My Squabble saga (fledging wood pigeon) just took a new angle. I think I’ve been failing him a bit on the feed front as he isn’t reliably feeding himself yet and I am not feeding him massively often – his keel is quite narrow and under padded so I’m worried I’m under feeding him. On more positive side, he’s no longer attacking me and is taking what I hand feed him (cereal + milk or water, whether the cereal be bread, Shreddies, cous cous, rice, seeds, and today Digestive biscuits). The downside of this positive side is he’s turning into a pet – I just took him into the lounge so I could feed him while talking to my housemate and fellow omnianimal-enthusiast, and he was perching on my hand, arm and shoulder, being fed without being restrained and allowing us both to pet him. His wound has gone from 3mm to healed today but he still can’t fly – we just tried him around the lounge and he’s rather embarrassing – needs more practice! Today is also the first day (since I got him) he perched rather than sat on the floor, so it’s been a big day for him.
Part of me knows it is utterly wrong to allow a wild animal to become a pet, and the other half is thrilled that a wild animal is associating with me. Difficult! I also have a strong sense of responsibility for my pets, to paranoid level; I don’t let my cats out alone – how can I release a tame pigeon?! Eep. What a mess.
Although mum actually said “Don’t worry about the cost of fixing [his wound], we help animals. It’s what we do” I’m not sure that translates to “Hello! I have a pet pigeon!”
Bugger.