If Aurora could write this post, I imagine it would go something like this:

Thank you for helping me! My name is now Aurora. As a young racing pigeon on one of my first flights, I got injured and grounded. The people who found me were well-intentioned but uniformed and they kept me in an unsafe and uncomfortable enclosure. They never got me any help for my broken, backward leg and, while I healed the best I could on my own, I was miserable. I was in pain, scared and lonely.

But not any more. Now I am safe! On the Fourth of July, even though MickaCoo is full, their volunteer appeared to truly rescue me. She held me carefully with loving hands and spoke gently to reassure me. She took me to her home in a crate lined with an extra soft towel to provide relief to my tortured feet and aching legs. She scritched my head and loved on me and the very next day I was at the vet getting expert care.

While I have a long recovery ahead of me, I already feel so much better! I’m getting proper food, lots of love, vet care for my wounds and pain medicine to help me through. I’ve been x-rayed and the doctors at Medical Center for Birds are conferring about how best to surgically repair my leg. There is hope that I will be able to walk again! I am so happy that they are having a hard time keeping me from celebrating with baths in my small water dish. I am saved! None of this would have been possible if not for your generous support. Thank you!

When “MickaCoo is full”, it means that our foster homes and aviaries are full up, that we have more expenses than funding and more work than people-power to get it done.

And we are full. But on Friday, July Fourth, when I received emailed photos showing two pigeons being kept in completely unsafe and inhumane conditions, we had to save them. I reached out to MickaCoo volunteer Jill and, despite the holiday, she dropped everything to help.

Jill picks up the story:

Arriving to pick up the pigeons, there were dogs, big and small, milling about the front yard, barking and jumping. When I picked the broke-leg racing pigeon now named Aurora up off the wire cage floor, I could immediately see that she was dealing with not only a broken leg healed wrong but a ‘good’ foot/leg that was seriously compromised. Her racing band was cutting into her swollen leg and I was not surprised to see she had bumblefoot, a condition common among birds and rodents housed on wire. It’s very painful.

The wing-injured pigeon housed in the backyard (now named Indy) had been attacked by the neighbor’s dog. Despite the lack of treatment, her injury has healed, though she can’t fly. She was kept in a makeshift cage fashioned out of chain link fence, boards and wire leaned together haphazardly. There were huge gaps and it’s a miracle she wasn’t killed by predators. 

 Aurora seemed to know I was there to help her. As soon as I put her in the padded crate, she went crazy eating pigeon feed! Yay! Good and proper pigeon grub! After getting this little bird home, she quickly settled into a nicely padded cage and welcomed neck scritches gratefully. I can only imagine how good it felt to have some relief and proper care. 

Indy has settled nicely in one of my aviaries and is now defending ‘her territory’ with great fervor. She’ll be married (if she is really a hen) soon I imagine, since we have lots of bachelor pigeons.

The very next day, Jill was at Medical Center for Birds with Aurora. MickaCoo depends on your donations to fund this work and we really need your help to pay for Aurora’s veterinary care and surgery.

Aurora underwent surgery to rebreak and correctively reposition her backwards leg on Wednesday, July 9th. I’ll post that chapter of her story in the coming week.

Please help us to help birds like Aurora when there is no where else for them to turn. Please support our work with your life-saving donation.

TO BE CONTINUED: Aurora’s Triumph