Rescue Report

by Mickey Muck and Shauna Roberts
Summer 2002

Networking | Lilly's Story | Essence Interview with Chris Biro | Behavior Tricks | Is Love Enough? Winnie's Story | Helpful Hints |

Networking
Networking and communicating within and outside the parrot community can help our parrots in many ways. Unfortunately, as we know, parrots are losing their homes in unbelievable numbers. Many of these birds end up sitting in a rescue organization holding facility until they can be placed. For some parrots there are no other options, but for many there are.

By spreading the word to pet stores, animal hospitals, bird clubs, friends, family and neighbors you can get the information out about our unwanted parrots. It is even important to contact breeders in your area. This helps them to understand the ongoing problem and there's a chance they will get a call to sell a bird they don't have and will refer them to a bird club or rescue organization. The rescue facilities can't do it all and it is up to all of us to keep a strong ongoing community effort to help.

Many people are willing to open their homes to a bird in an emergency situation and give temporary housing until they are re-homed. We have such a great network here in the Denver area. From January to April we have re-homed 12 parrots and only one stayed here in my home for 2 weeks until the new family was ready. This can and should be able to happen in all of our communities.

There are many ways that networking and communicating can help. Here are a few examples:

• We have set up a program that is small now and has just 3 volunteers. Two people, weekly, go to 5 neighborhood grocery stores and pick up the unwanted but still edible produce. You would be amazed at what is considered unsalable. All of the food is taken to one house and sorted through. Two local rescue groups pick this up for their organizations. Then we drive to a location north of Denver to meet three more groups that pick up what they need for the week. This has saved these groups a lot of their precious funds.
• As I have mentioned in the past, veterinarians are a great resource for homes for birds and most veterinarians will give a price break if the bird is being re-homed and needs medical care.
• There are a lot of pet stores and pet wholesalers that will give discounts if they know the products purchased are going to help re-homed parrots.
• Networking can also help to get birds out of less than perfect homes. The story of Lilly is a great example of this.

Lilly's Story

Lilly was first met by JC, an airline captain that did not have birds of his own but whose brother, Alain, did. JC was temporarily based in Chicago and had rented a room in a house near the airport. His first night there he went into the kitchen and saw Lilly on the kitchen table. It was 11PM and all of the lights were on. She was a Moluccan cockatoo sitting, mostly picked, in a cage that would not even allow her to spread her wings. This was very upsetting to JC because he had seen how parrots could live happily in captivity.

He began asking questions about Lilly. He found out she had been with the owner of the house for 8 months and prior to that with his mother for about a year. She had always been in that cage and did not come out because she was mean and bit. JC brought Lilly toys and tried to help educate the man on how parrots should live in captivity. He shared articles and made diet suggestions to try to help make Lilly's life better. Over the next little while the man could see that Lilly did enjoy toys and the additions to her diet. He realized that he was most likely not the best home for Lilly. JC and Alain asked me but, unfortunately, I did not know anyone in Chicago that could pick up and provide temporary housing for Lilly. She also was in need of a full vet check up.

We decided the best thing for Lilly was to come to Denver. There is a vet that will do a full physical and blood workup at no charge and we knew we could find a home for her here. The first problem was how to fly her when the airlines are not as pet friendly as they used to be. The second was who would get Lilly out of the cage and into her carrier for the trip.

Through a friend, Alain was able to get a buddy pass on Frontier Airlines. They have many direct flights from Denver to Chicago and are very pet friendly. They do not allow pets in the cabin any longer but they have a special area that is climate controlled and pressurized so we were comfortable with her there. As luck would have it, JC was off on a Monday and the veterinarian that I work for was happy for me to take the day off to fly to Chicago and get Lilly.

JC met me at the airport and we went to the house where Lilly lived. She was a very sweet bird, but very shy. I opened her cage and she did not seem to want to come out but she was happy to hand me her toys through the open door and chatter to me. We had about three hours to let Lilly get used to seeing the carrier and get used to us. As the afternoon went on she finally came out and was ready for head scratches. The first thing she did was climb onto my knee and spread her wings. She kept looking at them like wow, where did they come from. I turned her toward the carrier and she ran right in just like she knew this was a good idea. In the meantime, the weather started to change and it got very cold. Although the carrier was comfortable on the inside the outside just did not seem protected enough. When you are away from home you can come up with some great ideas. We slid the carrier inside a sweatshirt and that worked great.

