Coo-cooked roasted pigeon is a Smokey surprise for Fife family

A clumsy pigeon almost became as roasted as a Christmas turkey when it fell down the chimney of a Dunfermline home.

When a cloud of soot rose up from the Cameron Street house’s roaring fire, it wasn’t Santa Claus who emerged two months early but a burnt and crispy bird.

The pigeon had been roosting on the chimney pot when he somehow lost his balance and fell straight down the stack on to the blaze.

Nicknamed Smokey by Scottish SPCA staff, the bird was left hopping mad after he suffered burnt feet and a singed backside before being plucked from the flames.

He now faces an intensive course of painkilling drug treatment to help him through his terrifying ordeal.

Colin Liddell, the assistant manager at the Scottish SPCA’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre, said: “Smokey is doing remarkably well considering the traumatic time he’s had lately.

“His feet are swollen and sore from the fire but he’s receiving antibiotics, painkillers and cooling antiseptic gel and he seems to be responding well to this treatment.”

For an update on Smokey’s progress, see Friday’s Courier or try our digital edition.