Sue Rogers received a call last summer asking if she could take in an abandoned young bird. A construction crew discovered a nest while working on a parking ramp, and the mother never returned after they moved it.
The Mia Foundation’s founder, Rogers, decided to take in the orphaned mourning dove. She expected the dove, whose she called Lovey, to stay with her for only a few weeks before learning to feed and fly. When Rogers attempted to release Lovey into the wild, the bird would return to her deck a few hours later.
As fall approached, Rogers moved Lovey back inside the house to protect her from the cold. Lovey has free rein of Rogers’ home and can fly wherever she pleases. But she never seemed interested in the other animals there — until a tiny puppy named Alfie showed up.
“Alfie is 8 weeks old, but he’s the size of a newborn,” Rogers told The Dodo. “He has a cleft palate, I’m 99 percent sure he has hydrocephalus (which is water on the brain), and possibly a heart condition as well.”
The two have now developed their own special language and unique play style.
Lovey enjoys hopping on Alfie for piggyback rides or following him around the house, hooting softly and pecking at his fur. “They are the smallest animals here, each needing a friend,” Rogers wrote on Facebook. “They’ve formed this bond on their own!”
Alfie seemed to appreciate the company, and Rogers is overjoyed to witness this sweet friendship bloom between her two little pets.
Rogers intends to release Lovey once the weather warms up in the hopes that she will find her own flock. But, for the time being, Alfie and Lovey are all each other needs.
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