The history of our Sanctuary
It has been quite a journey!
Sue started caring for birds whilst working in Vet practice in Staffordshire around 15 years ago.Lots of birds were getting brought in and there was no where to send them for help.
Sue worked with other Veterinary professionals to learn a little about the needs of the birds, which included garden birds such as Bluetits, Robins, Blackbirds, Songthrush, Magpies, Crows and Goldfinches, looking after them at work and then transporting them home to care for when off shift.
By 2018, Sue was receiving around 30 calls a week and looking after 2000 birds each year. Sadly, the vet tech that looked after the pigeons left the practice, so Sue started looking after Pigeons too...and so this pigeon sanctuary was born!
Sue realised that unlike garden birds, once hand raised as orphaned the pigeons couldn't really leave, they needed a forever home. Pigeons are domestic birds, there is no food for them 'in the wild' so raising abandoned babies then releasing them is not an option. So, as you can imagine, over the year the flock here has grown and grown!
We do, where possible, re-release pigeons that come in from towns and cities once they are well, or we would be in danger of having too many birds and unable to take on more and of course, as the birds age, we sadly loose them to age related illnesses , so its an ever changing flock.