AIBU to ask for help - lost homing pigeon?

[Periperipissoff]

Help me!

A homing pigeon has been hanging around for days, it's dirty, tired and soooo friendly.

It's beautiful, white with what looks like paint under its wings.

I read on here a while ago that if you report a lost homing pigeon they are collected and destroyed because obvs they aren't good homing pigeons anymore.

Is this true? Reading mixed reports about this online.

Sorry for using aibu for this but I don't know what to do. I don't want the little guy to get pts 😔

This made me laugh sooooo much!

This is such a heartwarming and educational thread.

I can't believe this has happened and you are cuddling a pigeon!!!

Needs to be a Christmas film

Heres the beauty!!

Taking him to vets to be checked over and they'll keep him overnight, if he's ok we pick him up tomorrow and order pigeon pants I guess.

I've reported him and it said no record of owner but they'll try to locate. I said in the message we're happy to look after him if owner ok with that ☺️

The bit of pink is dye from under the wings but he does look like he might have a wound on his little neck 😔 no blood just a dark mark under the feathers.

Just let him have a fly about the bedroom and he landed on my head!! 🤣

Poo looks like normal bird poo which I'm taking as a good sign

Just make sure the vets know he’s a pet and not just a feral. A lot of vets aren’t particularly wildlife friendly and they pts for ease.

Fortunately we have a brilliant vet near us who loves pigeons and she’ll do operations on ferals for rehabbers 💖 she’s amazing.

Oh this is heartbreaking 😭

Haha I LOVE this thread. He/she is adorable! I thought you were joking about keeping him/her but it's warmed my heart to see you're serious

I now want a house pigeon!

oh GOD yet another reason to feel heartbroken for animals. I had no idea that's how you trained racing pigeons.

Thanks for being such a kind person, OP. We had a racing pigeon hang around our balcony for a good while; the owner didn't want him back, so we fed him and chatted to him, and one day he flew off.

I know. Pigeons are terribly underrated and maligned animals.

People “hate” them and call them “dirty”, when actually they’re a human problem. Humans domesticated them, used them, then abandoned them when they didn’t need them anymore, leading to all the urban feral pigeons you see today. They’re not wild, they’re homeless.

They gravitate towards humans for help to survive because they still have that inherent domestication, and they’ll happily live alongside humans.

It’s highly, highly unlikely that anyone will get ill from anything spread by a pigeon. They do pick up illnesses, but the way we live alongside them doesn’t open up much chance for anything to be spread unless you let them shit in your food or something lol.

They are loving, sweet and comical little characters. I’d highly advise getting to know some 🥰

Batman is now at the vets, have told them we'll take care of him if he's ok and we'll pay for anything he needs ☺️

They said the website I've used to report is the one they'd only be using too so, yea, wait and see if he's ok then probs bring him home and just deal with the situation 🤣

Dog seemed OK, I let her have a nose in the box before and she had a quick look then just walked off and got on the sofa so seems she's also just "yea ok whatever"

Awww, you are wonderful. So happy that you're going to keep him 💓

Also, if you think this is cute, wait til you meet a baby pigeon 😉

They are heart meltingly adorable, and SO friendly with the cutest little squeaks 🤣 they imprint very easily on humans if they’re being hand reared. Very endearing little things!

I had no idea, this is so sad 😭

I want to rescue a bunch of pigeons now! Poor babies.

The more people that can appreciate pigeons for what they are, and give them the space to just live their lives happily, perhaps give them a hand with some seeds, or help them if they’re poorly the better 🥰

I’m glad if I can start to change a few peoples opinions of them!

You are amazing! I am loving this!

Just had a call from the site I reported him on.

Said it sounds like a fake ring as no register of him anywhere. He said they can arrange for a local fancier to pick him up or we can look for owner or rehome ourselves and if we want any advice on looking after him we can call them anytime.

It all sounds so murky 😔 he said if we try to find owner ourselves we need to be mindful that people will lie and just claim its theirs? Assume to see if its any good and if not, I dunno, they ditch them?

Why would they put a fake ring on him? Any ideas?

I’d honestly just stop worrying about it. If it was a genuine racer, it would have a proper racing tag. If it was a loved pet, it would have a phone number ring.

You’ve done everything you’d be reasonably required to do, and not found an owner. If you’re happy to keep him, I think that at this point that sounds the best option for him, other than finding another decent home for him if that doesn’t work out.

You're a pigeon hero. I had no idea racing them was so cruel.

We've got a big old aviary in the garden from the previous owners who had birds, I'm genuinely going to do some reading and look into what's needed to give some poor pigeons a happy forever home.

I'm sure my family won't mind some feathered additions to our current menagerie 👀

Aww, that’s amazing! I wish I had a nice ready built aviary 😂

Maybe get in touch with some local rehabbers, join the Pigeon Rescue Facebook group I mentioned earlier, and I’m sure you’ll find some local to you. You could maybe rehab poorly ones yourself, or offer homes to non -releasable birds 💖

Honestly this pigeon is going to live like a little prince/princess I've never seen DP go as gooey as he has over an animal, apart from the dog of course

😂😂 excellent. I love when I watch on Pidgie Cam when my partner is letting the birds out or putting them to bed, and he talks to them and gets them out for cuddles 🤣🥰 so cute!

This is such a sweet thread.

Poor racing pigeons!

I had one hanging around for weeks. Contacted the owner in Ireland who couldn't have been less interested. Because we had fed it the clever pigeon knew it was on to a good thing and stayed, and so we continued to feed it because we felt bad.

I used to work in this field and recently had to rescue one that had been stuck in a neighbours garden. I called the Royal Racing Pigeon Association and gave them his tag. They traced the owner who called me a couple of hours later and arranged to collect the next day. I put it under a large washing basket in my utility room with plenty of newspaper on the floor and water and seed. It settled nicely and was taken back the next day. So my first port of call would be RRPA.

Sorry I didn't read your update before I posted! I have to say I've never heard of a fake ring. Could it be an overseas bird? I think you'd be better finding a local fancier to be honest.

If you decide to keep it, from October 1st this year you must register the bird or face up to a £5000 fine.

I'm not making it up, even one captive bird, including a pigeon... the voluntary registration bit got removed 2 days ago. Completely insane but luckily most people will just ignore it around here.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/03/chicken-keepers-must-register-to-beat-bird-flu/

Gov link to form (where it specifies pigeons as a captive bird)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/poultry-including-game-birds-registration-rules-and-forms