Palomacy Saves Domestic Pigeons & Doves 2023

His little body told a sad story. He was brought into the shelter and surrendered by his owner on 4/20/19. No name, sex unknown, feathers thrashed, crawling with parasites, not-yet-diagnosed arthritis in both legs and with an untreated broken right ankle that had, over time, fused into an unuse-able infected, painful liability. He couldn't walk but could scoot and fly a short distance.

At the shelter, the busted up Indian Fantail was named Sizzle and put up for adoption with a promise of medical treatment required. A volunteer gave him a mirror for company and to try and determine his sex. (Pigeons love mirrors, are proven to self-recognize in them and males usually can't resist cooing at and showing off for their reflection. Females are most likely to just sit companionably close to their reflection.) Sizzle showed no response to the mirror at all suggesting he was either female, feeling poorly or both.

On 5/5, the volunteer, Lacy, reached out to Palomacy seeking help for Sizzle. She was worried about his prospects. When we heard about him, we were worried too. With his medical problems, Sizzle was more likely to get euthanized than adopted despite his wonderful pet potential. Special needs pigeons make lovely, charming and inspiring companions. They are very adaptable and can live long, happy, love-filled lives given the chance. We have seen special needs pigeons of all sorts- blind, crippled, paralyzed, neurologically impaired- thrive inspite of their challenges. There is a saying, "Pigeons bloom where planted" and it is true. Plus Palomacy has a motto: We don't have to start with euthanasia.

Lacy writes, "When we first saw Sizzle, we knew he was very special. The shelter kept him warm and fed him, and as amicable as their efforts were, they did not understand his needs or know how to properly care for him. We reached out to Palomacy who accepted him with open arms and a promise to care for him the way he deserves and to treat him for his needs." 

On 5/8, Lacy and her fiance arranged for Sizzle to be released to them as a Palomacy rescue and then made the 200 mile round trip to deliver him to me. The minute he arrived and heard the other pigeons, he perked up and started cooing, declaring himself to be all man bird. He had been depressed at the shelter. Being around other pigeons is a great tonic for a depressed pigeon. I gave him a bath and after some time basking dry in the sun, settled him into his VIP cage in my special needs bird room. On 5/10, I took him to Medical Center for Birds to see Dr. Gianopolous who admitted him for radiographs and wound care. There, we learned just how bad Sizzle's broken but untreated ankle was. We could also see evidence of an old injury to his vertebrae as well as an unidentified mass that could be either kidney or testicle-related. Sizzle's not had the easiest life so far but we are going to give him his best life going forward, for as long as he has.

I picked him up on 5/13 and brought him back to foster with me while we figure out the right long-term placement for him. Sizzle is great company and a very good patient, easy to medicate twice daily. He'd do best indoors as a pampered family pet or in a small aviary with a mate or gentle flock. Please let us know if you think you might be the person Sizzle is looking for. 

And of course, dear Sizzle's story is just one of many. Just since 5/5, we've also taken two juvenile King pigeons, Handsome and Beautiful and two doves, Fran and Ziti, into our care; we are coordinating the rescue of another not-yet-named stray dove; placed single female pigeon Flapjack in a forever home with rescued and no-longer-lonesome mate Super Lucy; rescued Iggy the stray Fantail; rescued, around-the-clock cared for and are mourning the deaths of two grieviously injured and terribly missed little pigeons, Patience and Ember; provided daily care for 140 fostered birds and advised on how to rescue and help almost 100 other pigeons and doves in need all over the country and beyond. And if we had more resources, we could be doing more.

There is a huge need for Palomacy! There are so many more people who are breeding, using and endangering these birds for their hobbies, sports and businesses than there are resources to help the inevitably lost and injured. We rescuers are vastly outnumbered and we need all the support you can offer. Thank you for donating to Palomacy! Thank you for volunteering and adopting and sharing and for all you are doing in your own world to help these sweet birds. You are making a difference!

