When Chrissy Chin volunteered to take in a fancy pigeon abandoned on a park bench, she never imagined she would one day be ordering custom-made diapers for the bird – who lives in her house and has become a member of the family.
Chin has a hobby farm in Aldergrove, B.C., where she often takes in injured or abandoned birds temporarily. So when she saw a Reddit post about an English trumpeter pigeon found in rough shape in a box in a Burnaby Park, she offered to do the same.
But the rescue took an unexpected turn and, one year later, “Pidge” has become a beloved pet.
“I’m so curious to know what his life was like before, where he came from. It’s so sad to leave a pigeon on a bench. Who would do that?” Chin said in an interview with CTV News.
“But at the same time, it feels like a little bit of fate for me like there was a reason why I was supposed to have him and he was supposed to be mine. He’s definitely fate for me. He’s family, truly.”
A fancy pigeon is shown in his home in Aldergrove, B.C. (Photo submitted by Chrissy Chin)
Pidge was initially given a home in the barn, where he slowly started to gain flight. Chin tried to introduce him to other birds – including a few other pigeons that were ultimately rehomed. However, he was decidedly aloof with these would-be avian friends.
The pigeon was, however, quite interested in Chin.
“He started doing this thing when I’d walk in the barn where he would circle me really rapidly,” she said.
“Then he’d start landing on me, laying on my chest. And I was like, ‘strange.’ Then he started preening me and calling to me … Then he started escaping and circling my house and peering in the window.”
When Chin first told her husband and son she wanted to bring the bird inside, they balked.
“I was like, OK, he’s just going to stay this one night on the dresser. And one night turned into forever,” she said.
Not only did Pidge resist being taken back out to the barn, he was unwilling to be caged or relegated to the deck.
“He’s following me everywhere. He’s walking behind me down the hall – I’ve got to buy him a diaper,” she recalled, saying the trail of poop Pidge was leaving started to become a problem.
An online search turned up an Etsy store, run by a woman in Ukraine who makes what are referred to as “pigeon pants,” Chin said, adding she changes the bird every few hours, makes sure the bird gets a chance to take a daily bath, and removes the diaper at night.
A pigeon has become a beloved pet for a B.C. woman. (Photo submitted by Chrissy Chin)
Pidge sleeps on a perch in Chin’s bedroom and follows her into her bathroom every morning. He hops up and down stairs, sits on the couch, and even takes rides in the passenger seat of the car.
And he’s never tried to fly away. He does, however, pick an occasional fight with one member of the family – and it’s not their pet cat or bunny.
“He doesn’t like my husband at all. He will randomly find my husband and beat him up for no reason,” she said.
“He’s definitely my pigeon. He tolerates everybody else.”