We got to the airport to check in for the flight home and as we were in line Lilly got very animated and began talking really loudly. She stole the hearts of everyone in line and all of the Frontier agents. We had no problems checking in and getting Lilly on the flight. Frontier could not have done a better job. With all of the new security, we had to leave Lilly at the ticket counter, but the agents kept her with them until the last minute. Then they made sure she was comfortable on the plane. I can't express enough how great Frontier was.

Lilly made the trip beautifully and passed her physical with flying colors. She came home to a brand new California Macaw cage that Alain had bought for her and she loves the fact she has a ton of toys and room to spread her wings. She took very well to her new diet and eats like there is no tomorrow.

Essence Amboy, WA
An interview by Shauna Roberts and Chris Biro

One day while channel surfing for a local weather report about 5 years ago, a parrot caught my eye. A man dressed as a pirate was holding that parrot and telling its story. This bird, an Amazon, had been given up due to aggressive behavior. I watched in interest because this bird appeared very relaxed and friendly, going to several people in the studio.

Since that time I have met the man dressed as a pirate, Chris Biro and his birds. Chris does an educational parrot show, without prop tricks, that is basic parrot information and is geared towards parrot welfare, mostly through understanding and working with behavior by u sing positive reinforcement. A few months ago a friend decided to call Chris to ask some questions. He generously invited us up and we were met by him and some parrots.

My friend and I are some of the hardest people to please when it comes to providing quality care for parrots but Chris' place was a delightful journey as we strolled past huge cages. Each and every bird we saw had eyes that danced with happiness, curiosity and what seemed an inner peace, it was uplifting to see so many happy birds. The following is what Chris wrote about his operation "Essence".

When did you start your rescue/sanctuary organization?
Actually the first bird was given to me shortly after I started doing public entertainment with my birds while I still in college. (I did four years at Walla Walla College studying electrical engineering). The decision to take him was easy once the woman told me her husband and kids would sometimes throw shoes at his cage to make him be quiet. As it turned out, he was a wonderful Greater Sulfur Crested Cockatoo named Rufus. His minimal feather picking stopped soon after he joined me and I assume this is one of the few cases of feather picking caused by stress that I have personally encountered. I was happy to have him join us but had no intention or concept of becoming an actual "sanctuary or rescue organization".

What made you start this organization?
Actually I consider our rescue/sanctuary efforts to be just a branch of the show activities that we do. To me this is a natural part of the responsibility that goes along with making a living with birds. Personally I don't see any future to stand alone bird rescues or sanctuaries that attempt to exist primarily from public funding ­ such will nearly always be overwhelmed with the need and nearly always under funded. I think such organizations need to be part of and funded by some other primary business activity with birds. So to answer the question, I started this operation (entertainment with birds and sideline sanctuary) because I really enjoyed the reaction the public has to my birds. Now with more contact with the public and so many birds being offered to me, I have become convinced of a need for greater public education regarding proper care and training. As such this has become the primary focus of my rescue/sanctuary efforts. Taking the birds that are offered is the last resort, educating the owners about behavior problem solving methods is the main objective.

Are you a 501c 3?
No. Because I really am not good at begging for donations, there is no benefit to jumping through all the hoops involved with gaining the 501c3 status or in doing all the continuing paper work that goes along with such status after it is gained. We are self-funded through our other public activities. This of course is not to say that we could not do more if we had more outside funding, just at present we cannot offer tax credit for donations to what we do ­ which has rarely been an issue for us anyway.

How many birds can you care for at one time?
Currently there are about 80 birds on the property. But due to a recent move, we are still not set up like I want them, so currently are nearly maxed out due to current available cages. Cage funding is the main cost factor that limits how many birds I can care for at any given time. And though I have over the years gotten pretty good at building cost effective and roomy cages, it still costs money to build large cages and they tend to fill up as fast as I have the time and resources to build them. Most of our cages are currently 6x6x21 feet with the new generation being 12x14x20+ feet. I also have plans of building some 75x200 footers in a similar design ­ this has been my goal for a number of years now. We shall see how long this takes to accomplish.

How many staff and volunteers do you have?
Currently there are two people here on the property. There a few other people who volunteer and participate with the show side of what we do but unfortunately they live several hours away and thus cannot help out here on the property much. Every time they come down to visit it is always just too much fun to see them to get anything meaningful done on the property. Plus with the free flyers loose we all tend to stand around and watch the birds entertain us ­ often during such visits we have up to 12 flyers loose on the property.

