really good these days. He is a very handsome and loveable bird, no longer pink but forever with his crossed beak. I've been told by more than a few people that he is their favorite. He's a great ambassador for the pigeon tribe and lots of fun to take to outreach events. Bert has come a long very way from the squab plant where he was bred to be meat. Now Bert's ready to romance and marry a lady pigeon, to be adopted, to go home. Who's ready for Bert?
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By Elizabeth Young | Founder, Executive Director
By Elizabeth Young | Founder, Executive Director
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