# Any racers around that can explain this to me?



## nabisho (Nov 18, 2004)

I got a call last night from a lady that said she had a pij in her drivway that couldn't walk and wasn't flying away and had a bloody foot? So I met her and picked up the bird and got him home, when I looked at him he had bands on both feet and the bloody foot had a metal band where the leg was bleeding and broken. I cut off the metal tag and underneath it was a plain small white zip tie that had embedded itself in the leg. It was so tight that the flesh was bulged on either side of it and that is where the break was. It looked like somebody put on the zip tie and then put the metal band over it? Is this something racers do - i've never heard of this before? This is torture for the bird as he grows bigger. I think the little fellow is going to be OK, I've got it all cleaned up, neosporin on the bloody places and the break splinted and baytril down him, but I don't see any nerve reaction in the toes so he may lose the leg. I just don't understand why the zip tie was there?

NAB 

Here's the zip tie and band I took off.










He's a very handsome fellow and he's not going back where this was done to him, he's staying here safe and sound with friends.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

That's not something I've ever heard of someone doing. But I'd guess they probably put it on as a squeaker to maybe keep the band on? Otherwise I don't see why they would?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I have heard of them using them, but not why....but I'm betting the bird is VERY greatful to find you and be rid of it.

I sure hope he gets the use of that leg back. Quite a handsome bird you got there.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

THANK YOU, Nab, for the RESCUE...I already KNOW the pij thanks you!!

I'm sure Renee (Lovebirds) may have some comments.

The band has the info of who the owner is.

Hugs and Scritches

Shi


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## nabisho (Nov 18, 2004)

*I'm not going to look up the number*

I'm and old street hoodlum raised in the ghettos of Oakland Ca. and these days when I get mad and lose my temper things get broken and people get hurt so it's probably best I not encounter the owner. Last time it happened I was walking out of a casino in Reno and there was an old lady about 80 in front of me it was about 11:00 at night. So two young guys ran up and one slaped her from one side and the other one grabbed her purse from the other side. Then they both turned to run and ran right into my outstretched arms. By the time casino security got there one of them was on the ground crying for his Momma and I had my foot on the other ones throat. Luckily casino security got there B4 anyone's throat got crushed.

NAB


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## MagicMan08 (Sep 2, 2008)

That poor bird!
It is clearly a racing pigeon, the owner of it belongs to this racing club

Club Name	:	GREENWICH PC
Club Code	:	GPC
City	:	GREENWICH
State	:	CT

you can find more information from the pigeon.org site....if you want to


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

nabisho said:


> I'm and old street hoodlum raised in the ghettos of Oakland Ca. and these days when I get mad and lose my temper things get broken and people get hurt so it's probably best I not encounter the owner. Last time it happened I was walking out of a casino in Reno and there was an old lady about 80 in front of me it was about 11:00 at night. So two young guys ran up and one slaped her from one side and the other one grabbed her purse from the other side. Then they both turned to run and ran right into my outstretched arms. By the time casino security got there one of them was on the ground crying for his Momma and I had my foot on the other ones throat. Luckily casino security got there B4 anyone's throat got crushed.
> 
> NAB



NAB, first of all I have no clue as to why that zip tie was on the birds leg. I doubt seriously that it was done on purpose, at least not by the owner of the bird. I can't even think of a good reason to put the tie on the leg. So, I won't try to make excuses. It's just hard for me to believe that someone would ON PURPOSE, do this to the bird, THEN band it.......just doesn't make sense.
I would guess that whatever the reason for it being there, the owner forgot about putting it on the bird. 
Now, you do what you want to about contacting the owner, but, number one, TRYING to contact them is the right thing to do. I expect if the bird is going to loose the foot they most likely won't want it back anyway, BUT, there's the possibility that the bird belongs to someone like me who would be VERY greatful to hear that the bird is ok and would be happy to get it back. 
Like I said, do what you want.......but IF it was me, I'd make the attempt to contact the owner and see what they have to say.


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2008)

just so you that info is wrong as you listed it for a GPC and not GPS like it says on the band in which I cant find the info anyways since there is no GPS listed under the AU 2008



update: I looked into the 2007 band listing and found the correct info on that birds band 
here it is 
Club Name : GLOBAL PIGEON SUPPLY 
Club Code : GPS 
Club Secretary : 
City : SAVANNAH 
State : GA 
Phone No. : 912-356-1320


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## MagicMan08 (Sep 2, 2008)

lol, sorry.....i left out the contact information anyway so i guess i did that for a subconscious reason, lol


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## bweaz (Aug 1, 2008)

I have heard of people who don't know any better and put the bands on too tight. The ties were probably put on when the bird was young and the previous owner didn't have any leg bands. Then, when the previous owner got the bands, he/she thought, well, why the heck take the tie off, I'll just put the band over the tie. And then the bird got bigger and the band and tie became too tight. Even if this bird didn't have the tie on his/her leg, the band would've been too tight.

