V PET SET
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Annie Wilson just loves her pigeon, Lovi Dovi.
Wilson, a longtime East Village resident, inherited the bird from a good friend in her building who passed away.
She lets Lovi Dovi (pronounced “lovey dovey”) fly freely all around the apartment. The pigeon is actually very clean, she said, not doing any “aerial bombings.” Wilson also has two large potted trees in her place that are “Lovi Dovi’s trees.”
Lovi Dovi has a routine: Every couple of weeks she lays two eggs, and then sits on them in her nest. But since the eggs are never fertilized, Wilson just lets the bird have them for a while, and then takes them away and puts them in her refrigerator freezer. Lovi Dovi seems O.K. with this, Wilson said — and just goes right ahead and lays more eggs.
Wilson also leaves her windows open for Lovi Dovi, in case she wants to really stretch her wings a bit. Usually, she takes a spin around the neighborhood, and then flies right back home.
But one time, she didn’t. Wilson plastered the hood with missing posters. Eleven days after Lovi Dovi flew the coop, an East Village woman who works at Bellevue Hospital saw one of the posters while walking down E. Ninth St. She then later recognized Lovi Dovi hanging out at the fountain on the Bellevue grounds. Wilson raced right up and found her — hanging out with a bunch of winos! Apparently, Lovi Dovi was having quite the party. She threw down some bird seed and scooped her right up.
“She had wine stains all over her beak and on her body!” Wilson recalled. “I don’t know what she was doing up there!”
When she’s not boozing it up at Bellevue, Lovi Dovi is into fitness. Wilson has created a little silk harness for her feathered friend and takes her for walks with it.
Do you have a pet — any type of animal is acceptable– you’d like to profile in the “Pet Set”? Please send a photo and your pet’s story to news@thevillager.com
