San Francisco, CA. Palomacy Bird Care Coordinator Jill Shepard (seen above) discusses the organization’s root beginnings and why pigeons and doves make great pets for those looking to adopt a new friend.
Elizabeth Young, the founder and director of Palomacy, volunteered at San Francisco Animal Care and Control in the mid-2000s and monitored the small animals that came in like bunnies, guinea pigs, and pigeons.
“She would see these big white pigeons come in and they were put in the back of the kennel so nobody saw them,” Shepard said, “and they were later euthanized because nobody really knew what to do with these pigeons.”
Most of the birds that would be admitted to Animal Control were the domestic King Pigeons. These birds are popular as meat products as it only takes 4-5 weeks to fatten the young pigeons before slaughter. They are called squab on menus.
The ones that are taken away from slaughterhouses generally do not understand how to fend after themselves due to their domesticated and young nature. They will often starve as a result unless taken into shelters.
“There are over 300 breeds of domesticated pigeons that can’t live in the wild,” Shepard said, “it’s like releasing a puppy in the forest, they don’t have that DNA.”
Young wanted to focus her volunteer efforts on rescuing pigeons and doves after her experience at the animal control and adopting her first king pigeons.
“There was this parrot rescue group in the bay area called ‘Mickaboo’ and so she asked for their help,” Shepard said, “and that’s how it got started.”
Young would dedicate her spare time between jobs caring for rescued pigeons and doves in her own department at Mickaboo called Mickacoo.
Shepard first got involved with Young’s work in 2011 when the director decided to split off from Mickaboo and found her own organization called Palomacy.
“Every day is different,” Shepard said in consideration of the regular routine of Palomacy, “it’s all over the place.”
Shepard’s days can be consumed with all sorts of activities including reading through adoption or foster applications, making sure the birds’ needs are met, and transporting sick pigeons to The Medical Center for Birds in Oakley, CA.
Other days may be dedicated to picking up birds for rescue as Shepard mentioned that she had recently picked up a 25-year-old racing pigeon that was surrendered to Palomacy. Pigeons generally only live up to fifteen years in a domestic setting and even less in the wild.
Shepard discussed how pigeons are considered monogamous animals, and after they are about 5-6 months old, they live with a mate for life. Pigeons are “particular” about their mates and Shepard will often spend her day doing “pigeon matchmaking” to find the right pairs to live with each other in and outside of the rescue.
2020 has been an interesting year for several nonprofit organizations and Palomacy has missed out on continuing its educational outreach programs that help bring more positive attention to the birds. Despite this slight setback, Palomacy has been able to stay open strictly following CDC social distancing guidelines.
“We’re actually adopting more out than we ever have, so our numbers are pretty high with adoptions,” Shepard said.
The bird care coordinator credits the increase of adoptions to people staying at home and finding out about Palomacy themselves.
Palomacy still has several birds that are up for adoption and welcome anyone in the bay area that may be interested in caring for pigeons and doves.
The nonprofit has about forty different foster homes for the birds but is accepting applications for more potential foster parents.
The organization runs entirely from its donations and will continue to accept new rescues to find more loving, safe homes for life.
“They’re not disposable animals,” Shepard stated, “they are very emotionally driven, they’re smart, they’re one of the few species that can self-recognize in mirrors, they’re very emotional birds, they love love.”
From Palomacy:
Palomacy (a Community Initiatives project) is a volunteer-powered, donation-funded rescue for domestic (unreleasable) pigeons & doves in the San Francisco Bay Area. Palomacy provides avian vet treatment, foster care & adoption services locally & consultation & referrals all over the country. Started in 2007, Palomacy has directly saved the lives of more than 1,000 birds & assisted countless others.
