Anyone fancy a pigeon?

During dinner last night, we heard a strange sound coming from the back of the house, so DeepSpice went to investigate. There was a pigeon on the back deck, huddled in against the corner of our house. The kids thought it was quite interesting, I just thought it was annoying. I hate wild pigeons with a passion. They are disgusting, filthy animals (and I wish people would stop feeding them at the mall where I shop!). 

However, as it didn't try to get away when we went near so we guessed it was tame and on closer inspection we could also see it had an injured leg and wing. Now, I also don't particularly like any animals kept as pets - dogs, cats, birds, whatever. As I write this post, the neighbour's dog is yapping away and driving me crazy. And I still bear a grudge against the various wild birds that have made their way down our chimneys in the past. So the last thing I want to have to deal with is someone's injured pet pigeon. But I am not inhumane, and so began the long night of phone calls to try and find out what to do... 

First I rang the local council's after hours emergency line. They told me to ring Wild Life Australia. Wild Life Australia gave me some numbers for various local pigeon societies: the Melbourne Pigeon Society, the Victorian Pigeon Society and the Dandenong Pigeon Society. I did, of course, also search the Web and came up with a few somewhat helpful pages: the Australian National Pigeon Association and the Victorian Racing Pigeon Union. But they all assumed that I wanted to feed and care for this 'found' pigeon. I didn't - I just wanted someone who actually cared to come and get it.

So I started working my way through the list of phone numbers - first M. who told me to call him back in the morning to get the number for someone else. So next I rang J. who told me to call K. He said it was going to be unlikely that anyone will take the bird, because there is currently a contagious pigeon virus around and so the authorities have banned all pigeons from being released or moved. Great. Luckily though, K was happy to take the bird and said I could drop it over to him the next morning (assuming the bird lived through the night, about which I was doubtful). 

This morning, after checking that the bird was still alive (it was), I packed the car with kids, snacks, nappy bag and the pigeon and started on our 26 km round trip to deliver the bird. When we arrived at K's house, he was waiting out the front. He was a lovely old chap, a great-grandfather and clearly a bird lover, as he showed me and the kids around his many cages (aviaries?) of birds - cockatiels, parrots, canaries, finches and enormous Canadian pigeons that you can pick up for the bargain price of $2000 each! 

The kids got bored and wandered back towards the house, leaving me stuck with K. and having to feign an interest in all the birds. Suddenly, K. disappeared through a doorway and returned with a pigeon that has curly feathers. (I have to admit that was quite interesting as an example of selective breeding.) When I eventually made my way back to the house, I found Thumper sitting on the knee K's wife having a lovely chat and BallFiend persistently asking if he could come into the house. I dunno, kids these days - no manners! K. on the other hand wanted to offer the kids lemonade. However, it was time for us to go, as I had to get BallFiend back for kindergarten (I am so glad that the term break is over!), so we said goodbye and headed home. 

Now all that is left to do is clean up the bird shit from the back deck and clean the back of the car. I am really sick of cleaning up shit. I really hope this is the last time I have to have anything more to do with birds... unless it is roast chicken.   

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