Contact centre staff track down owner of lost prize bird

A racing pigeon who flew 100 miles in the wrong direction was rescued from the brink of death – after he landed by chance in Vets Now’s car park.

The exhausted prize bird was found slumped outside our Dunfermline HQ three weeks after going missing.

Bekky Mackie, a supervisor in the Vets Now contact centre, scooped the lifeless pigeon into her arms, took him inside and gave him food and water.

Image of Vets Now contact centre staff member Bekky with lost racing pigeon
Bekky and the lost racing pigeon

Then, at the end of her shift, Bekky took him home to nearby Rosyth in a cat carrier so that she could carry on delivering food, warmth and TLC.

As the pigeon perked up, Bekky’s colleagues, Gillian Stewart and Jade Sothern, set about tracing the owner.

Initially, they contacted the homing pigeon union who were able to provide some details.

Then, armed only with the owner’s surname and the fact he lived somewhere in Aberdeenshire, they scoured social media sites to try to locate him.

Amazingly, after painstaking research on Facebook, they tracked down pigeon enthusiast Steve Taylor from Bridge of Don who confirmed the bird was his.

Steve then arranged for transport home for the stray bird – by which point Bekky and her family were disappointed to see him go.

Bekky, 26, said: “When we spoke to Steve he explained that the pigeon had been supposed to be flying north from Stonehaven to Aberdeen.

“But something went wrong – it’s possible he got scared by a bigger bird – because he ended up flying south in totally the opposite direction. Stonehaven is nearly 100 miles from here!

“When I brought him he was slumped lifeless on the rear windscreen of one of my colleague’s cars. We fed him bird seeds and nuts to build up his strength.

“I’ve got two young kids in the house and they thought it was great that we had a pet suddenly. My little boy Dexter, who is two, was offering the pigeon his favourite dinosaur to play with – as you do when you’re a toddler!”

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Image of pigeon fancier Steve with his lost homing pigeon
Steve was hugely grateful to Bekky for saving his prize bird

Roofer Steve, 62, who keeps around 70 pigeons in a loft in his back garden, said: “I’d more or less given up on this one.

“A lot of people don’t realise this – but a pigeon can fly at 100mph. So it was a very welcome surprise when Bekky got in touch. I’m really, really, grateful to her for looking after him. We’re very lucky he ended up at Vets Now.”

Pet emergency service Vets Now operates a nationwide network of clinics and hospitals which are open through the night, seven days a week, and day and night at weekends and bank holidays.

All have a vet and a veterinary nurse on-site at all times.