Octavio the rescue pigeon was seen going for walks - on a leash - in Santiago on Sunday. 'Owner' Loreta Artigas explained how she had found the youngster in distress, in January this year.

"He had undoubtedly fallen from the nest and several people were passing by and they didn't stop," she said. "I looked at him and bent down with my hand, I called him and he ran to me as if he were saying 'mom!'"

Artigas named him Octavio and took him to the vets to check all was ok.

"People enjoy seeing him and they come close to him, they pet him, they take him. But he pecks immediately, he defends me, especially if they touch me, he goes and pecks, he defends me."

Loreta also explained how her love for wildlife had come when she regained her hearing, following surgery for a cochlear implant.

"When they activated it the first thing I heard was the sound of birds again," she said.

Now fully grown, she is reportedly worried that Octavio will not be able to fend for himself in the wild, and has since devoted herself to caring for him like any other more conventional pet.