Pigeon with messed up foot

[Maria]

Hi guys,

gotta question for the experts. There's this feral pigeon that keeps coming to my balcony to eat, he's fine and plump and everything but he injured his foot just a couple of days ago. He's always holding it up now and limps when he walks. Looks like it's 2 of his 'toes' and they look really dirty. Does anybody know if i can do anything here?

maria

[TAWhatley]

Hi Maria,

It's hard to say what the problem may be. If you can catch this bird and have a close look at the foot, it would help. There may be string around the toes cutting off the circulation, the toes might be broken, or they might just be bruised/sprained.

Terry

[Maria]

thanks Terry, guess i wasn't very descriptive huh?
From what i can tell, his 2 toes are kinda stuck together with black goo... mud? tar? i have nooooo idea... and when he hobbles around using this foot, it looks like he puts most pressure on the ball of the foot (the back, not the toes). anyway, catching him is out of the question at least for now... he won't let me get close, maybe i'll find a way to trap him, we'll see. i guess the first thing i should do anyway would be to clean the toes... is there any magical mixture i can use... geeze i'm a biological chemist that should be easy!