I never really gave much thought about pigeons before I first brought one home. Sure, I would see the ferals out and about, doing what they do, and my neighbor had his own racing team, but I never really had any interest in them. That all changed one day when I was helping at a yard sale near my Grandmother's house about eight years ago. I heard my mother mention something about an injured pigeon in the alley. This sparked my interest because I am interested in veterinary medicine and I wanted to help. So, I just *had* to go on a little break, if you know what I mean......

As I walked down the street and finally got to the alley, there he was, pecking at some dirt or whatever he was eating. So I just started walking towards him and he looked up at me. Ok, this is the part where he would normally fly away, but he didn't. He certainly was injured and couldn't fly. Other than that, he seemed pretty healthy. I was soon on a wild goose chase, or should I say, wild *pigeon* chase. Man, what a handful he was!

I finally was able to corner him into a fence, and I scooped him up! Of course he put up quite a fight, but I held on. I walked back to the yard sale with him, and my mom wasn't surprised that I had captured him. We found a box to temporarliy put him in. I was instructed to keep him until his wing got better, and then I was to release him. You see, being raised in a society that regards pigeons as 'disease bags' and 'rats with wings' sorta does rub off on you and you believe that junk. My mother REALLY believed it so that was why I could only keep him for a little while...

Fastforward to present time and I still have that flightless bird, HAHA! I have learned so much about pigeons since I first rescued  him and one of those things is that pigeons make great pets! Another thing is that pigeons carry no more transmittable diseases to humans than any other bird, dog, cat, or animal! You just have to make sure to follow hiegene rules (washing hands, etc.) as with any other animal. PIGEONS ROCK!