Tootsie is what’s called in the “dove release”* business a ‘splash’ meaning that she has a splash of color mixed in with what were supposed to be her pure white feathers. She’s a little Homer pigeon youngster and her breeder “set her free” in a park (splash birds are typically culled one way or another). She was rescued from a park where she was trying but failing to keep up with the resident feral pigeon flock. When she was rescued, both her eyes were raw and crusty with infection and she was missing her tail feathers and her foot was crushed, evidence of a narrow escape. (*See Why “Dove Releases” Are Cruel)

Palomacy has rescued lots of these domestic pigeons, “set free” splash dove release business rejects. Even though the parents are pure white and the grandparents pure white and so on, these domesticated pigeons are the same species as the gray feral city pigeons and their DNA sometimes throws color despite all the white-white breeding. But dove releasers don’t want splash pigeons. Their business depends on the fantasy of the all white birds they falsely call “doves”.

They are always young- usually about two to three weeks old, and found sitting alone and helpless in parks they could never get to on their own (not yet walking or flying) or sometimes next to trash dumpsters. Most breeders kill the splash hatches and some give them away but there are those who tell themselves they’re being kind this way. They know the youngsters can’t survive and that they will be immediate magnets for predators so it’s a surprisingly cruel option. Only the luckiest are rescued alive. (See more rescued splashes.)

Tootsie recovered in supportive foster care with the help of Medical Center for Birds’ vets. Her eyes cleared up and then flared up again and we worried that the persistent corneal ulcer in her left eye might cost her vision.

Her eyes slowly improved and her tail feathers grew back in while her crushed foot steadily withered. It was too damaged to recover and we opted to let it self-amputate rather than run the risk & expense of surgical removal. It was a long process and towards the end, Dr. Baden assisted by clipping off her stiff, awkward dead toes giving her a more comfortable interim stage.

 

As the weeks passed, Tootsie’s foot continued to resolve and in September the last of the dead bit fell off and she was fully recovered and in good shape with healthy eyes, a regrown tail and a cute little pink hoof of a foot stump.

 

On September 6th, I had the pleasure of delivering little Tootsie to her new avairy home with adopter Barna and his flock.

Thank you to everyone that helped save Tootsie from our Help Group Mods and Jill who helped coordinate her rescue and fostering and Art who caught her in the park and fostered to Dion who took her in and got her to me for long term fostering and her vet care team at Medical Center for Birds- Drs. Baden and Schoellmann and vet techs Natalie and Nick and adopter Barna and all the behind the scenes team members who update our database, website, and social media and process the medical records and invoices and YOU- our donors and supporters and cheerleaders who made Tootsie’s rescue and so very many others possible. THANK YOU EVERYBIRDY

Want to foster or adopt? Please complete our application here and you can always make a donation to help keep the Palomacy happening here.