# Retrieving Lost Birds: Some considerations



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Treesa asked me to write up a little something about getting lost birds back home. I actually found the time just now. What I came up with is below. Thought I'd post it here for some of you other people to read and if there's anything that needs to be added, let me know and when WE'RE through with it, then Treesa can put it where she wants it. 
Someone might want to check my spelling too. I don't have spell check on here. 

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One of your birds that didn't make it home from the race has been found? What should you do?
Below are a few questions to ask yourself.

1. How far from home is the bird? _(If it's only a few miles from you, the best thing to do is just go get the bird. This way, the finder of the bird knows that pigeon fanciers DO care about their birds. If the bird got THAT close to home, but couldn't make it all the way, there's a good chance it won't ever make it home)_
3. How long was it missing before someone found it? _(This alone will almost tell you what shape the bird is in.)_
4. Did the finder have to "catch" the bird, or did they just pick it up? _(If they had a hard time catching the bird, its possible that after a couple of days the bird can be released. If they actually picked the bird up without any problems, the chances of this bird making it home are slim. ESPECIALLY if it's a LONG ways from home)_
4. Does the finder of your bird know anything about pigeons? _(Finders who know nothing about pigeons will assume (if they just picked it up) that because it's banded, it's a "pet", not realizing that if it could, the bird would have flown away and not been caught so easily.)_

Along with the above questions, you have to take in consideration how long the race was, how far the bird flew to get where it has been found and how far it has to fly to get home. 
Not everyone can afford to have a bird shipped back home and with the price of gas, you may not be able to afford to drive to get the bird.
However, you should never tell someone to "just let the bird go" just because you can't afford to go get it.
You could always offer to let the people keep the bird. MANY people who find our birds don't know anything about them, but, after a few days, they absolutely fall in love with them. I've seen it happen time and time again. If that's what you decide to do, you need to educate the finders about the pigeon. Make sure they aren't going to stick it in a cage for the rest of it's life AND make sure that they know, if they let it loose, it will TRY to come home and may be lost forever.
If the finder keeping the bird is not an option, the next best thing to do is try to find a fancier in the area where the bird is and ask them to go get it for you. They may be able to give it to a new member in their club or keep it themselves OR maybe work something out with you on getting it back home.
Now, having said all of this, we all should know our birds pretty well and you know when a bird has gotten lost, whether it might be able to make it home or not. 
The bottom line is, that bird was sent to a race (or training toss) by YOU. Whether the bird is not physically capable of flying the race you asked it fly, or it's just not the smartest bird in your loft doesn't matter. What matters is YOU are the one who put it out there and it's YOUR responsibility to see that the bird is taken care of.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Amen!.....


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Charis said:


> Amen!.....


Should I add that????????


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Great post, very thorough and helpful!


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

Lovebirds said:


> Treesa asked me to write up a little something about getting lost birds back home. I actually found the time just now. What I came up with is below. Thought I'd post it here for some of you other people to read and if there's anything that needs to be added, let me know and when WE'RE through with it, then Treesa can put it where she wants it.
> Someone might want to check my spelling too. I don't have spell check on here.
> 
> ..................................................
> ...


 Over the last couple of years, I have made a number of trips to recover other fanciers lost birds. I am ashamed to say that in all these cases I often had a problem even getting the owner to return calls to me, when I had taken the time to travel and do the PR work. When a good citizen takes the time and energy to make the calls and send the emails, the least we can do is show a little appreciation. Several times, the owner's offended the good citizens by their lack of care or concern. In these cases, I told little white lies, that the owner is being fined by the pigeon "Union" and the bird is being taken care of by a pigeon type SPCA. Regardless of the final disposition of the bird, I always have a happy ending to tell the good citizen. In one such case, the bird was so badly injured, that he later died in my care. I later reported to the good citizen that the bird was recovering nicely, and that he would have a "tough" life ahead of him, as a breeder....enjoying the company of lovely hens, and spending the rest of his long days is a beautiful loft, with plenty of sunshine, daily baths, and his favorite seeds...as he was now a professional "Daddy" pigeon. The good citizens were left with warm feelings, and happy thoughts, knowing that they helped save an injured pigeon. They were left smiling and feeling good about themselves....while I cursed the owner behind the scenes. I also try to be honest, but in these cases, especially when kids were involved in helping to save the pigeon, I felt nothing would be gained from the truth that the owner was a real jerk , and could not have cared less !!  

So, don't be one of these jerks ! And when the opportunity arises, invest a little time and effort, to do the right thing ! Please.....


