The Story of Twist, 3 (Original)(Florence, Italia) (2023) Pittura da Elodie M. Richard

''We found Twist in the infamous ‘pigeon black hole’ of Florence; Duomo Square.

He was lying on the ground like a carpet, both wings open, very thirsty and hungry. People were walking by him without ever turning their heads down to that strange looking bird crying for help.

His wings were alright, he could have fled but wasn’t able to move an inch due to exhaustion.
After the vet visit we found that his leg was completely and irreversibly dislocated ripping all the connective tissue. Not being able to walk again for a pigeon means he won’t find food. Pigeons are ground feeders and they search food only by walking around.

After a month of care, we took him to a friend’s aviary. It didn’t go well. Twist needs wide surfaces to land, unable to perch using his half remaining single foot due to an earlier stringfoot damage. At the time, his good leg also wasn’t strong enough so he had to lye on his chest most of the time.
The aviary was a too crowded for him. Not to mention the dangers like an unsupervised bird bath.
So we decided to take him back home.

One morning, as we were picking him up, Twist with a quick move managed to free himself landing on the window sill he knew was open. He looked at us for one last time and flew goodbye without looking back.😢.

We searched the neighborhood and the flocks around, yet Twist was nowhere to be found.
Knowing their attachment to their sites he’d probably try going back to his square which was just a few km from home
Few days passed frequenting Duomo Square few times each day asking around with a picture of Twist in our hand giving our phone number to Square’s locals.
On the 4th day, Mr. Fugitive was there, sunbathing on the marble stairs of the Cathedral. He was proud and looking content.

We were very happy to find him. But obviously he was missing his own home. So, we decided to respect his decision and give him the liberty to live where he felt better.
But with one condition !
We were going to go almost everyday to check on him and to feed him.

During his days in the Square, he made friends with one the artists; Gazi.
Gazi fed him peanuts we brought him knowing that they were Twists favorite.
Twist was coming down to the ground as soon as he got up to find Gazi’s stand to get his peanuts.
If he was hungry, he was also coming to greet us too but if not, he was staring proud from higher up.
Like this ended the autumn and with November arrived the colds.
Gazi wasn’t around as much. So we decided to take him for good. This time though, unlike the first time, also Twist seemed to accept his new reality of existence.

Those few months he was hanging around free, he got stronger and started to stand up on the good leg.

Recently, Twist wasn’t looking so well. His molting was weak and he seemed depressed with little energy. After a few vet visits and a complete blood test, we found that he has avian malaria. His treatment is now finished and he already looks much better. His depression is gone and he has his energy back.''

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Twist lives with his human parents Birge and Memo:
“We are originally from Istanbul, living in Italy since 2017. Recently we moved from Florence to North Italy with our rescue flock. Twist is currently living in the outdoor aviary with his 9 pigeon friends, most of which were rescued from the same square in Florence''

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