With heartfelt gratitude,

Elizabeth

Links:

• Click here to learn more about fostering or adopting
• Join Palomacy's Online Help Group to get involved
• Check out GlobalGiving's upcoming Paws & Claws Bonus Match 5/22

Your support saved these birds lives.

On November 28th, Palomacy received word that 28 domestic Ringneck doves (all descended from five) needed rescue as their person, a resident of the All Star Trailer Park, could no longer care for them. They were all living outside, crowded into unsafe cages so it was 911. 

The thing is, Palomacy foster homes and aviaries are always full up. The number of birds needing rescue is never-ending and our rescue is small. We don't have a sanctuary or a shelter facility though we very much need one. With every available foster space filled with the 130 birds already in our care, we didn't have any place to house a flock of 28 additional birds. The one shelter in the area that accepts birds was maxed out with a recent intake of 20 ducks. 

We networked and scrambled to try and find safe places for the doves to land. We got a couple of leads for potential aviaries and our current dove fosters looked to see how they could squeeze in a few more.

On December 2nd, super volunteer Jill (an all star in her own right) loaded up her car with carriers and made the 100 mile (one way) trip to go get the doves. We didn't know where they were going to go, only that they had to be rescued. While she was making the drive, dove foster volunteers Liese, Faye and Emma were preparing to fit a couple in here and there and I was working on the aviary leads. 

We never know what we'll find when we head out on a rescue. The All Star doves were living in terrible, unsafe and overcrowded conditions. And all except for one little splay-legged dovenow named Jade, were in perfect shape. Strong, healthy birds, They are what we call a "survival of the fittest" flock. Birds that were injured, ill or weak died while the strong survived. Some had gotten out now and then and been caught and killed but miraculously the cats, raccoons, raptors and rats hadn't yet killed them all in their their flimsy cages. 

Jill was welcomed and helped by Genevieve, the kind neighbor who had been feeding the All Star doves and who reached out to find help for them. They worked carefully to catch and transfer each dove from the cages to carriers, under the curious watch of the cat locals. And then another miracle. One of our aviary leads became a real possibility! Robin, referred to us by a local wildlife rescuer, had a vacant aviary, was home and willing to quickly complete our screening process! By the time Jill had all the doves loaded up, I had a wonderful potential fosterer for her to go meet!

I have no idea what we would have done if not for Robin's big, wonderful aviary and her immediate willingness to help us help these doves. She and husband Dean welcomed Jill and the All Stars. Together they reviewed Palomacy's foster policies and assessed the aviary for safety enhancements the doves would need. A couple hours later, 16 incredibly lucky doves, who had never been outside of small cages, we're stretching their wings and exploring their great big new foster aviary while their 12 friends rode along with Jill heading to the Bay Area to be fostered at her home in Sunol and in our Andy's aviary in San Jose!

In the two and a half months since this rescue began, volunteers helped to catch, band, photograph, name and enter all 28 into our adoptable birds database so that they appear on all the pet search sites. So far, nine of the All Stars- Piper, Pumpkin, Bossman, Georgia, Beau, Jasper, Ruby, Willow and Jade- have found their forever home with amazing adopter Angela! We still have 17 beautiful All Star doves eager to be adopted (in addition to the 20 doves we were already fostering) and though we no longer have the use of (traveling) Robin's aviary, we're making do with another smaller aviary (also heroically wrangled by Jill!) and a lot of creative dove tetris. 

We are though, as you can imagine, still even fuller than overfull and so in urgent need of adopters (for both doves and pigeons) in the Northern California area and we know of lots of adoptable birds all over the country so we can help you to help birds wherever you might be. Learn more here.

Please help us to continue this life-saving, rescue gap-closing work! Adopt a lovely bird or two or ten! Foster, volunteer, donate. Share this story and your love for birds. They need our help and we need yours. Thank You!

Links:

• Apply here to foster or adopt
• Join our Palomacy Help Group to get involved
• Subscribe to Palomacy's monthly newsletter