Phoenix update, we are now taking full feeds 4 times a day with no problems, and he has perched on my hand balancing well and had a little flap of his wings, he is more aware of his surroundings and is focusing better with his good eye judging by the look of interest he is giving me. His bad eye is a little sore and possible light sensitive, but overall he is improving a lot. For anyone concerned about people 'cooing' over him, or whatever the term used was. With these little ones, especially those who have been through so much trauma the last thing I want to do is go in, shove a teat in his mouth to feed him, a needle in his leg and then shut him away again, what a shock that would be. It is about building confidence between us, him relaxing and feeling as comfortable as possible around me, trusting that I will not cause him more discomfort, and encouraging him to fight, he is only a baby so knows nothing yet of the world, barring the love of his parents and the hatred of humans. He does not back away from me, even though he could, nor flinch from my touch any more as he did when he first came in. He will not be tamed, as he develops then we back off, at the moment it is about healing, and letting him learn to be a pigeon again, and encouraging him to eat, as his parents would have done. If he continues like this I will try him in a bigger carrier tomorrow and see how he copes with the space. Kathy ...
Lovely photo of the most recent group of 11 pigeons in their release pen, including Simone, Valerie and Ronald from Starlight Trust, Peewee from Tesco Hailsham, Chalk and Cheese, Snow from Brownbread Horse Rescue, Blizzard, and 3 other friends including one who we had almost given up on him flying again, after having a severe wing injury with joint fluid leaking around it causing a lot of swelling and restricted movement. We kept fighting for him and trying, and this was his chance to prove he could do it with more space and motivation. When he went to the pen he could still only flap to knee height, and now he is flying round the same as the others :-) ...
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These two stunning pigeons have come into care tonight. The first was found by Sussex police near the grand hotel Eastbourne, who took it to our charity shop for us to collect. When they handed it over they mentioned there may be a second but couldn't find it.
Andrew and Charlotte collected the pigeon from the shop and brought it to the centre. Katie and Chris begun to remove all of the cooking fat off the poor pigeon.
Andrew and Charlotte were quite worried there was another pigeon out there but had limited details on where to look. They then had a thought, he pigeon as in a box from near where it was found and luckily it had the address. Andrew and Charlotte rushed back down and searched everywhere and found a second pigeon in excalty the same state.
Charlotte and katie cleaned this one and he was joined by his sibling. Well done to Andrew and Charlotte for their quick thinking and determination to go back and keep searching! ...
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