B A A H A U S
Eventually, word came that
two doves had been released at a wedding a couple of weeks ago, and had
not returned home "as they usually do." Bonnie must be one of
them. But a check with the owner of the wedding doves said no, that her
doves were not banded. Bonnie has a blue band but the bird doctor has
not been able to
identify the code on the band.
By now, Bonnie had been with us almost a month; her health was improving, her parasite treatment had two more weeks to go, at which point we could unite her with our one old (20 years!) white dove.
We have returned to our original
theory about Bonnie's history---released at a
memorial service on September 11, 2002. We will probably never know for
sure but we do know this:
Releasing these gentle
birds at weddings, peace services, memorials, etc. is a cruel and ignorant
act. These birds cannot survive in the wild. They are almost always killed
by hawks, crows or other stronger native birds, or they die of exposure
and starvation.
They do not know how to
fend for themselves. As beautiful as it seems to
free these lovely birds on some "meaningful" occasion to you,
please
don't do it. You are almost certainly condemning the birds to suffering
and death.
"Bonnie dropped (literally) from the sky onto the front lawn of BaaHaus on September 12, 2002. She was near death--dehydrated, empty crop, frightened. She allowed herself to be picked up and brought inside. After resting and drinking water, she began to revive and to eat.
She was taken to the BaaHaus "bird vet," Dr. Deanna Shafer of the All Bird Clinic in Tacoma, Washington. Tests revealed feather lice but no internal parasites. She was gaining weight and looking good, all things considered.
Then the speculation about her origins. We wondered if she might be a 9-11 dove, released at one of the many memorial services held the day before she surrendered herself at BaaHaus.
We reported Bonnie as "Found"
with the Vashon Island Pet Protectors, which
provides a sort of clearing house for this kind of thing, and also checked
the Lost and Found boards at the two island veterinary clinics. No one
had
posted a Lost ad in the local newspaper.