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## Happy (Dec 19, 2004)

Very good write up Lovebirds, & Warren..... We as Racers have a responsiblilty to pick up our lost/hurt Racers... No matter where they are if the finder can't find a Racing Flyer in there area that can take care etc. as Warren said above... I have driven over 300 to pick up one of my birds. The only thing I can add is telling our fellow Racers of this at a meetings at least once a yr. to be responsible,so they Maybe will understand, or at least not be ignorant.
Happy


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Thanks Renee, I appreciate your time spent on this. Thank you Warren for your added comments too.

I have stickied, edited,duplicated and closed the (original) thread for informational purposes, any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Excellent food for thought. We are the public face of the pigeon fancy and need to be aware of the impact of our actions!


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thank you so much, Renee, for writing this up, and thanks to you, Warren, for your comments and being willing to make it "right" with the finders. It's a real shame when some of us have to lie our fannies off to protect the feelings of a finder when the owner just doesn't give a hoot.

I could tell story after story after story about bad owners, but we all know they exist and are out there. I thank each and every one of you who is a racing pigeon fancier or a show bird fancier when you step up to the plate and bat a home run by doing the right thing.

I have personally asked Warren to pick up a bird, and he did. I've personally asked Happy to take in a bird and he did. And poor George .. not only have I asked him to pick up and look after birds for me, but George's birds seem to have a knack for wanting to get a higher education .. they show up at schools!  

That's how I "met" and got to know George .. one of his birds showed up at a school in Fullerton, and I got called about it. I called George, and this was one of the best calls of my life .. what a good person, fine and responsible pigeon owner, and just generally a great guy! Another bird came along (not George's but also at a school down in his area) and George went and got it for me. Like I said .. George's birds and those that are wanting to get an education!  

I'm proud to say that I'm the one that asked George to join Pigeon-Talk, and he did!  

Terry


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Thank you Terry for sharing that.

I'm glad that the members of this forum are a reflecion the "good" pigeon people who are out there, you members do the sport of homing/racing proud and I'm glad to have you as members!!! It's one of the reason this forum is such a class act. Thank you all again.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

And, I should have mentioned the countless, thankless hours that Renee has put into 911 Pigeon Alert. We would not have survived without her incredible efforts. Others of us who are members here also work in/on 911 Pigeon Alert, but I don't think there has been anyone who has done more than Renee. I am very grateful to her and to all the other 911 Pigeon Alert moderators.

Terry


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## lawman (Jul 19, 2005)

If your all done patting yourselves on the back, heres my coments from an earlier post, I believe they still apply.............

OK GUYS AND GALS.

I've had my own run ends with so called re-habers (and members from the 911 piegeon alert) here in California........ The experience was not pleasurable....... fact is so far as I am concerned they straight up stole the bird in question.

The incident occurred a couple of years back and at the time my brother and I were flying a combined team from his residence. We got a phone call two days after the race from a Vet. Saying he had treated one of our birds. This occurred at approx. 9am, the bird had been struck by a Hawk and was expected to survive, and per the vet the bird would probably not race again but should have made a complete recovery (more on this in a moment). One of his employees knew and dealt with a local re-haber and they allowed this re-haber to take the bird back to their location. I had called them and found this out at approx. 3pm and immediately began attempting to contact the re-haber. 

Two days went by and no return phone calls, I recontacted the Vet. He apologized and contacted them on my behalf. After two more days went by with no return phone call, I again contacted the Vet. He was again very apologetic, this time he stated the so called re-haber was refusing to even return his calls. I was given the re-habers name and phone number. 

It took me introducing myself as a police officer (which I am by the way) before she would answer the phone, even then she stated the bird had died and even if it had not, I would never see the bird again. She then began trying to read me the riot act because I dared be involved in the sport. 

So if you will all pardon my mistrust, she did not do any re-habers any favors. Over the years the Vet. had sent many injured racing pigeons to this particular so called re-haber, to the best of my knowledge no owner ever received them back. Before it was all done the Vet. fired his assistant and the re-haber is now out of business.

The race in question was a 200 mi race. 

I still have yet to see my bird back!

Now I know not all re-habers conduct them selves in this fashion any more than all fanciers send sick birds to races, Ect. Ect. As I stated sometimes the poop just hits the fan. But it sure leaves a bad taste in your mouth having to deal with those who are not on the up and up……. 

Lawman


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I'm so sorry you have had such a negative experience with a rehabber, and that you never got your bird back.

I can assure you that doesn't happen here or with 911 pigeon alert. They do the extreme to locate the owners, and only after all resources are exhausted they find a home for the bird once it is been rehabbed. 

