Piu the partridge is quite the little troublemaker. When he’s around, people have to keep an eye on their food! Spaghetti and rice are among his favorites, and he won’t hesitate to steal a helping from your plate.
Piu may be quite the handful, but his mom, Estela Marin Carrizosa, adores him. She discovered him alone on a street when he was less than a day old. Carrizosa and her boyfriend decided to raise him and took him home in a box.
The couple faced an unexpected hurdle when they researched how to care for the young partridge: an internet search turned up plenty of results for how to hunt or cook partridges, but very little about raising one. In fact, they couldn’t even find information about what to feed Piu or what partridges like to do for fun.
Carrizosa and her boyfriend decided to raise Piu the best they could. He quickly became attached to his new mom, following her everywhere and never leaving her side. Now that he’s reached adulthood, he has the run of the house. His daily routine consists of eating his breakfast on the patio, hanging out with a wild bird he’s friends with, and going outside.
When the couple visited a man who had partridge chicks that he was planning to feed to his dog, they left with two new family members. Petit and Suisse, as the chicks have been named, are under Piu’s watchful guidance.
The partridges will be released back into the wild when they’re ready. Although it’ll be hard for Carrizosa to say “goodbye” to her beloved birds, she’s happy knowing that they’ll be back in their natural habitat, where they can thrive.
