She welcomed them with open arms.
Published on Sep 26, 2025 at 5:20 PM
This past summer, Berlin, Germany, resident Marlene Blanke went out of town for three weeks. When she went to take a shower the day she returned, she noticed something about the bathroom had changed while she was gone.
On the nook next to her shower where she and her roommate store their soap and shampoo, there was a pigeon nest with two parents and two chicks inside. Blanke quickly pieced together that the pigeons had gotten in through the small window in the bathroom.
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7527346023304498455?lang=en-GB&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedodo.com%2Fdaily-dodo%2Fwoman-goes-to-take-a-shower-and-finds-a-nest-with-babies-next-to-her-soap
At first, Blanke was baffled, but she quickly turned her attention to making sure the pigeon family was OK. She contacted a local wildlife rescue to come take them away, but they informed her that because pigeons are protected in Germany, it’s illegal to move their nests.
Luckily for the pigeon family, Blanke happens to be a wild-animal lover. Her ornithologist grandfather passed his deep respect for birds onto her. So even though city-dwelling pigeons are often unfairly judged, Blanke welcomed them with open arms.
Blanke got to work getting the little family as comfortable as possible in their new home. She gave them a privacy curtain, set out food and water for them, and decided to shower at her boyfriend’s place for the time being.
“I cleaned their space, I got rid of any objects that were still left over, and then I did some research on what pigeons like to eat,” Blanke said on TikTok.
@kaeseloverinAntwort auf @Malte Zierden EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER PIGEON EDITION!! 🥰✨🐦 it’s been six days since I discovered that a family of pigeons had nested in my shower while I was away and so much has changed!! Still working out how to best take care of them but they’ve grown so much already!! An alle deutschen: habe mir ein Beispiel an Malte genommen und es ihnen so schön wie möglich gemacht!! 🥰Natürlich darf ein#OßkarMemorial nicht fehlen!#tauben#nest#makeover#pigeons#pigeontok♬ Brother Eww Mark Kross Edit – Jayden Collison
While Blanke did her best to give the pigeon family lots of space, she couldn’t help but get attached to them. She named the parents Pauline and Pierre and the two babies Trixie and Katya.
“Me and my roommate think that they love us back,” Blanke said on YouTube.
Blanke marveled at how quickly Trixie and Katya grew. Within five days, they were already unrecognizable.
@kaeseloverinUpdate on my shower pigeons Trixie & Katya: they are growing up SO FAST!! 🥹🥰 Honestly so fascinating to see! Not many people have seen a#babypigeonbefore apparently lol (also I have got them food & water and tidied up their space a bit! We’re co habiting well and I’ve been showering elsewhere this past week lol)#pigeons#flatmates#nest#fyp#viral♬ slipping through my fingers – zappo™
After just a few weeks, it was finally time for the babies to leave the nest. The day they flew away, Blanke felt incredibly emotional. As excited as she was for Trixie and Katya to embark on their new journey, she knew she was going to miss them terribly.
“I feel like a proud mother,” Blanke said.
@kaeseloverinfeeling all the feelings!! 🥲🥺🥹😭💕🩶🥰💔😍🤗😚🫶🤍💖#pigeontok#nest#babypigeon#emptynest♬ The Subway – Chappell Roan
At that point, Blanke thought she’d never see Pierre and Pauline again. But just a few weeks later, to Blanke’s surprise, they returned — and built another nest. As shocked as Blanke was, once again she welcomed them with open arms.
@kaeseloverinAntwort auf @Roo🩷💛🩵 🚨THEY ARE BACK!!!! 🚨 PIERRE AND PAULINE HAVE RETURNED!!!!!!! I am once again not actually home to witness this (have learned my lesson and immediately read my flatmate’s text though) but only a few weeks after Trixie and Katya left the nest their parents are back and ready for round two 😭🩶 I thought they might return next year but I wasn’t prepared for this quick of a turnaround 💀#pigeon#nest#petsoftiktok#viral#bird♬ what the fuck was that – champagnemami
“Perhaps my purpose in life is to be a godmother to generations upon generations of wood pigeons,” Blanke wrote on TikTok.
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Man Finds Soaking Wet Babies Huddled Together In Box On Side Of Road
They weighed less than 5 pounds 💔
A man was recently traveling down a busy street in the English town of Shrewsbury when he spotted a box on the side of the road. When he went to investigate the contents of the box, he was floored by who he found inside: two baby otters, huddling together for warmth.
While it’s unfortunately not uncommon to come across abandoned cats or dogs, finding two otters in a cardboard box is unheard of. The man sprang into action and got them to a wildlife rescue center as quickly as he could.
When the cubs arrived at Cuan Wildlife Rescue, they were terrified. They both weighed less than 5 pounds and were soaking wet from having been left out for hours in the rain.
Cuan Wildlife Rescue fed the babies and got them warmed up before transferring them to long-term otter rehabilitation center UK Wild Otter Trust (UKWOT).
“When the otter cubs arrived with us, they were quiet, obviously scared, and withdrawn,” Hatty Brady, UKWOT communications officer, told The Dodo.
Everyone at UKWOT couldn’t believe that someone had left such little babies to fend for themselves. It was hard to even imagine the circumstances that had led to otters ending up in a cardboard box. While the person who abandoned the otters left a note imploring whoever found them to call a wildlife rescue, they could have just taken them directly to a rescue center instead.
“[W]e were outraged that anyone could dump these two tiny and defenseless animals, who, without their mum and locked in a box, wouldn’t have survived alone for much longer,” Brady said.
Thankfully, though, in the days since the otters arrived at UKWOT, they’ve already been doing much better.
“They’re still quite fearful now, but they’re heading in the right direction, and you can see their little personalities starting to come out,” Brady said.
As UKWOT continues caring for the babies, they’ll slowly grow bigger, get stronger and learn all the skills they need to thrive in their natural habitat. And they’ll have each other’s backs the whole time.
“Being two of them, it makes it easier and more likely that they’ll be successfully rehabilitated as they have each other to grow with and explore their natural otter instincts with,” Brady said.
In about a year, UKWOT will release the siblings into the wild, where they belong. By then, the scary circumstances they were rescued from will be nothing more than a distant memory.
To support other animals like these otters, you can donate to UKWOT here and to Cuan Wildlife Rescue here.
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