Do you adopt or are you strictly sanctuary?
At present, we do not adopt birds out. I make no promises to people since the future is never certain, but I always let them know that in the past 11 years of doing this, I have never sold or traded any birds that have come to me this way. It is generally understood by both the person offering the bird and by myself that the main reason the bird is coming to me is because the people like the way we care for the birds and what we do with them in the public. If they wanted someone else to care for them, they would have given or sold them to someone else. But once a bird joins the flock, it also is understood that they will not be returning to the former owner. As to how the bird fits into the group, it is never known until some time has passed and I have had a chance to see if they are useful in the show or if there is an appropriate lonely bird needing a partner or if they will just get to hang out "club med" style.

If you do adopt what is your criteria and do you charge an adoption fee?
Does not apply to how I run this.

How many birds have come through your facility since its conception?
I currently have about 80 birds. I bought my first ten birds or so and my exwife took a few with her when we separated. We have had a few die over the years. We have also had a handful of babies here ­ we do not sell parrots. All total my guess would be that we have taken in roughly 70 birds.

Do you have a breakdown of specific species?
14 Macaws - Blue & Golds, Green Wings, Ruby, Red Fronts and Severe.
20 Cockatoos - Moluccans, Umbrellas, Sulfur Crested, greater and lesser.
12 Amazons - Red Lored¹¹s, Mexican Red Heads, Yellow Napes, Double Yellow Head, Blue Front, Mealy, Salvins.
12 Conures - Mitreds, Suns, Patagonians, Jenday, Nanday.2 African Greys. 3 Senegals. 2 Quakers.

Is there one species more that another that you feel is more difficult to rehome or if you don't adopt is there one species you see more frequently?
Moluccan and Umbrellas cockatoos come the most often and most often with the most problems. The most feather pluckers we have are one of these two species and the most difficult personalities to work with are also of these two species. Nearly all of these problem birds are hand raised ­ I suspect poor hand raising techniques are a major part of these problems.

Do you have any advice or helpful hints you can share with other rescue organization or people starting their own rescue?
It is better to give a few birds a good life than it is to take in too many birds and give them only a edium life or, worse yet, fail entirely and put them back into the home shuffling cycle again. Fund the operation through your own resources and keep your project within those limits.

Could you please share a special adoption story?
Susie came to me after I got a call from a lady with a "Bared Eyed Cockatoo" that needed a home. "She" had been purchased for a 2-year-old child and when the divorce happened two years later, the husband kept the bird because the wife liked it. I was told the bird only liked toasted white bread with butter on it ­ that was all it was eating. Obviously I said I would be there as soon as I could make the 5-hour drive. Once I arrived, I discovered a spooky Sulfur Crested Cockatoo.

Sunny, a male Moluccan Cockatoo, came to me from a breeder friend who had decided he was not breedable nor trainable by his staff. Sunny had spent the previous year living on the bottom of a 10x10x10 cage with a bunch of other Moluccan cockatoos. He was severely terrified of other birds and for time severely terrified of me too, though did okay with other people at times. Today he is my main snuggler at the fairs and lets thousands of total strangers handle and snuggle him.

Please tell our readers what they can do to help your organization.

1. The most important thing anyone can do to help us and other organizations is learn good training methods ­ operant conditioning and clicker training methods are my preferences. Learning how to resolve problems through positive reinforcement methods helps reduce the number of birds needing homes ­ really well behaved birds usually have a long list of people wanting them and thus do not end up in rescues often.
2. Obviously sending money in large quantities is also helpful <grin>. If you don't like sending money, then send bird toys, welded wire (14 gauge or stronger, ½ inch, 6 ft. tall, and by the roll) and chain link fence supplies (wire, top rail and posts).
3. If you make a living off birds, you owe it to the birds to do your part also. Either help fund others who take in birds or take in some yourself.
4. If you have only a personal pet bird(s), remember you too may someday need a home for your bird as most live a very long time. And please remember that the people who take the bird deserve your continued financial support. Most often it is the people who financed/kept the bird only a couple years that expect me to finance/keep them the rest of their life.
5. Also remember that your bird is not special because you know him, he is special anyway. As are all the others out there.

Please share any more information that you feel is important.
I do this because I love the birds. I enjoy having them here. I enjoy building better and bigger cages for them. I enjoy showing them to people at fairs and other events we do. I enjoy the reaction of people who get to see them freeflying on the property or at the fairs. I enjoy the occasional baby we raise and train here (we do not sell parrots). But my heart goes out to all those birds that live unhappy lives and are likely to be shuffled from home to home, mainly because people have never been taught good training methods, or worse yet don't think such training is important. It is my personal opinion that the single most important thing a bird owner can do for their bird is to spend some scheduled time formally training a few simple tricks. Such activities train the bird and the owner in critically missing important handling skills, not to mention increasing quality time spent together. Such simple training has the potential to greatly enhance the relationship as well as reduce the need for placing the bird into a rescue sanctuary.

