Rescue Report
by Shauna Roberts
Summer 2003
Flying with your bird :: Health and weight monitoring :: Mackie comes home...continued :: Tribute to Elayne Britton Brown
by Shauna Roberts
It is not uncommon to have to move a bird from point A to point B and one option is to fly with that bird. When flying, your bird will need a few things: A reservation, health certificate from a vet and a carrier approved by the FAA for travel.
Check with individual airlines when booking a flight, as some may not allow pets on board. Others allow one, and some allow two animals. When you make your own flight reservation you should also make a reservation for your bird at that time and check back to confirm your birds reservation as time for the the trip approaches. The cost of flying a bird in the cabin with you is about $75 and you will need to have cash or credit card ready for payment at the airport ticket counter on the day your bird is traveling.
You will also need an appointment with your vet to obtain an airline pet health certificate. The examination must be conducted within 10 days of the flight (check individual airline requirements) and must be presented at the ticket counter.
Approved travel carriers need to fit under the seat in front of you. The bottom needs be amply padded with a water absorption material such as several layers of paper towels, a bowl of food (preferably fruit to supply nutrients and water) and airlines will also request water so it’s a good idea to carry a small bottle of drinking water with you.
There are all sorts of carriers, many hard sided with barred doors and I have seen some covered with wire by the caregivers to prevent chewing out by determined parrots. What works wonderfully however is the Sherpa pet carrier. This is a soft-sided bag with netting on the sides to provide light and air ventilation. I recently traveled with an umbrella cockatoo, with a reputation of chewing through anything but he did wonderful in the Sherpa bag. I was assured that the Sherpa has been used to transport many parrots including other large cockatoos and even macaws.
To prepare the Sherpa carrier, several layers of paper towels were put on the bottom of the carrier. Then light cardboard such as the next day air envelopes was put on the sides of the carrier to give it some shape, with only paper towels piled up in front of some of the window screens. The U2 (umbrella cockatoo) soon moved paper towels from the sides and was looking around a bit. He soon let me see that he was happy as a clam, clicking and clacking, all snuggled in to his cozy little nest. He was extremely relaxed and content, even eating his fruit at times during the flight. Although he was in the carrier for approximately 5 hours, he never even seemed to consider chewing the Sherpa. When we landed he was refreshed and happy and although a bit confused by his new surroundings, his relaxed trip helped him make the change to his new home that much easier.
A Parrots Weight and Health: Parrot to Caregiver Ratio
by Shauna Roberts
Finding new homes for parrots is an ever increasing problem. 1. some people with good hearts may not say “no” often enough (unquestionably hard to do) because they do not know their own limitations. 2. an adequate person to parrot ratio is not being met.
Surrendered parrots need and deserve adequate care and time but when there are too many parrots in a given place, both will suffer if a facility does not have adequate staff to meet those needs. In some facilities parrots may be crowded in cages and caregivers only have enough time to feed and clean cages with little or nil time for birds needing interaction, resocialization, general rehabilitation or even being introduced to their own species and learning how to be birds.
Some facilities are able to offer large outdoor flights, rather than keeping parrots indoors. Upon first glance this can be extremely enchanting, seeing birds in the sun and fresh air, as they should be. Upon second glance however one should again consider the basic welfare of the parrots, for the parrot’s sake, and question the person to parrot ratio. Whenever the parrot ratio is much greater than the caretakers then those seemingly beautiful flights turn into nothing more than super sized holding cages.
Even the newest parrot caretaker knows the importance of tracking a bird’s weight in order to be alerted to health problems. Weight can alert one to health problems before we see any other signs but if staff is not adequate then proper monitoring realistically may not be taking place, it’s just one more thing that takes time.
Monitoring should be ongoing, veterinarian’s recommendation is on a weekly basis, keeping charts on each bird. This is not only of the utmost importance for individual bird’s health but to all birds in any facilities care. Weighing birds takes only a few minutes but when you multiply that time by X amount of birds, and divide by number of caregivers, plus feeding and any other chores, then that time for simple weight taking can become overwhelming to do on a weekly basis. Further complicating this task can also be when too many birds are housed all together in single flights. Trying to know who you weighed and who you have not can be nearly impossible in such a situation and for birds housed in large groups, there is absolutely no way to monitor droppings so monitoring weight becomes even more important.