This is what happens when people start keeping pigeons and neglect to do any research before hand. It is just irritating to me that someone would take in another living being without putting the hours in to learn to take care of it. Just because your friend tells you, "hey man, yeah, just put a tie on the pigeon's foot, it'll be fine, I do it to my squeakers all the time", DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOUR FRIEND KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!!! I just want to shake people, like the previous owner of this pigeon, and say - hey, look at a couple of pigeon websites, get a book about pigeon care, don't rely on one source, especially your brain dead friend, for your information.

Sorry, kind of got on a roll there. I just feel very strongly about people educating themselves about something that relies on them in order to live. And, I have to admit, while I would try to contact any owner of a pigeon I found that was lost or hurt or had something wrong with it, but in this case, I don't know if I would try. But once again, only because I would be so angry at the situation, so I don't know if anyone should my words about contacting the owner to heart.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

bweaz said:


> I have heard of people who don't know any better and put the bands on too tight. The ties were probably put on when the bird was young and the previous owner didn't have any leg bands. Then, when the previous owner got the bands, he/she thought, well, why the heck take the tie off, I'll just put the band over the tie. And then the bird got bigger and the band and tie became too tight. Even if this bird didn't have the tie on his/her leg, the band would've been too tight.
> 
> This is what happens when people start keeping pigeons and neglect to do any research before hand. It is just irritating to me that someone would take in another living being without putting the hours in to learn to take care of it. Just because your friend tells you, "hey man, yeah, just put a tie on the pigeon's foot, it'll be fine, I do it to my squeakers all the time", DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOUR FRIEND KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!!! I just want to shake people, like the previous owner of this pigeon, and say - hey, look at a couple of pigeon websites, get a book about pigeon care, don't rely on one source, especially your brain dead friend, for your information.
> 
> Sorry, kind of got on a roll there. I just feel very strongly about people educating themselves about something that relies on them in order to live. And, I have to admit, while I would try to contact any owner of a pigeon I found that was lost or hurt or had something wrong with it, but in this case, I don't know if I would try. But once again, only because I would be so angry at the situation, so I don't know if anyone should my words about contacting the owner to heart.


I totally agree with you about learning all you can about anything that you plan to get involved with. ESPECIALLY when it involves live animals.
No one feels more sorry for this bird than I do, but I still do not believe that this was done on purpose and all the speculation in the world doesn't do any good. It would totally defeat the purpose of raising this bird and banding it to intentionally put a zip tie on the leg and KNOWINGLY leave it on there for the purpose of cutting off the circulation, etc................we don't even know how long this bird has been missing from it's loft. Maybe a day, maybe a week maybe a month............if the leg was broken where the zip tie was, then maybe it got too tight BECAUSE of the break, and wasn't too tight before.
When you find a bird that has cut tail feathers or wing feathers, or something of that nature, THAT is done intentionally.........but I just don't believe in this case that the owner had any malicious intentions of harming this bird. 
I, as a racer, get a little perturbed at people who automatically assume that fanciers have ill will towards their birds when they get lost. I will admit that some do, but most do not and just like if you find a dog or cat with a collar and owner info, the RIGHT thing to do is get that animal back home. It's no different with the banded pigeons. It's just so simple to pick up the phone and ask a direct question. "Sir, I have one of your birds. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN GETTING IT BACK?"...If they say yes, then you should let them have the bird. If they so no, you say thank you......I'll give the bird a home and be done with it. It's really not a hard thing to figure out.


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

I agree, bweaz, Lovebirds.
That's why I made that e-book, with advice from all over.

And all of us have lost a bird to inexperience, I would guess. It's a tragedy, bird's aren't as easy as some people think.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Lovebirds said:


> It's just so simple to pick up the phone and ask a direct question. "Sir, I have one of your birds. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN GETTING IT BACK?"...If they say yes, then you should let them have the bird. If they so no, you say thank you......I'll give the bird a home and be done with it. It's really not a hard thing to figure out.


Nab .. Renee is right about this .. it's worth a phone call (or two) .. then it's over and all is right or not .. and it's right in any event cuz you are willing to give the bird a home if things don't work out. 