I have a lost bird now that I'm looking to find the owner. The phone is disconnected and I have had no response to the e-mail address left. 911 pigeon alert is doing everything they can to find another phone number thru the AU and other clubs close by. If I were to get your bird, I guarantee you it will be returned to you.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

lawman said:


> I've had my own run ends with so called re-habers (and members from the 911 piegeon alert) here in California........ The experience was not pleasurable....... fact is so far as I am concerned they straight up stole the bird in question.


I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with the rehabber, Lawman. Unfortunately, rehabbers have had their fair share of bad experiences with pigeon fanciers .. so it goes both ways. I, personally, make every effort to locate the owners of pigeons that are brought to me or those that I am working on 911 Pigeon Alert.

Since there are only a couple of us in California (three to be exact) that are 911 Pigeon Alert moderators, I would be interested to go back and read the case(s) in question to see if we need to be changing how we work our cases. If you could PM me a band # to use or a date range when there was a problem with 911 PA, I'd be happy to look into it.

Terry


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

lawman said:


> *If your all done patting yourselves on the back*, heres my coments from an earlier post, I believe they still apply.............


I remember reading your comments before. Sorry you had a bad experience, but the above statement is really uncalled for, IMO. 
I would venture to say that for every "fancier" who's had a "run-in" with a rehabber, there's TWO rehabbers that's had a run in with a "fancier"...... and you know exactly what I mean.
If I recall, we've had this discussion, so I won't even go there now.......and as far as I'm concerned, every rehabber here has every right to give themselves a PAT on the back anytime they want to. There's no reason they should ever "be done patting themselves on the back".......


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## lawman (Jul 19, 2005)

I'm sorry but you took my coments out of context Lovebirds!

I do believe most bird rehabers conduct themselves very well, just thought you all needed to see the other side again.

Lawman


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

lawman said:


> If your all done patting yourselves on the back, heres my coments from an earlier post, I believe they still apply.............
> 
> 
> .....Now I know not all re-habers conduct them selves in this fashion any more than all fanciers send sick birds to races, Ect. Ect. As I stated sometimes the poop just hits the fan. But it sure leaves a bad taste in your mouth having to deal with those who are not on the up and up…….
> ...


 I am not sure that this one experience is reason enough to feel compelled to "tell the other side" and in effect, slap the face of members on this site who work tirelessly to rehab sick and injured pigeons or the 911 folks who give of their time to track down the owners of racing pigeons. 

Instead we should "Pat them on the back" at every opportunity we can. Just like we should thank those men and women who preform the public service of protecting us from fire and criminals. One could point out for example that there are "bad cops" and there have been a number of them on our TV screens at night. Does not change the fact that the vast, vast majority are heros everyday ! When people were running for their lives on 9/11 it was the police and fireman who went into harms way to protect people.

The vast majority of good people realise what great hero's these people were...and are...everywhere around the country. And while we "Pat them on the back" I am sure there is always that one killjoy, who will want to point out that some cops, under stress, beat a man called Rodney King. In order to point out "the other side". I am sure if this wiseguy showed up at the policeman's ball to point it out to all the police officer's in the room, that it would not be applauded or appreciated, no matter if the facts were true.

Your statements of your experience, although it may be true, does not seem 
relevant to the discussion of this thread, regarding getting lost birds home. What you did succeed at, was smacking members here. Time for a revisit to "sensitivity" classes maybe ?  Let's move on to the positive things this thread was intended for.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

lawman said:


> I've had my own run ends with so called re-habers (and members from the 911 piegeon alert) here in California........ The experience was not pleasurable....... fact is so far as I am concerned they straight up stole the bird in question.


Lawman,

I'm confused. The above statement sounds as if you have had multiple bad experiences with both 911 and rehabbers. But the situation you describe is a single event with a vet's office which has nothing to do with 911 and a single rehabber who was clearly out of line and did in fact steal your bird.

I have, at this time, a number of banded racers which I have kept because the owners didn't bother to respond or didn't want the birds back. On the other hand, I have returned birds to several people who were very concerned about their birds and thanked me for contacting them and returning their birds. When I get a banded bird I make every effort to track down the owner so the bird can be returned.

So it goes both ways. I'd like to encourage you to not let one incident with an unethical person color your view of those out there who are working their butts off to do it right. Obviously you still have a load of anger about that incident. I probably would too. But let me ask you, have you ever had someone out there return one of your lost or injured birds? If you have, I'd like to hear that story too.

Margaret


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Oddly enough, I took no offense at what Lawman said. I have read most of his posts and it just sounded like his style of writing or "talking". I also don't think it hurts to have another point of view.

