Turtle Doves As Pets

When I was about fifteen years old I rescued a turtle dove. He was not injured or very young and abandoned by his mum or anything. No. This dove made the mistake of flying into my house. Now, the house itself did not pose an immediate danger to the dove, but my grandfather did. You see my grandfather was a master trapper and was able to skin and roast a squirrel if he had to in order to survive. So when I came home from school one day and saw this little bird standing there with a string tied around it's foot, I knew I had to act quickly.

Once the dove was safely away from our own personal Bear Grylls, we bought it a nice big cage. It must have been in shock for a few days because it did not move or eat. The only interaction we had with it would be if we put our finger under his belly, he'd jump on our finger. Then one night, at around three o'clock in the morning, he made a strange noise... a loud strange noise. It sounded like a "whooo, proooo, whooo, proooo....." then a little pause and a wicked laughing sound and then back to the "whooo,proooo...."

The Dove was pretty cool to have around, It would defend itself pretty fiercely from the cat too! It would open it`s wings to make itself look big and then lunge at the cat with it`s beak. For a bird associated with peace, I was surprised at how violent it could be.

Doves are very low maintenance. All that`s required is a big enough cage with a mirror, food and water. The occasional fly around the house for exercise once or twice a day, they`ll fly back to their cage when they`re done.

So if you ever have a chance to have a turtle dove as a pet I would highly recommend it.