Pigeons rescued from 'horrible conditions'

An animal rescuer has said she was given a shock when she went to take away some pigeons and discovered that a child seemed to be "looking after" about 30 of them.

Laura Hewitt at Darlington Bird Rescue said she had seen a Facebook post about pigeons for sale when she noticed how sickly the birds looked.

She followed up on the post and went to see the pigeons in person on Saturday, where she discovered that the animals appeared to be the pets of someone she believed to be about 11 years old.

She said the birds all seemed to have had their wings clipped and were in "horrible conditions".

After arriving where the pigeons were located, Ms Hewitt said she was told: "Oh yeah, it's my son you're dealing with."

She said she had found birds "crammed" into an outdoor courtyard.

"All of their feathers were of poor quality, damaged – some of them are going to take at least six, seven months to heal and grow back," she said.

Ms Hewitt said she was only able to rescue four of the birds due to space constraints and had prioritised the ones who looked the most unhealthy.

She said the ordeal had been "pretty heartbreaking" and that she had reported the case to the local police and RSPCA.

She said the child had "too many" birds and was not equipped to look after them.

Ms Hewitt said she was seeking other animal rescues to help take away the other birds remaining at the home.

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