We occasionally get in banded pigeons but the majority have no identifying information - sometimes only numbers, others nothing. These pigeons seem to be mainly wedding/funeral release white pigeons and I guess the owners consider them a disposable commodity in their business. 

I think ignorance is also a factor. When we first started rehabbing, I had no idea of the significance of bands or that there were clubs or unions, etc. Also, we didn't have a computer until about 3 years ago. I have since learned how to look up information from the bands. 

To me, what it finally boils down to is what is the right thing to do. A banded bird is someone's property and to deliberately keep one is breaking the law. I think every effort should be made to find the owner and ask what they want us to do with the bird. 

I like a pat on the back every now and then because rehabbing is hard work but has many rewards....including, but not limited to.....the occasional "poop on the back".


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Maggie,

YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD CONSIDER A JOB WITH THE DIPLOMATIC CORP!! YOU WOULD BE A *GREAT* AMBASSADOR!!

Very well spoken!!

Love and Hugs

Shi & Squeaks


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## k-will (Dec 15, 2007)

here where i live,90 percent of the birds found are from wedding release/white bird release businesses.very occasionally there will be a bird lost from elsewhere found and usually ends up at a vet.the vets have called me many times.i will report for what its worth i have never had a flyer yet come and get one of these birds.i wont repeat on here what a few have said when i contacted them.i did return one to a owner 1 year at a dixie convention because i knew he would be there.funny thing,this bird was a 3 time winner in his yb series before he was lost.the man was quite glad to get surprised with getting his bird back.i guess i have been a "rehabber" off and on for 30 years,as i would never turn down getting a homer that was lost from anyone.
funny thing is people just dont seem to want a bird thats been lost back.what they dont realize is a bird will learn from mistakes sometimes becoming a great flyer after having been lost.just my .02

i might add that i have lost some great pigeons over the years that sometimes returned later,even 8 months later one time.these birds for the most part were returned to my old bird team healthy and the next year were in the clock many times.especially my long distance pigeons i had over the years.


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## lawman (Jul 19, 2005)

Good bye all, as this will be my last post!!!

Why is it that when ever someone has and opposing view or different opinion, you all start walking in lock step. I have to wonder just how many people have been driven away from this web site because of this? 

Now because none of the so called moderators want to believe that a so called rehaber would stoop to stealing a pigeon or any other bird. I have my style of writting attacked. 

Not one of you even questioned the validity of the statement, (that a rehaber stole a racing pigeon rather than see it returned to the rightful owner) so I have to assume it is the norm, not the exception. You can gaurantee that if it ever occures to me again, I will seek prosecution of the subject or subjects involved. It's a felony here in California (if you didn't already know).

What realy gets me is the people on this site whom I know to be pigeon fliers that walk in lock step with the nagging hens! And yes Warren I count you as among them. I think you try to walk the thin line between the two camps in order to promote our sport and the truely honorable men and women who are pigeon racers. But sooner or later you will find that the ultimate goal of the nagging hens is to shut down our sport for good. Which side are you truely one ............. your own I am sure, but sooner or later you will have to decide. What damage will be done by this site by then?

To Warran and the rest of you pigeon fliers whom are willing to put up with these types of people, I am truely ashamed for you. You give our sport no honor or prestige by putting up their tactics............ 

Good bye......

LAWMAN


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

If that's what you think best for yourself...well, good bye then.
Personally, I don't think you read all the posts honestly.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Lawman,

You are way out of line here .. I also don't think you read the posts correctly here (and perhaps not at all). Frankly, you are looking a bit lame as it's obvious to me that you DIDN'T carefully read the responses you got. Meanwhile, kindly post the chapter and verse about how it is a felony here in California to not return a banded pigeon .. I think you are blowing some serious smoke yourself with that statement. It's a real challenge to get even misdemeanor charges enforced when it comes to any bird or animal, and most charges regarding birds or animals ARE misdemeanors and not felonies. 

If you want to PM me which club and/or combine you belong to, I will be happy to go and research any and all birds banded as such that have come through 911 Pigeon Alert, and I will honestly report here if we screwed up on 911 Pigeon Alert or not. I'll also honestly report here just how many less than responsible owners may have turned up in your club/combine. You're slinging a pretty hefty amount of mud, so let's get to the bottom of it and let the truth be known. You're going to have to provide some facts and not just some pontification here on Pigeon-Talk in order to do that.

You're welcome to stay if you like, but do keep in mind that you have just insulted the moderators, the members, and 911 Pigeon Alert. Best try and put your best foot forward should you decide to stay.

Terry


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