What Is Pigeon & Dove Diplomacy?

Most weekends (and some weekdays too), Palomacy can be found attending one or more outreach events, raising awareness about and inspiring adoptions for rescued pigeons and doves. Volunteers bring rescued birds to introduce them to many hundreds of people at pet adoption fairs, community events, animal rights and humane education gatherings, street festivals and more all throughout the greater Bay Area including Sacramento, Davis, Novato, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward, Sunnyvale, San Jose and lots of places in-between.

How Does It Work?

As outreach coordinator, I schedule Palomacy as a participant in as many great events as possible, add them to our Events page, and then begin recruiting volunteers to sign up to help. Our smallest events need at least two human and several avian volunteers and the big ones, like the upcoming Earth Day at the Oakland Zoo, require upwards of six or seven human helpers and even more birds (so that they can take breaks throughout the day). Each event includes a lead volunteer (often me) who brings the equipment needed (table, chairs, shade canopy, signage, flyers, etc.) and the ambassador volunteers come dressed comfortably for the setting (often in a Palomacy shirt) and equipped with their sun screen, water bottles and, if they have them, birds! We love showing off both fostered and adopted birds and encourage everyone to participate. We train you (and your birds) right there. It’s fun and easy and you’ll learn so much about these amazing birds, while helping them at the same time! (Bonus- it is an awesome bonding experience for you and your bird.) We even have loaner pigeon pants if needed and we’re happy to provide lessons on how to put on your bird’s pants. For our volunteers who don’t have their own birds, we bring additional birds so that everybody gets the joy of working one-on-one with an amazing avian ambassador.

Why Do We Do It?

We do it because it saves lives! While people are slowly catching on to the rescue needs of dogs and cats, most have no idea that unreleasable birds need homes too! And, even if they are alerted to birds in shelters, they assume they must be parrots. The general public doesn’t know about the plight of domestic pigeons and doves- bred, used, lost and injured- and facing death if they aren’t rescued and adopted. Neither do they know what amazing companions these rescued birds are. With the shelters struggling to keep up with the puppies and kittens, the pigeons and doves, when served at all, get nowhere near the placement services… We started this rescue 11 years ago precisely to address this huge and deadly gap in the animal welfare web.

We Need Your Help!

We’ve got lots of outreach events coming up (four this weekend!) and we need volunteers! See event details and please RSVP here. It is fun, educational and an awesome way to totally bird nerd out!

You can always find our upcoming events on our website!

Read one of our outreach-to-adoption stories!