Weight in outdoors flights can also be a problem for some birds if they are not housed correctly, as in mixing species and not enough adequate feeding stations are supplied. Some species will be intimidating to other species and especially if not enough adequate stations are provided, the shyer species could starve and without being weighed and the caregiver may not be alerted in time.
A simple task like monitoring weight is of extreme importance when caring for parrots and should not be overlooked or brushed off. It acts as a health indicator and is of the utmost importance anytime but especially when continually taking new birds in. Parrot welfare facilities are NOT closed aviaries so risk of disease is generally higher and resident birds are at new risk, anytime a new bird is added, even when quarantine procedures are followed to lessen that risk.
Mackie Comes HOME, continuedby Shauna Roberts
Bringing Mackie to my home was an idea that had been thought about and discussed for a very long time - around 3 yrs. I personally had mixed feelings, because as much as I wanted to add Mackie to my flock, I was concerned about taking him away from the stability that he knew. I was assured by everyone that knew Mackie (The Gabriel Foundation staff, volunteers, vet and friends) that he was ready for a home and a change; this is in keeping with the Foundation’s belief that every bird, if able and when ready, deserves a home of its own. The Foundation realizes that as wonderful as any parrot welfare place might be, it cannot always provide the degree of interaction that a home does for individual birds.
Even though I had loved him from afar previously, after meeting Mackie in October 2002 while visiting the aviary, he captured my heart completely. We were building a larger bird room on to the house that would enable us to provide space to accommodate larger cages, possibly one for Mackie. Plans were made to bring Mackie to our home. Julie Murad had planned to bring him here, but due to an injury last August 2002 at AAV, she was unable to make the trip. So, my husband and I traveled to the Foundation for 6 days, to see how things went with Mackie and to give him time to know me better to make a transition from the Foundation to our home as easy as possible for him. He also met my husband, which went very well even though Mackie understandably isn’t as sure of men as he is comfortable with women. The time was filled with mixed emotions, although Mackie seemed ready for an adventure, I knew he'd be leaving friends behind.
Before leaving the Foundation, Julie requested that I read Mackie’s file. It was extremely difficult to read of his past abuse and there were some things that I hadn’t realized. Mackie had not only been burned with cigarettes and later sprayed with bleach but it was suspected by the vet that he had also received burns on his legs and feet from the liquid cleaner, Tilex, or a similar product.
I took a deep breath and read on. After reading that a man had slapped Mackie, I had to get up and walk around. The slap itself was bad enough, but it was so hard that it caused Mackie spinal injury! You might imagine how overwhelmed I was with emotion and still am whenever I think about it.
Upon further reading, the vets’ notes indicated that his wings were stiffly placed along his sides, since he couldn’t open them. The charts later read “great progress!” Mackie could open his wings a little bit. The cause for this is unknown, but it is suspected that he had several burns under his wings. The injury was so great, perhaps combined with the blow to his spine, so the muscles used in flight had atrophied so that he couldn’t move his wings.
Thanks to the Foundation’s gradual rehabilitation program, Mackie is now able to move those beautiful wings and can even hang upside down flapping in his happy cockatoo way. They do continue to be a bit stiff however so we’ll continue to work on physical therapy. Most likely however, Mackie will never be able to fly due to severe feather follicle damage from the burns and his lack of primaries. I was told that it used to be that if you gently stretched or extended his wings out that he would cry, but now he cries no more in pain.
I can’t help but cry myself, thinking that such abuse ever happened to him, because he’s such a sweet giving creature. And there was another item noted. Mackie would go into fearfulness as if he was seeing monsters that weren’t there. The vet had suggested the use of the drug Halopuridol but after discussion it was decided to wait a bit and see how he did without it and continued reassurance to Mackie that he was now safe. Mackie later seemed to be improving so the Halopuridol was never used. Even today however, he seems to have times when he reverts to the old Mackie, saying don’t touch me, as if he’s still burned or sees monsters of the past but if not bothered, within seconds almost, is fine and happy to let me touch him where ever I want.
