A very “feisty” pigeon, rescued last week from a vacant storefront on Bruce Street, was released into the wild this afternoon.
Aleigha McLean, a falconer who was nursing the pigeon back to health, brought the bird back to 131 Bruce St. in case it had any relatives in the area.
She took in two of the three birds that were trapped in the storefront on July 7 after a man kicked in the backdoor and let the birds out the front.
Maria W. alerted SooToday to the trapped pigeons, which is what prompted the man to kick in the door and encouraged McLean to visit the storefront to see how they were doing.
When she arrived, the door was propped open and the pigeons were on the front step.
One of the birds flew away and another died overnight while in McLean’s care after the birds had been eating drywall while trying to survive in the storefront with no water.
The third bird was too weak to fly last week, but today it took flight.
Once McLean released it, the bird took a few steps before launching itself into the air and landing on a nearby roof.
McLean had the bird on the same diet that would be fed to racing pigeons.
“She's been very feisty. She escaped inside my house and it took us probably about 10 minutes to catch her,” she said.
Last week McLean thought the bird was a male, so she named it Bruce since it was found on Bruce Street.
She recently realized the bird is a female, so she renamed it Caitlyn.
McLean said she planned to return to Bruce Street to offer Caitlyn some food just in case she’s in need.
Anyone who finds a trapped or injured bird could reach out to Ontario's animal welfare line at 1-833-926-4625 or to McLean through social media.
– Video by Drew Armstrong