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.

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.

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

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