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Countdown to
COO-CHELLA!
Have you RSVP'd? Space is limited!
Join us to celebrate 11 years of unique, culture-changing, life-saving pigeon & dove rescue! Great company- volunteers, adopters, experts, newbies & lots of birds!
Meet Super Special Guest Commander Holly & First Officer Feathers
Book-signing & slideshow by The New York Pigeon photographer & author Andrew Garn
Don't miss the best pigeon party ever!
coo-chella.eventbrite.com
Worth Every Penny (& Freddie too!!)
Guest Post by Emma Thomson
It all started when I decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. I had parked in my apartment complex’s underground parking garage and was walking up the stairs to my place. On the way up the stairs I was shocked to find a little white bird. I stood looking at him, expecting him to fly away. This bird was not afraid of me and wouldn’t run away. This was contradictory to every single bird I have met in my life.
At this point, I realized something was suspicious. I went into my apartment and grabbed a towel. I scooped the little guy up in the towel (which was surprisingly easy) and brought him back inside. Now what?? I put the little guy in a cardboard box and he just sat there. After about 30 minutes of frantic googling and naming him Paul, I decided to take him to the San Jose Animal Care Center. Continue
Book Launch: Woot!
Guest Post by Janice Lipsky
I am very pleased to announce the launch of my pet project. It’s been many years in the making, inspired by my muse: a racing pigeon named “Woot.” I was also inspired by our Palomacy community, the like-minded, compassionate people who are true pigeon aficionados. So many of you have helped the birds, either through your individual rescue and adoption efforts, or on a broader scale, cleaning and building aviaries, and doing outreach. Some of you are visual artists and writers, using your talents to bring awareness to the plight of pigeons. In the late summer of 2014, we rescued a lost racing pigeon and built an aviary that would come to house three additional birds. You can read my actual story, Woot! There He Is! to see how it all began.
But now, about the book…
Illustrations by artist Carrie A. Schultz
I think we all can agree that within animal rescue as a whole, there is a low awareness of the “sport” of pigeon racing. Palomacy has done so much to raise awareness and increase rescue efforts. My way of contributing was to use fiction to build awareness and compassion toward racing pigeons. I was struck by the dichotomy between some breeders (perhaps not all), who perceive the birds as objects to be used for personal gain versus the rescue community who identifies the birds as individuals.“Woot!” the book is a middle grade novel but will be enjoyed by adults as well, and can be read to younger children. The story centers around twelve- year old Daniel Wilson, who shares an unusual hobby with his father, Jed. They breed and race homing pigeons. But father and son don’t see eye to eye on the purpose of the birds. Jed views the birds as competitors – he needs to win his bet on which bird will come in first in every race. But Daniel has a special gift. He understands the birds and comes to discover he can even talk to them! In fact, his star racing pigeon – Woot – becomes his secret best friend. As Daniel and Jed prepare Woot for the Southwest Regional Pigeon Race, everything is on the line. Will Woot win and prove to be the champion Daniel knows he is? Or will he lose the race and be cast off, like so many other pigeons who don’t become racing stars? Continue
"Puppy Training" Pigeons Rescued
Cooper & Wicket are "dog birds" rescued by Palomacy in 2017
Warning: This post is about cruelty and while no graphic images are included, it may be upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.
Heartbreakingly, pigeons are used to train hunting dogs. Sometimes they are “planted” out in fields (with severely clipped feathers or tied and staked by a leg or “dizzied” to keep them in place) for the dogs to find, or they are “released” with a remote control device called a “launcher” from which, in theory, they fly back to the hunter’s coop to be reused for another training session. Ultimately though, the “dog birds” are killed. How-to articles describe ways to trap feral pigeons to use or where you can buy pigeons bred for this purpose as well as “surplus” racers and show birds sold cheap for this market. Pigeons are sold through hunters’ forums, used by dog training companies, recommended by the AKC, and though selling animals is against the terms of service on craigslist, many “dog training” pigeons are sold there too… we flag these ads (among others) as prohibited and though they are taken down, they quickly reappear.
A puppy trainer using a live pigeon as a lure & toy for hunting dog
While this use of pigeons is commonplace, it is not something those outside of the hunting dog world usually see but on Friday, August 17th, a puppy trainer’s video that she had posted to Facebook and which had been widely shared (especially by a group called Shame Fame) reached our Palomacy group. The video, seen now over 12,000 times on Facebook alone, showed the trainer laughingly using a live pigeon as a lure and toy to engage a puppy in “getting the bird”. The trainer and puppy are having great fun and the poor pigeon, eerily composed and compliant (probably both shut down in learned helplessness as well as in a de-escalating survival strategy), endures the grabbing and dragging by both human and dog with gut-wrenching dignity. We later learned that the pigeon survives and was returned to a large pen with the other birds kept for this terrifying and painful purpose. Continue
Help!
ADOPT: Palomacy really needs YOUR help to respond to the overwhelming demand for our rescue services. We are overfull with 150 beautiful, adoptable birds in our foster care (all housed in the homes & aviaries of our volunteers & partners, we don't have a sanctuary) & we are running a waiting list for SF Bay Area birds that desperately need rescue. If you've been thinking about adopting or building an aviary, PLEASE do! Our adopters love their birds & we are always happy to answer questions & coach. Palomacy is the only rescue dedicated to helping domestic pigeons & doves in the area & we are vastly outnumbered by the hundreds of breeders, hobbyists & sellers endangering birds & creating the constant flow of birds in need of rescue. We need more adopters to save more birds.
Window-sharing deck aviary built by Shae & Stewart
DONATE: It costs Palomacy, on average, $330* a day to provide all the avian vet care, fostering, advocacy, rescue response, education, coaching, outreach & publicity that we do to help all these over-looked & underserved birds. (*It actually costs way more than that but the rest comes in the form of in-kind donations & volunteer labor.) We depend on donations from individuals & a couple of small grants to pay our bills & we aren't bringing in enough to pay our bills let alone to expand & grow. If everyone reading this who isn't already signed up as a recurring donor (we only have 67!) signed up to make an automatic monthly donation of just $10, our results would soar.
VOLUNTEER: Palomacy needs more people power! We have way more work to do than hands to do it! We need one-day volunteers to help with outreach events & our upcoming COO-CHELLA party (newbies welcome) & we need ongoing volunteers to help with bird & aviary care in San Francisco, Alameda, San Jose & Sunol. We need ongoing support for our website (WordPress), marketing (pigeon diplomacy!), fundraising, content creation & so much more. Please- make a commitment to helping Palomacy help birds. We need YOU!
Palomacy adopter & volunteer Ranjini with Jose
Thank you!
We are so grateful for you!
Find help fast in our Palomacy Facebook Group
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