Hello everyone, I made this fundraiser to help crowdfund the rescue, vetting and transport of baby pigeons last week — in a situation where there were no other options open to them.

A week ago 3 nestling pigeons were noticed in an abandoned building in Porto while someone was searching for a cat. At least 2 of the babies appeared to be very ill.

The finder got in touch with me to ask what to do. They were not in position to provide assessment, veterinary care, fostering space, transport or cost contribution, and there are no shelters there that care for feral pigeons.

If these babies were to be saved was no other option at all but to hospitalize them all at Porto’s avian clinic, and then arrange courier transport to me when they were assessed and stable enough.

One of them was so ill that she passed at the clinic the next day :(

She was underweight with pox and a respiratory infection.

The 2nd one, Baby Jolie, was very underweight with respiratory infection and trichomonosis. He was stable enough to travel to me the next day, and arrived the next morning. He is very tiny, very energetic, but he is still suffering from a nasty respiratory condition.

Baby Phoebe was pronounced healthy at the clinic — just too young.

It seemed wise then, in this case, to find someone that could keep her till she could fly and then release her, since she didn’t need rehab or sanctuary adoption (Jolie is not a sanctuary case either, but he needs several weeks of medical care and possibly more vetting).

But after I kept thinking about it I felt that it was so terribly unfair and arbitrary to now send one sibling to a short, hard life on the streets, while the other would live a long and comfortable life at the sanctuary. Just because Phoebe wasn’t infected when found.

But by that time I could not find a volunteer to bring Phoebe to the courier drop off point so she could travel with Jolie.

So Phoebe is still in Porto, awaiting release when she reaches fledgling age.

If you can help me reach the goal of this fundraiser I will find someone to bring her to the courier and get her to me too, so we can close the chapter with a guaranteed “happy ever after” for both the survivors!

Transport is a major cost in all my Portugal rescues.