Woman drives 200 miles to adopt adorable pigeon that uses people’s heads as ‘taxi’

Today, we rely on social media, text messages, or emails — basically, real-time means of communication — for interacting with each other. However, there was a time when communication sailed through the blue sky, carried by pigeons. These winged messengers carried letters from sender to recipient, covering distances that humans simply couldn't accomplish on foot. For instance, as per the National Library of Medicine, Julius Caesar used pigeons to send news of his victory in Gaul, while people, for years in the past, trusted pigeons to carry military messages back and forth. Once a crucial member of most households, pigeons are rarely domesticated now. Recently, Keryn Rosenberger, from New Jersey, adopted one such bird, all because of the interesting story they had cooked up.

Valley, the pigeon, was first observed hanging outside the Montgomery County Animal Services & Adoption Center before she ultimately landed on a staff member and hitchhiked a ride inside the building. Since the pigeon was in good health and did not have a band (an ID), the adoption center decided to escort her back to the wild. However, every time the officials tried to put Valley outside, she would land on someone and take herself back inside. One day, the pigeon landed on a crew member's head while she was taking pictures of their dogs, and, interestingly, she sat there without creating any disturbance. "Not only was she a great photo assistant, but she stayed nestled in the staff member's hair no matter how many dogs she met or how long she was out there," they revealed.

Reflecting upon her love for human companions and "lack of survival skills," the center finally decided to put Valley up for adoption. Thankfully, the Facebook post reached Keryn Rosenberger, a woman from New Jersey, who drove over 200 miles to adopt her, as reported by WUSA9. While heading to her forever home from the adoption center, the outlet reports that Valley sat in the passenger seat, and occasionally on Rosenberger's head during their three-hour-long ride. This astonishing adoption story caught people's attention when Jenn, who goes by @thatgoodnewsgirl on Instagram, posted a video talking about how Valley, the pigeon, found her forever home.

Echoing the sentiments, @beautiful.discord commented, "While most ‘outdoors’ pigeons are feral, they come from centuries of domestication and are meant to be our companions. City pigeons are like stray cats; it’s our fault they ended up on the streets, so we should do whatever we can to help look after them!" Similarly, @mrfinish wrote, "It seems like she was/is a domesticated pigeon... who was raised with dogs? And was once someone's pet. Good, she was adopted." @katieharris538 said, "What a fun and unique story! I didn't realize pigeons were so domesticated in general! Thanks for the positive and lovely story!"

On the other hand, @carycg98 questioned, "That lady was willing to drive 200 miles to pick up a bird. Wow. Why does it take social media attention for people to adopt animals? So easy to just go to a local shelter and save an animal's life if you can give it a home." @oliveeyes84 pointed out, "They're such gentle birds... they get such an ugly reputation, but I've rescued several and taken them to a local wild bird or a specialist doctor." While it may not be possible for everyone to accommodate a pet, we can take measures like leaving out water and seeds for these birds to feast on.

You can follow Jenn (@thatgoodnewsgirl) on Instagram for more such wholesome content.