Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org




Willy Wonky (born to be 'squab')

From Palomacy: It's Pigeon Diplomacy

They fell in love with the young King pigeon who had been bred for meat (squab) and eventually inhumanely “released” to fend for himself.

rescued Willy Wonky

In April, a nice family stopped traffic to rescue a big, white pigeon standing in the middle of their busy street. They fell in love with the young King pigeon who had been bred for meat (squab) & inhumanely “released”. They named him Willy. All was well for a couple of weeks but then something went wrong, Willy started showing neurological problems. His neck twisted, a symptom called “star gazing” or torticollis, he lost motor control & lost the ability to feed himself.

Willy’s people took care of him as best they could & then on 5/17 brought him to Peninsula Humane Society in the hope he could get medical care. Their Exotics Department, managed by Mariela Navarrete, is amazing & we work together to help as many pigeons as possible.

Palomacy was full but Mariela’s team provided supportive care including gavage feeding for a week. Willy kept losing weight. His torticollis had mostly resolved but he was getting worse rather than better. When Mariela sent this photo of him in an incubator on 5/23, I could see he was losing his fight. I went to pick him up in the hope that home care might save him.

Pigeon Willy Wonky

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.


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