Did Nikola Tesla really build a splint for a pigeon's broken wing?
Yes. Tesla fed the pigeons of Bryant Park every day he was in New York, for decades, and loved one white pigeon most of all. When she broke her wing, he paid for a veterinarian and built a device to hold it while it healed. In this episode of Our Next Collar, that pigeon explains the war of currents, the vision of Niagara Falls he carried for twenty years before he could build it, and the wireless future he imagined before the words for it existed.
History remembers the famous. Their pets remember the person. On Our Next Collar, a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee reaches the pets of history. One of them tells what they really saw. This episode is part of the Older Kids tier, for families ready to go a little deeper: same show, same honesty, told up a band and never grown-up. Tonight, a bird instead of a cat or dog for the first time in the catalog, and an inventor who never missed a day at the park.
This episode is fully scripted and has passed the Talking With Pets accuracy review. The recording is in production. The audio player and the full transcript will appear right here the day the episode goes live. Join the founding list below and we will write to you when it does.
From the episode
Pigeon: My wing was broken once. He found a veterinarian. He paid for the treatment. He made a device to hold the wing while it healed.
Roxie: He made a device.
Pigeon: He was an inventor. When something needed a device, he made one.
Roxie: (very quietly) For a pigeon.
Pigeon: For me. Yes.
[Prince MoRee gives a slow blink.]
Bryant Park, the white pigeon, the wing he built a device to hold, the alternating current, Niagara Falls, and Wardenclyffe Tower are all real. Her voice is ours.
Sources and further reading
- Tesla feeding Bryant Park pigeons daily; his documented care for an injured pigeon, including veterinary treatment and a device for her wing. John J. O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla.
- AC vs. DC, the War of Currents, George Westinghouse backing Tesla's system. Documented history of electrical power development.
- Adams Power Plant, Niagara Falls, 1896; twenty-six miles of transmission to Buffalo; Tesla's vision of it at age nineteen, from his own autobiographical account.
- Wardenclyffe Tower, begun 1901, Long Island; J.P. Morgan's withdrawal of funding; demolition in 1917. Documented Wardenclyffe Tower history.
All historical claims above were checked in the Talking With Pets accuracy review, most recently the full editorial pass of July 2026.
Did Nikola Tesla really love a pigeon?
Yes. Tesla fed the pigeons of Bryant Park and other New York locations every day he was in the city, for decades, and documented biographies describe a particular white pigeon he loved most and cared for, including paying for veterinary treatment and building a device to hold her wing while it healed. Source: documented Tesla biographies, including John J. O'Neill's Prodigal Genius.
Did Tesla really win the War of Currents?
Yes. Tesla's alternating current system, backed by George Westinghouse, competed against Thomas Edison's direct current system in the 1880s and 1890s. Alternating current could travel much greater distances without losing power, and it became the standard still used in electrical outlets today. Source: documented history of the War of Currents.
What happened at Niagara Falls?
In 1896, the Adams Power Plant at Niagara Falls became the first large-scale alternating current power station in the world, using Tesla's designs, and sent electricity twenty-six miles to Buffalo, New York. Tesla had described imagining exactly this at age nineteen, twenty years before it was built. Source: documented history of the Adams Power Plant.
What was Wardenclyffe Tower?
Wardenclyffe Tower, begun in 1901 on Long Island, was Tesla's attempt to transmit power and information wirelessly across long distances. Financial backer J.P. Morgan withdrew funding after a competing wireless telegraph signal made the race seem decided, and the unfinished tower was demolished in 1917. The underlying principle of wireless transmission is part of the same family of ideas behind radio and Wi-Fi today. Source: documented Wardenclyffe Tower history.
What is Our Next Collar, and is this episode good for kids?
Our Next Collar is an educational history podcast where a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee reaches the pets of history, and one of them tells the true story of the person they knew. The core episodes are for ages 6 to 10, and this one is part of the Older Kids tier for ages 9 to 12, for families ready to go a little deeper. Every episode lists its sources and says plainly which parts are real and which are ours. It is a podcast from Talking With Pets.
Our Next Collar Ā· the true stories only the animals saw.
Chaco, Roxie, Moose, Prince MoRee, and Armando are getting the pilot ready. Join the founding list and we will write to you when the first episodes go live. Listen with someone you like.