** URGENT ** Need help in the LA area. 200+ pigeons need placing

[flitsnowzoom]

Those poor poor birds. Their owner must have not been able to care for them properly for a long time. I feel badly for this family and I'm very relieved that they asked for help.
Firstimer, more than ever, my hat's off to you.

[firstimer]

Terry
Can I please call the woman tomorrow or even tonight and ask if I can come over to clean the coop and feed/water them the following day and maybe then if I take more of those pet boxes I can get more information? Or even just to clean up?
I feel so horrible for them there must be something I can do for them while waiting for other things to come into place? The woman was so thankful that maybe she wouldn’t mind me doing that?
Firstimer

[mr squeaks]

I certainly HOPE the lady won't mind, Firstimer! I can definitely understand how you feel and that is incredibly nice of you to help out.

Wish I were there to join you...I would do the same thing!

Such a sad situation that was allowed to get out-of-hand!

Hoping for a resolution soon...

Am also sending my support via Terry...

Love and Hugs
Shi

[TAWhatley]

Hi Firstimer and all,

I am very, very sure the family would be extremely grateful for your help again, Firstimer. Please feel free to call and ask.

I think what we need to be doing is getting the critical/extreme cases out of there ASAP. Margaret has offered to take 10 birds, and I will commit to taking 10 of the extreme cases. If there are not 20 extreme/critical cases, then let's still get 20 birds out of there next week, if possible. I cannot commit to coming up to help but perhaps can assist in getting some help and also in getting some help in transport.

Just so folks know, I am 60-65 miles away from this site, and Margaret is probably about 130-140 miles away. We're both more than willing to help, but we have to have people who are closer being the real "hands on" with this.

A real problem with all of this is that it appears there is at least one bird in the loft with pox, and I am concerned about some of the scissor beaks as to whether they have active canker or not. For the life of me, I cannot imagine how that one bird with the extremely long scissored beak has managed to survive .. just incredible.

Anyway, if there is pox and/or canker in this loft, we CANNOT be shipping diseased birds all over the country nor expecting the average fancier to be willing to take in such birds. Also, many of the birds appear to be getting up in years and the band info would confirm this. There aren't going to be many, if any, fanciers really interested in any of these birds. Thus, there are probably at least 80-100 birds that are going to have a real tough time in finding a home.

I think we should proceed by getting 20 birds out next week with Margaret taking 10 of those and me taking the other 10. The logistics of getting them to me and to Margaret will have to be worked out. Unfortunately for you, Firstimer, you are the most likely one to make the call on which 20 to get out first and then get them out. I can meet you sort of half way to take them from you and can work with Margaret to get hers to her.

IF, and only if, I can get some help for Firstimer, then we need to get a list of ALL the band numbers and a brief note of the condition of the bird. With this info, I will locate all the clubs from the band info and see if I can get any help from the clubs. Frankly, I am not counting on much help.

So, if we can get the first 20 out next week and get a list of band #'s, I think that is all we can do for next week.

After Labor Day, we can have another go and perhaps get another 20-50 out as I am hoping to have places for that many by then even with the possibility of pox and canker. If nobody is willing to take the chance, then we have a very significant problem, and I don't have the answer at the moment.

That's it for me for now .. I'm still working on this whole thing, but I would nix on the shipping right now .. not safe for the birds or the recipients if these Santa Monica birds are diseased.

Terry

[Margarret]

Terry ,

If you can get the birds to your place, I can come up to OC and pick up my ten.


Margaret

[firstimer]

I can take them to you Terry

[flitsnowzoom]

These birds have incredible tenacity and wills to live with some pretty significant handicaps. Talk about tough birds -- these are great examples.

[TAWhatley]

for right now. I just got off the phone with Ellen (Relofts), and we need to give this a few more days to see what help we can get locally for the birds. Ellen pointed out that by removing the 20 now that we may be stressing them more which is not good or perhaps separating mated pairs.

Firstimer, let's have you just offer to go and help again and if that's accepted, then that's good. If you can get a few more band #'s, that would be helpful, but you don't need to be catching each bird and doing that just yet. Let's see what Ellen's involvement yields before we take any major action.

Terry

[firstimer]

10-4
(I understand)
I will call early in the moring and if they say yes I will return to clean and get some band #'s

[AZWhitefeather]

Originally Posted by TAWhatley

Donations can be sent to:

Village Pond Rescue & Rehabilitation
P.O. Box 729
Lake Forest CA 92609-0729

Please mark them for Operation Santa Monica.

Terry

Terry,
Do you want the donation check made out to you with a notation of Operation Santa Monica?

Our check will be in the mail tomorrow.

Cindy & Chuck

[relofts]

Terry,

Please send me the information on the Current Owner of the birds at this time please, please send it via email relofts@sbcglobal.net . I am working on this and we will figure out something.

Ellen

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by AZWhitefeather

Terry,
Do you want the donation check made out to you with a notation of Operation Santa Monica?

Our check will be in the mail tomorrow.

Cindy & Chuck

Thanks, Cindy! Yes, just note that it is for Operation Santa Monica.

Terry

[TAWhatley]

Thanks to Ellen's (Relofts) involvement, we now have a local pigeon fancier who will be coordinating with and assisting Firstimer with the Santa Monica pigeons. He will be trying to go to the site today to assess the birds and start treatment(s). From the pictures, he felt it was likely that a number of the birds have pox, and this will have to be addressed before we can start adopting out any of these birds. He is also going to try and improve upon the long, scissored beaks on a couple of the birds by trimming them.

At least at this point, Firstimer has some help .. whew!

Terry

[Lady Tarheel]

This is great news Terry. Thanks to everyone involved in this sad situation.

[firstimer]

I'm leaving home right now to meet with him at the location site.
I'm so excited, I feel like I can go back and tell the birds 'I brought help!!"
I'm so happy. St. Jude has answered my prayers.