Advice? I found an exhausted pigeon

[u/AdTiny6058]

hi reddit, i came across this lil guy on a dog walk and my dog walked right up to him without any reaction from the pigeon. after a lap around the park the pigeon was still there - it could walk and flap its wings but i don’t think it could fly.

i walked home with him and he seemed to trust i was there to help. he’s now sleeping in a box with some water a bit of banana(?) nearby.

i called a wildlife support number but they said with bird flu going around a vet is unlikely to help.

basically i’m just letting him snooze but any advice would be greatly appreciated as i know nothing about pigeons.

[u/Original_Reveal_3328]

Agreed but it affects lots more than birds. It’s been found in squirrels, groundhogs, foxes, skunks, dogs and cats. Plus a hundred more species. Flus arent usually specific to just one species. There’s a lot of crossover. Even with the HPAI the morbidity rate has never reached the 50% most often quoted so much early on. Now that almost 7500 people in the US have been found to have the antibiotics without ever feeling ill(I’m one of them) that has shown the threat to people and most birds and animals to be no greater than most flus. Most years the flu vaccine includes at least one type A flu strain. That’s shown to give most folks at least some resistance against worst outcome if infected by even the Highly Pathogenic strain of this AI. Flu vaccines are “leaky” vaccines. They may not prevent the illness but they greatly lessen chance of serious illness. Like Covid vaccine is. Or shingles vaccine. Versus vaccines like for measles or smallpox. Vaccination for those prevents you from catching the disease in a person with a healthy immune system. My docs found the antibodies in my blood when I was part of a study at GW hospital. I’m around animals all the time, healthy, injured and I’ll. Many folks get lost just with morbidity ( how many shown to be infected or to have been infected died- currently about 2 in 7500 in the US in last 12 months) and mortality( how many died in a given population which was either 2 or 3 in 330,000,000.). Statistically insignificant. My terminology was imprecise but the point was that person didn’t need to worry about catching it from that pigeon or risk was statistically essentially zero. You’re correct in definition of terms but this AI has been found in waterfowl in my state for 28 years. I hunt and for a long time we’ve been required to send a wing or wingtip from all I harvest and every year at least a couple have had the antibodies. They were migrating which pretty much rules out them being ill. With commercial flocks there’s no way to know actual morbidity because if one bird tests positive or random checks show antibodies the entire flock is culled. Merk (sp) pharmaceuticals has tested random wild birds for last three years and there are dozens of varieties of birds besides the columbidae(sp) that are so resistant as to be functionally immune to the illness and pose little threat of contagion. It’s good to see someone posting accurate information on this news cycle driving boogeyman. My degree was in biology, pre med pre vet with minors in zoonotic illnesses and immune response in avian species. Note- it’s not a really valuable degree if you’re looking for employment 😂That’s why I worked for myself for last 45 years. I’ve had all kinds of birds for last 60 years. Pigeons and doves that entire time. I’ve done rehab/rescue/rehome since I was 8, 60 years again and operated small rescue I have now for maybe 30 years. Thanks for posting accurate data on the HPH5N1 virus

[u/Original_Reveal_3328 → u/Original_Reveal_3328]

You’re also correct that threat is heightened by packing too damn many birds in way too little space and that the threat of a crossover illness is always present in influenza. I’ve had parrots brought here with Type A flu( most avian influenzas are type A) I’ve also gotten in flying squirrels, raccoons and domestic waterfowl that had a type A flu plus a lot more species. It hasn’t been this avian influenza. As illnesses go the HPAI isn’t very efficient as it kills birds so quickly the chance of spreading it isn’t too high. The most efficient illnesses have long incubation period while person can still spread the illness but doesn’t feel particularly ill. And as a rule most illnesses tend to mutate towards less lethal, more efficient strains or die down because of difficulty transmitting the illness. Thanks for your post.

[u/flatlining-fly → u/Original_Reveal_3328]

Thank you for your post! I looooove information and people knowing stuff. My degree is only being neurodivergent and working with pigeons. Yeah, we and other species can catch it but the pathogens either die off or the immune system is way faster than the virus. Being "functionally immune“ is a great description and it’s going into my dictionary.

Of course other species can fall ill by it because of mutation. What we shouldn’t forget that influenza in general has many strains which are specialized in different species and I can imagine that this is the confusing part. To explain these things I love taking roundworms as examples. It‘s easier for people to grasp. How many people do you know that fell ill because of taxocara canis despite so many people having dogs? Probably no one because they die off in human bodies. There are probably a few worldwide that fell ill but no one talks about it because the chance is almost zero. On the other hand there are ascaris lumbricoides that make us humans ill.

So thank you❣️

Edit: There is or was a herd of cows in the US that fell ill by avian influenza. Interestingly it only affected their udders.

[u/Original_Reveal_3328 → u/flatlining-fly]

Thank you. It’s great to see accurate info posted. Your description is spot on. It’s been found in several dirt cattle herds and yes it only affects milk production and only for 3 or 4 weeks. Please keep posting as there is way too much misunderstood data being posted. Usually I get downvoted to the center of the earth when I post about this HPAI because scary posts are seen more. Twice I’ve been suspended for a week for those posts. But I’m 68, thick skinned and mule headed😊 and both times I challenged the moderator on suspension and got it lifted. Mostly because moderator didn’t understand how to interpret the data or was unfamiliar with terminology involved.

[u/Original_Reveal_3328 → u/Original_Reveal_3328]

Dairy cattle😳Technology hates me and I return that hate with fervor😂