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TOXINS
PAIN & EMERGENCY

 STATISTICS & LEGALITIES 
An Introduction To The "Care" Of Mourning Doves

So you've decided (made the "commitment") to offer your heart and soul to the care of a Mourning Dove? Congratulations and, if you're honestly ready, willing and able to truly "give", you'll find you've been blessed. These little feathered bundles of Love and Life are incredibly wonderful... wonder-full! AND, you'll find they'll become one of the best friends and companions you could ever hope to have in your life.

If treated properly and compassionately, a wild Mourning Dove will come to trust you, see you as a caring companion. (Be exceptionally careful not to betray that trust. Once lost, it will never return and your loss will be immeasurable.)

One "item" that you ought to be aware of though, "keeping" them is, technically, *illegal*. (Yes, it has to be said because it's just a fact. I'll say no more on the matter other than to include the following information, more as a "disclaimer" than much else and encourage you to do your own further research.)

If your intention is to keep one only until it is well enough to return to the out-doors, be very aware of how much time you will pass together. If the time will be short, try to keep contact, physical and even just presence, to a minimum. You don't want to create a "trust of humans" since, let's face it, not all humans are kind toward doves (as seen above). If your time together will be lengthy, or the injuries prohibit the release back into the wild, at the beginning, allow the dove quiet... I repeat this... “quiet” time alone. Provide food, water, a clean environment and other-wise, let Nature take course. Animals who are injured will, in their natural environment, tend to shy away from other animals of their own species. Injuries indicate “weakness” and injured animals will often be abandoned or shunned. Therefore, the injured one will try to hide an injury, compensate for any loss of mobility, &c. and, as said, tend to be some-what removed, out of sight. Allow the dove time and space to heal. When you see that conditions are improved, and you will, then take a chair and sit, calmly, in the room, become acquainted, talk, softly, for short times at first, and lengthen time together gradually. A dove will, at his/her own pace, come to understand that you're not "the enemy", a predator and you will become the closest of Friends.

Remember, you don't have to do too much, comparatively, to “adjust” to a dove being in your home... but you DO have to allow the dove what-ever s/he needs to adjust to being in your home and out of his/her natural environment, not to mention, being in the company of a human who is, historically, one of a dove's worst predators.

Just a closing word of advice: Beware of the "self-righteous" who, some-how believe they're of better moral, ethical and intellectual status than you, lest you see your intentions, your compassion, your "companion" taken from you. And be aware that, in the case of doves and other small birds, taken from the best-intentioned of us, the vast majority are simply "discarded"... either euthanised or thrown into the wild to fend for themselves, never mind the consequences. (I've asked and been told, so found it to be true.)