To contact Chris Biro or learn more about his birds
http://nce.aaris.net/ http://www.thepiratesparrot.com

Tricks To Make Life Easier

by Shauna Roberts

There are many reasons that parrots find themselves looking for new homes. Reasons will vary from a change in ones lifestyle to parrot behavioral problems, but no matter what the reason, a parrot who has been taught independence and manners is more likely to stay in its current home, OR will be better able to find a new loving home and be able to stay there. By teaching your parrot a few simple things, you actually give him a lasting lifelong gift, helping to assure him a better future.

If you have a baby parrot, one of the first things you will want to teach it is independence. You teach this by providing security, playing games, supplying ample toys of many varieties and playing with him as well as giving him time to play on his own. Too often babies receive an overabundance of cuddle time and not enough quality time. When a baby parrot is brought up by its parents, it is constantly learning in order to grow and be able to survive. Living in a house instead of a jungle, it is up to us to teach babies how to survive in our human world. Independence is a skill that is too often pushed aside, and forgotten, leading to a life of sadness for an older parrot. Of the utmost importance to any care giver is to always learn about basic parrot behavior before adopting and to continue seeking out information and advice.

There are a few very simple tricks that are easy to implement into your every day life and may save you from pulling a few hairs in the future. Obviously you may want to vary these to fit your own routine, but hopefully these will give you some ideas to work on making your lives a bit easier.

DROP IT is used when a parrot gets hold of something they shouldn't have, such as a pencil, pen, your glasses or priceless something. Ask them to drop it. They should drop it immediately. This is easily taught by letting them take an object, saying, "drop it" and showing them a favorite treat. Once they drop the object, give them the treat and praise them. Repeat and many parrots learn this in 5 minutes. If your parrot is not interested in food rewards, offer a favorite toy or once they drop the object a nice scritch.

NO BUTTON saves buttons from being popped, jewelry nipped, zippers played with, etc., and after a few "no buttons" they don't even bother anymore. Whenever they look like they are going for a button, put your hand over it and say "no button". Be persistent. Reward him with praise or a treat if you like for avoiding buttons and zippers.

HOLD ON comes in handy in those few times when you suddenly need to leave them for a brief moment, say on a the back of a chair, play gym, etc. They stay put and wait for my return. Always say "hold on" if you are leaving and when you return praise them, hug and scritch them if they like it, for being so good.

STAY THERE is used if they're with you while preparing food, if it's a bird allowed on your shoulder or perhaps on the counter while preparing food. This helps to keep them where ever that place is. If they want a food item and come down for it, I say "get back up there" or "stay up there" and they'll go back up, stay put, out of the way and then give them whatever it was they were after. They'll soon learn they can have treats and receive them faster if they stay put. They also know this if they're getting off a play gym or such when they shouldn't be. Persistence in putting them back on the gym is needed and then praise them whenever they are staying, as they should. Also reward them with toys or treats if you like.

SILENCE WHILE ON THE PHONE deserves praise for being good/quiet after a phone call. As a result they often will not scream, or whatever they were doing if the phone rings until the time you get off. Never neglect to let your parrot know how good it is.

AH AH! means "no" but in bird language. Don't yell this unless they are in immediate danger, but say it sharp enough to get their attention and they know for some reason, you mean business. To them I think it resembles a bit of an alarm call. Birds should know the meaning of "no" to mean stop immediately whatever they are doing. They may react quicker to the sound of an "ah ah". After they stop what they are doing, you can tell them how good they are and assure them that everything is now okay.

IT'S OK is used to reassure your parrot if it becomes scared by something. By doing do so, and your parrot becoming familiar with these words, you can help to calm down your parrot if a need should arise.

EASY comes in handy if they are acting volatile due to hormones or becoming overly excited and rough playing a game. They seem to take a step back now if I say "easy" and calm down a bit. It can also be used to express to them that beak pressure may be a bit harder than needed. My birds mostly learned this while maturing.

These are little tricks that, once implemented into your life, you will not even think about after a while. They will become routine and part of the daily communication between you and your bird. If you tell your birds all during the day how good they are, how much you love them when they are self entertaining, being quiet, etc., you will increase your chances of having a cooperative bird. I have always found most birds very eager to please us, if given some idea of what we would like them to be doing, so be sure to communicate to them what good behavior is. Also needed for any tricks to work are a good diet, stimulating environment and 10-12 hours of dark-quiet time every night.

