Guest Post by Chava Sonnier

Founder & Director of Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue

Virginia is a gentle soul. She enjoys napping on her favorite basket, or in your cupped palms. She relishes her pigeon seed with all the finesse of a true gourmet. She looks worried when her seed dish is empty, so I refill it for her right away and tell her she will never have to worry about going hungry again. Virginia was barely a year old when she was pulled away from the only home she ever knew and tossed into the wind, to battle against the odds trying to fly across hundreds of miles for the profit of some person who didn’t care if she lived or died, for the ‘sport’ of her ‘owner’ who, when told she was huddled in a neighborhood yard, lost and scared, said “I don’t want it back.”

Virginia is the face of pigeon racing. Dogfighting and cockfighting are illegal – we must take the next step and end pigeon racing, an industry where losing over 60% of the entrants in each race is considered acceptable. Virginia is one of the lucky few. Please meet her soulful gaze and tell your family and friends to spread the word – stop pigeon racing now.

See Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue for more information about Virginia & many other adoptable pigeons in the Midwest & Atlantic regions of the US.