The day came to leave and we said our good byes. We stopped by his vet and he received wing, tummy, toe and head kisses and a loving good bye from vet and staff. Julie drove us to the airport where she got his Sherpa carrier ready and again there was an emotional good bye. The efforts of so many had saved him. Julie and her bird helper, Rosa, had cared physically and emotionally for him for nearly 6 six years, and now he was leaving. He had come such a long way to a place Julie was never certain he would reach. Before we said our farewells, a moment was filled with the sadness of saying “good bye”…but then changed to, “see you later” as I’m sure we’ll be visiting again.
Mackie did wonderfully during the flight. He had to come out during the security check but did so easily and was happy to return to his carrier. Beak-clicking contentedly, Mackie was snug in the soft-sided carrier eating fruit and other goodies, including some crusty seeded bread that the airlines gave us for dinner.
Upon arrival, Mackie happily went to a friend who had been bird-sitting for us, telling her all about his big adventure as we loaded our luggage into the van. He chatted all the way home but looked puzzled once we arrived home as if he was thinking “this isn’t any place I know, where am I?” We walked down the hall to the bird room and he seemed a bit nervous for the first time since we had departed The Gabriel Foundation. We entered the bird room and my 3 male U2’s and M2 hen were waiting for him all on the front cage bars. Once we were in the center of the room, Mackie’s crest went up and he said “Hi Mackie” and the other cockatoos said “Hi” and I could feel him instantly relax in my arms, I was amazed.
Since Mackie’s arrival, he’s done very well. I’ve brought cockatoos in before, even seemingly well adjusted. I have always loved cockatoos but had never witnessed the ease of one becoming part of the existing flock the way Mackie has. Right away he joined in with the flock’s vocalizations, and the other birds joined in with his. For my birds’ habituation, I had set up his cage in advance, and placed a stuffed cockatoo inside and talked to it, touched it, and called it Mackie. Mackie appears to be comfortable in our home and the other birds are very accepting of him. They are all going outside daily and Mackie always has at least one of the U2 males (Casper or Winnie) as a companion, sometimes two, and also Annabelle M2. Unfortunately Niles U2 can’t join them directly, since he’s a bit of a bully in group settings, but he is next to them. They have abundant branches to chew, things to “talk” about in their own language, plenty to watch and their entire area always needs exploring to see what’s new to be chewed!
Mackie loves to sing, dance and do his dinosaur roar, even when we ask him. My vet came up to meet him and he was pleased to show off his mighty roar, handsome crest and sway appropriately.
What more can I say? Mackie is home and I love him with all that I am. My flock has taken him under their wings so he’s happy with feathered companionship as well as human company. He’s come a long way from the Mackie was to be euthanized in 1995 by the original breeder. Thank heavens that she called The Gabriel Foundation as a possible alternative. What a loss it would have been for so many without this special cockatoo. I know I would have missed out on a lot. Mackie has much to teach many of us about spirit, forgiveness and living in general. Isn’t he amazing?
A Friend Is Lost: Elayne Britton Brownby Shauna Roberts
I remember the first day I saw Elayne Brown, in a bird store where she was employed. I was impressed because after months of coming in as a customer she was the first person I felt spoke knowledgeably of birds and with a true compassion. Elayne went on to organize and fund two avian conferences on the Portland OR area, offering college credits and bringing in and hosting nationally known speakers to further people’s education about parrots. She served up great lunches and oh the homemade cookies were awesome. All proceeds from the conferences were donated to avian causes to further education or needed care. Before that she was also a familiar site at local bird shows, working to support Macaw Landing. Elayne was a true friend of the parrots who never let ego get in the way. She worked tirelessly for their cause, to better their lives and never asked for any recognition of any sort. She was an offsite liaison volunteer for The Gabriel Foundation, and volunteer at fundraising functions, conferences and symposiums.
Elayne was born in Albuquerque NM September 13, 1946 and died July 15, 2003. Her memorial service was much like her life, simple as she requested it be. Held in a garage at the Colton Fire Department, another cause she worked hard to support. Bagpipes were played in her honor that day and I could hear her saying “Aren’t they cool! They are awesome” She will be missed by many, especially her feathered parrot friends, the several that she helped to re-home, rescue and educate their caregivers to give them better lives.