Thursdays at college usually progress in the same way for me each week. I have a class in the morning and another in the afternoon. After classes I attend video game club and anime club. After that I usually go back to my house and spend the rest of my night watching gamers on Youtube and conspiracy theory videos (I’m not paranoid about the government I swear). Usually that’s how my Thursdays go. This Thursday was different.
My Thursday morning occurred as it usually does as well as the clubs I attended. After watching Yurikuma Arashi (translated as Lesbian Bear Storm) (10/10 would definitely recommend) my friends and I were walking through campus when we noticed something in the bushes near the dining hall. As we got closer we saw that it was a pigeon. It was pure white and hopping around pecking at the ground. Now let me just say that I’ve seen my abundance of wildlife on campus: squirrels, rabbits, sometimes ducks, and even a skunk that I almost ran into on one of my midnight walks back to my house (luckily it was more scared of me than I was of it and immediately ran off, sparing me it’s stinky spray). A pigeon though was a first.
The pigeon didn’t seem too fearful of people as we were only a few feet away from her (I use the female pronoun not because I know she was female but because I just got that vibe from her). I crouched down on the ground and tried cooing to her to see if she would come towards me. Although she wasn’t frightened by our presence she didn’t seem too keen on coming any closer. While I was doing this I immediately noticed a blue, plastic band around her left leg. Seeing that made me realize that this was definitely not a wild bird. Some of my friends said that it may be a bird that was tagged and released for study. I wasn’t as sure as my initial reaction was that this was somebody’s pet.
The pigeon started walking away from us and proceeded to hop up the steps towards the dining hall. I saw this as proof that she couldn’t fly and probably had her wings clipped as most pet birds do. At this point I was most worried about her safety. Pet birds that escape from captivity aren’t acquainted with surviving outside. Often these pet birds are hatched and raised fully in captivity and don’t have the slightest idea on how to survive in the wild. I knew that we had to do something to help this lost pigeon. If it had been my pet that was lost I would have been eternally grateful to whoever helped it and so I felt that I had to do the same.
Two of my friends set off to Campus Safety (on-campus police) to enquire about what to do in this situation while a friend and I stayed to keep an eye on the pigeon. While my friends were gone the pigeon had proceeded to enter the outside terrace attached to the dining hall. This area only had one entrance and exit and so she essentially had been cornered off, which was good in that she couldn’t potentially escape and get away from us. My friend and I received confused looks from passing students who could only see us standing and staring into an empty porch area next to a closed dining hall. Despite this we continued to stay guard hoping that we would know what to do.
At some point the pigeon grew tired of the area she was in and started to walk back towards the entrance of the terrace. My friend and I backed away slightly so that we wouldn’t frighten her and luckily she passed through the fence and was now right near us. As she passed through the fence she moved into a spot that positioned her in the corner of the building. I knew that this was going to be my only chance to catch her so that we could help her. I quickly moved forward and cooed gently to her so she wouldn’t immediately panic. Once I got within a foot of her she started to flap her wings wildly but of course wasn’t able to fly away. I thought to myself that I couldn’t panic and had to grab her or else we wouldn’t be able to help her and so I quickly and fluidly grabbed her in my arms trying to hold her as gently as possible without hurting her but not to gently that she’d get away. I paused to breathe and realized that I was now holding a pigeon and that I had no idea what to do.
I slowly descended the steps with my friend right behind me and began to head towards where my friends had gone to get help. I held the pigeon close to my chest and whispered gently to her while stroking her chest with my thumb. I wanted to calm her down as quickly as I could and make sure that she was safe. Before we got too far my one friend that had gone for help appeared and started heading towards us. He hadn’t been looking at us initially but immediately reacted when he saw me holding the pigeon (his reaction was a mix between confusion and astonishment).
After inquiring about how I had managed to get the pigeon my friend called a number he had been given my Campus Safety for the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center. Luckily they had a volunteer that only lived about fifteen minutes away and that she would be able to come immediately. After hanging up my friend told me that she had said to get a box with a soft bottom and put the pigeon in it. This would help her calm down and would also make sure that she couldn’t get away. My one friend ran to her room to get the box while my other friend and I stood and waited. I continued to brush the pigeon’s chest and coo to her softly. Every now and then she would flap her wings and I would just hold her and whisper gently until she calmed down again.
