Stuck inside and going a little stir crazy? Unable to see the outside world much at the moment? Wishing you could spread your wings a little bit?
Well the region’s most famous pet now has his own facebook page. Barry the Pigeon has been flying all over the township of Young surprising locals by landing on their shoulder or pecking at their feet.
Barry was rescued as a 14 day old bird near Young Town Hall and cared for by Kirsty Graham and Beau Edwards.
Barry is starting to take flight and although he returns each evening to his home, he is often out and about, recently greeting the staff and children at Annette’s place in Young.
Annettes place posted on their Facebook page, “Today we were visited by a pigeon. But not just your average pigeon, this one must have been hand raised or someone’s pet? Either way, this pigeon spent the whole day with us from 8:00am until about 3:00pm and would even let the kids pick him up and pat him. After hanging out with us for mornings tea, the kids decided to name him Peppa! When Peppa needed a break from us, he would fly up onto the pole out of reach until he was ready to socialise again. Peppa even decided to stay and join Harry for his afternoon tea. So from 8-3, Peppa was always within arms reach (or on our arm) of one us the whole day! We’re hoping to see Peppa again tomorrow.”
Kirsty said, “We found him down the street, we didn’t know what to feed him but we got on to WIRES and they said just to feed him crushed up wheat bix. I only fed him for 3 days and he started eating corn and loved it, he wouldn’t stop eating it. He now just has a basic feed and corn mix for native birds but he has become a bit fussy now.”
Barry has grown into quite the pigeon and is now nearing 4 and a half months of age. He is very fond of both Kirsty and Beau and tries to perch up on Kirsty in her dressing gown in the morning.
Kirsty said that she moved into a new house and the kids and the family dogs play with him. She said, “The Chihuahua and the German Shepherd have watched him grow up. We let him out more as he got older and he wanted to stay out more which is fine. This last week he just started leaving the yard after being outside for the last 2 months.”
Barry was quite tame but he is not as happy being touched now as he gets older as he was when he was a baby. Kirsty said we want him to be free but now with all of the attention and the fact he is down the street he is becoming quite well-known. She said, “I had to rear him to save him and let him be free but he is a pet at heart. He still thinks he is getting fed by his mum and gets excited and can peck when he is getting fed. We don’t mind if Barry visits people, they should just be mindful he can be a bit of a pest and make a bit of a mess.”
Barry is quite the character, it takes Kirsty up to 10 minutes to get out of her driveway when he sits on the roof of her car each morning.
If you see Barry, be nice, he is a beautiful animal and a lot of children are getting a lot of satisfaction from him.