JMO .. but bless you for helping yet another. I have a newly arrived AU 2008 ARPU bird with a smashed band that chipped off the first digits of the bird # .. not traceable .. and, the band had to be cut off due to a very badly broken leg with severe swelling. Though I contacted the AU, they really couldn't help as all I had of the band was AU 2008 ARPU xxx45 where the xxx is the part of the band that broke off .. 

You do what you think and feel is right, Nab .. I know that will be the right thing for the bird.

Terry


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## bweaz (Aug 1, 2008)

I just wanted to clarify, I understand that the person who put the bird's bands on didn't know any better. He/she didn't realize that the bands would become too tight. I don't think the previous owner did anything meliciously. I think the prev. owner just didn't do any research. And I have to admit that just sort of bugs me - but I will also admit that I love to do research and learn anything and everything about something I am interested in.

And I definitely DO NOT think that most pigeon breeders/racers/owners hurt their birds on purpose. I think 99.9% of pigeon breeders/racers/owners only want the best for their pigeons. They are only doing what they think is best for their pigeons - and that is best that anyone can hope for. And I will say that in the beginning, yes, there are things that I didn't know about birds (parrots and pigeons) that have cost my birds. The only thing that irritates me is that obviously didn't do much research. One of the first things I learned when researching birds (though I did start with parrots) is to becareful about putting the bands on too tight. 

I agree that this person didn't do this out of ill intent, just out of ignorance.


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## nabisho (Nov 18, 2004)

*No response from the owner/ band people*

I sent this to the band issuer - no response yet. 

"I got called by someone with a down pigeon in her driveway. I picked up the bird and it had one of your tags on it (au 2008 <deleted>). The bird had a broken right leg just above the foot and a drooping right wing. I was able to get the open skin healed up and splint the leg and it has healed but he will never walk correctly again and the drooping wing has not improved (looks like nerve damage). The right leg was broken because of a small zip tie that had been placed under the tag, the leg had grown to the point that the zip tie caused an open fracture of the leg. Once the leg broke the band then cut into the skin causing the bleeding. The bird is safe now and will live out his life inside with my other rehabbed birds here in Northern Nevada near Reno. How he managed to get from Georgia to Nevada is amazing, he must have been flying for a month."

The little fellow's leg is looking very good, he got the splint off yesterday and this morning he was standing tall and proud in his cage. He still has a little limp and a slight droop in the right wing but he's going to be fine. His racing days are over though, but he has been talking to one of my little girl birds and I think they may be cooking up something. So far I haven't let both of them out together yet but he goes right to her cage and starts strutting when he's out. We will see.

NAB 

Handsome young fellow


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## nancthiery (Jun 24, 2008)

You did the right thing. Good for you. He is looking good as well, and do I sence love in the air? Good luck.


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## learning (May 19, 2006)

Just as a point of reference, I am sure the bird did not originate in Georgia. Global just sells the bands to customers all over the country. I am sure that someone out west bought bands from Global and then put them on their birds.

Just FYI

Dan


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## Guest (Sep 12, 2008)

I agree with Dan this was a globals band meaning they just sell the bands to whomever wants them being a pigeon supply place anyone in the country can purchase them , but I dont understand why globals dint get back to you with the info on who they sold the band to when they are responsible for that info, not a very good customer service in that reguard for pigeons trying finding their way back to their owners  oh well at least this one is in good hands now  I have to say though that this isnt the first time I have heard of people using zip ties on their birds , I purchased some birds with them on their leg once and they wore them without a problem ... Im thinking that whatever happened to this bird ,maybe it hit a wire or something, it forced the AU band right over the zip tie and broke the leg at the same time ,its just a thought but thats my educated guess and wasnt intended to hurt this bird in anyway


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## nabisho (Nov 18, 2004)

*Got an email back from Global*

they provided the info on the registered owner. He's out of Reno about 60 miles up the road. I'll try to call him tonight maybe he can explain the zip tie. Little fellow is doing outstanding he can fly almost as good as new and he's walking pretty well just a little limp but he has good nerve response in the foot now.

NAB


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

WELL DONE, Nab!! Then again, I am not surprised at all. I KNEW that lovely one would pull through with flying colors in your hands!!

Can't wait to hear about the owner's response AND the continuing story of a possible "love" match...

I am going to "assume" that the owner will be glad to hear about his birds's rescue and upset about the "tie." Who knows, he may even have gotten the bird WITH the green band already in place and had no idea about the "tie."

Love, Hugs and Scritches

Shi


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