Soon my friend returned and after a bit of a struggle we were able to get the pigeon into the box. The woman that was heading over told us to meet her by the chapel and so we heading across campus to wait for her. I gripped the box tightly and whispered gently to it every now and then hoping that the pigeon was okay. Once we got to the chapel we sat for about ten minutes when the woman soon pulled up. She took the box from me (which was hard for me as I had started to grow attached to the precious little pigeon) and placed it in her car seat. She opened the box slowly to check on the pigeon and place her in a more suitable enclosure.
She introduced herself to us and thanked us for getting the pigeon in a box and bringing it to her. She told us that her initial examination showed that the pigeon had only been loose for a few days as the body wasn’t emaciated and still had quite a bit of muscle on the chest. Overall the pigeon was quite healthy. The blue tag on its leg indicated that it was a commercially bred pigeon, the kind that gets released at weddings or celebratory events. She told us that often what happens with these companies is that they say they will catch and gather all of the pigeons released at these events but what often happens is that some get away and the company doesn’t bother trying to track them down. This results in many commercially bred pigeons getting lost in the wild and eventually dying. I felt furious at the fact that this occurred but so thankful that we had been able to rescue this one.
The woman told us that generally the rehabilitation center only exclusively takes in wild animals but that this occurs so often with commercially bred pigeons that they have adjusted to caring for them. Often they are able to take in these lost birds, rehabilitate them, and find good homes for them with pigeon enthusiasts. She told us that the two types of pigeons they receive most often are ones with blue tags (commercially bred for celebratory events) and ones with both a blue tag and a metal tag (bred for pigeon racing). This is the part that upset me the most. The woman proceeded to describe what occurs with pigeon racing. These birds are hatched and raised in a location and when they are old enough they are taken miles away from where they were raised and are released. The pigeons that win the race are the ones that are able to find their way back home. The ones that lose are either killed by predators, extreme weather, power lines, or simply get lost and don’t make it back home.
Often when these pigeons survive they migrate towards areas with an abundance of humans as the area mimics the place they were hatched and raised (this explains why this pigeon was on a college campus). It was really good that we were able to rescue this pigeon and the woman said that she would bring her home and try and get some food and liquids in her. After that they the center would work on rehabilitating her and finding her a good and loving home. I asked about to whom they normally rehome these pigeons (a big part of me feeling connected to this lost baby and wanting to care for her) but she told me that they usually go to people who are experts at caring for pigeons and have coops filled with them. She said that the best thing for a pigeon is another pigeon and although I felt a bit of heartache I knew that it would be the best for her.
The last information she gave us was that if we ever find another lost pigeon or injured wild animal to immediately get in contact with her. She also told us that if we ever heard or saw a bird crash into a window (something she said occurs often on campuses) to immediately get a box and put it over it. Often people may wait to see if the bird gets back up and flies away to make sure it’s okay, but this is often an incorrect response. What happens when a bird flies into a window is that it most likely gets extreme head trauma which released an abundance of adrenaline to help get the bird back up. Sadly though the bird is most likely blind at this point and has severe brain swelling. These rehabilitation centers have the resources to keep the swelling down and help rehabilitate the birds. I found this really interesting and intriguing since I’ve always thought that the birds are fine if they get back up. From now on I’ll be keeping an eye out for these birds and making sure they get the help they need.
We thanked her several times over as we were saying our goodbyes. She told us good luck and that the semester would probably be over soon for us. We agreed and told her that we had finals that were coming up and ended the night with her take on finals.
“There’s an advantage to being old and decrepit like me. No more tests! No more finals!”
We all laughed as we gave our final goodbyes and walked off back towards the dorms. As we walked back I couldn’t stop thinking about the precious little baby that we had rescued. Usually my Thursday nights go the same way as they always do, but this Thursday I was glad that things took a different turn.
For more information on the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center visit www.poconowildlife.org or call 570-402-0223.