So many birds find themselves needing new homes due to behavior problems. Start working with your baby or rehomed bird immediately. Teaching tricks and playing games will help to strengthen your relationship. Parrots are intelligent beings and love to learn. They love new challenges and are most often eager to please. If you encounter an undesirable behavior, first look for the button that is setting it off and try changing your routine as not to push that particular button. Keep in mind that if you have a baby parrot, behavior may change naturally as he or she reaches maturity. This is only natural. Of most importance is to listen to your bird. If it is screaming or biting it is likely trying to communicate something to you. Are you listening? Are you paying attention and learning its body language? Even those sometimes very subtle clues such as squinting eyes and slightly ruffled feathers are telling you something. Then plan on how you will react to an undesired behavior if it should happen, so as not to reinforce it. When a behavior is the way it is desired to be, do not be shy, be sure to praise your bird and reinforce its good behavior with positive reinforcement.

With a little work you can have a rewarding, ongoing relationship with your parrot, and if it should end up going to a new home in the future, you will be helping to assure your feathered companion a better future.

Is Love Enough? Winnie's Story

A Rehome Story by Shauna Roberts

One April morning in 2001, I checked my e-mail and was asked to consider taking in another male Umbrella Cockatoo. At that time I could not take him, but kept in contact and he went to a dear friend who has a small avian welfare facility of about 40 birds. I later met Winnie at her house and felt that instant "closeness" that sometimes happens when you and a bird seem to click just right. Due to circumstances at that time (one of my Umbrella Cockatoos required special care) I still could not adopt him. Six months later I was contacted again, and asked if I might be able to adopt him, and this time I could, so this bright eyed lovely creature is now with me for as long as possible. Although some might call me his "forever" home, I hesitate to use that word, since its most likely Winnie will outlive me and go elsewhere later in his life.

So why do I have Winnie? He is a bird that has known nothing, absolutely nothing, but love since he was adopted from a bird store in CA sometime in 1997, yet at 4.5 years old found himself with me, his fourth home in his young life. He is a very well behaved bird, loving, friendly and bouncing with personality. The love he had received during his life is very apparent in his actions, his trust, and also in the way those he has lived with still ask about him.

Starting out he was adopted from a store by a family to primarily be a pet for an eleven-year-old boy. It did not take long before the boy realized that an Umbrella Cockatoo was much more of a responsibility than he was up to at such a young age. So he decided the best thing would be if Winnie could find a new home, a forever home and he went back to the store on consignment. His older sister and husband found out and immediately took Winnie to live with them. Winnie was loved whole-heartedly. Out and about with his people daily, helping around the house, joining in conversations, truly one of the family and life was good. Then his person was blessed with pregnancy but in later months, it was not going easy. She was in pain, which put her in bed, and she could not spend the time with Winnie he was used to. As a result he was screaming, which tore his person up and her pain became worse. So she reluctantly started to search for a foster home for Winnie, where he could be with other Cockatoos, be flighted and eat organic foods. She found my friend.

Again, he was loved and continued his home-cooked organic meals that he had been accustomed to all of his life, but he seemed a bit depressed. After all, he had gone from being an only bird to sharing his life with 40 other parrots. He was in a wonderful place but after 6 months, he began to feather pick. That is when I was contacted to bring him home. His person, who could not bring him back home yet, agreed to surrender him, but worried terribly that he might become a "Black Beauty". So now he is here, with 3 other large Cockatoos and here he will stay.

I told a group about Winnie once and received several unpleasant judgmental comments that he could not have been loved, since he had been given up. This was without asking me for further information about his history. Too often birds are given up and it most often does stir up angry feelings, but we also need to remember there are many different circumstances in life and we should not judge before we know the facts.

Winnie was given up the first time wanting a more secure situation for his future. The second time was due to a physical problem that couldn't be helped, and with plans of his returning home in the future. The third time was because he was showing signs of needing a different situation. Although birds are most often given up for lack of knowledge/education resulting in behavior challenges, not enough commitment, caretakers becoming bored with the bird, etc., there are also those who are tearfully given up to better situations, or due to illness, or the birds can choose another home/person on their own. As I stated earlier, I'll love and provide for Winnie for as long as I can but I cannot even guarantee him that I will be his last home. One thing for sure, he is loved, he will be loved, and has always been loved. I have always found a certain sadness to this, that even a loved bird could find himself in his fourth home at 4-½ years of age.

Helpful hints:

Hydrogen peroxide will get almost any stain out of your carpet safely. Blood and blueberries come out completely, most of the time, without changing the color of your carpet.