Guest Post by Cynthia Bardouka-Large

We are so lucky here in the Bay Area to have talented, compassionate, pigeon-and-dove informed veterinarians. But specialty care takes training and experience, and it doesn’t come cheap. It’s only the 13th and we’ve already passed our monthly average for medical costs. We can only say “yes” to birds with your help!

We recently took in two gentleman doves, Lionel and Braveheart, who had been kept apart, in too-small cages, with minimal care and no enrichment, for 20 years. The next day we got a nearly identical surrender –  Gogi and Spruce, two elder birds who had been kept apart and isolated in small cages for 15 to 20 years. Their person died and they had nowhere to go.

Senior birds often come in with health issues even in the best circumstances. We also took in senior citizen roller pigeon Rummy, with suspected head trauma, not eating nor digesting food. It’s been a long involved process trying to help Rummy find his way back.

Poor Coral came to us with massive beak trauma, requiring debridement and wound care, pain relief, and lots of hands-on healing and care. To read more about Coral’s recovery, check out our blog post Saving Coral.

Lady Godiva had an astonishing number of holes torn in her by a peregrine falcon.

Beautiful fancy Florence came in with a torn neck.

Emaciated little Francis had a rare blood parasite, preventing her from gaining weight. These are just a few of our recent intakes – we also have vet bills for long time fosters like Cornell, who is tolerating chemo really well and showing a love of life that keeps us fighting for him.

Will you help us help these birds with a donation? With your help we can keep saying yes.