Oakland firefighters saved a pigeon, and the internet is losing it 24%
By Roselyn Romero15%
7/15/2026, 1:06:37 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Appeal to Emotion, and Anecdotal, with Availability Heuristic as the most egregious example at 22.6% saturation with 86 hits. Analysis detected 696 faulty-reasoning hits from 380 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 36.7% and a BS Rank of 24% (16,719 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 76.40% of the article peer group.
An adorable animal rescue by Oakland firefighters is breaking the internet.
At about 6:15 a.m.
Sunday, Oakland Fire Engine 29 had just responded to a vehicle burning beneath a highway overpass on 75th Avenue in East Oakland when firefighters were approached by a pigeon in distress.
According to the Oakland firefighters’ union, the avian Oaklander appeared to be suffering from smoke inhalation caused by the fire.
Fire crews cupped a mask over the bird’s face and administered oxygen.
Moments later, the bird flew away.
To prevent the spread of germs from pigeon to pigeon, the mask was later disposed of.
The firefighters’ union shared a 15-second video of the rescue on Instagram on Tuesday night — and it quickly went viral.
As of publication, the video had surpassed 5 million views.
Commenters praised the firefighters’ heroic efforts.
“I hope that man’s pillow is always cold, his lights always green, and his sleep always restful,” read one comment, which received more than 40,000 likes.
“This is what my tax dollars are for,” another commenter wrote.
That comment had more than 90,000 likes.
“Reminder that we domesticated pigeons and then abandoned them when they were no longer useful to us,” one user wrote.
“This is literally the least we can do.”
Another commenter, putting themselves in the bird’s shoes (or feet), said the pigeon must have perceived it as a “religious experience.”
The Oaklandside was unable to locate the pigeon for comment.
This wasn’t the first time Oakland wildlife rescues have taken flight.
Three years ago, residents in the Grand Lake neighborhood <a href="https://oaklandside.org/2023/04/17/springtime-oakland-duckling-rescue-storm-drain-oakland-animal-control/">were helping</a> a mallard duck and her six ducklings cross Mandana Boulevard when one of the chicks fell into a storm drain.
An Oakland Animal Control officer said the baby had slid down a diagonal pipe to another storm drain on Lakeshore Avenue.
After a three-hour effort, the duckling was successfully reunited with its mama.
In 2021, an Oakland resident transported two domestic ducks, <a href="https://oaklandside.org/2021/01/04/lake-merritt-duck-rescue-ebony-ivory/">affectionately called “Ebony and Ivory”</a> by Oakland Redditors, to a Marin County farm sanctuary after they were spotted at Lake Merritt, wounded and apparently abandoned.
<em>This story has been updated to reflect that the vehicle fire and subsequent pigeon rescue occurred Sunday morning.</em>
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