Muse

We need more of these stories! These parrots deserve so much better than they get. I am smiling ear to ear as I imagine this Macaw's new lease on life.

I will see if I can get permission to post some of her photos of him at her home, on this forum. I am pretty sure she will be okay with it.

Muse, You hold a place of honor with me and the members of this forum for doing what you did to help this lady and Regis start a new life together.

Thanks Ray. What we did wasn't much really. The whole thing was a lot of little pieces coming together. It truly was a team effort and I am so happy that this poor bird is finally going to have a good life.

Oh Ray, I am so sorry. I know the pain you must be feeling. Marden has been gone seven months now, and I still cry almost every day. The bond we share with them is one that when broken by death is hard to get over.

That is a great price for kraft paper. We use packing paper which is essentially newspaper without the printing. We get it at Home Depot in 70 sheet rolls. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pratt-Retail-Specialties-24-in-x-24-in-Packing-Paper-70-Sheets-4004001/202029374 The main reason I like it is because it makes poop-checking a breeze. It's basically an off-white color so the true color of the poop shows up nicely. I still remember panicking once when I thought Marden had passed a huge quantity of blood and it turned out to be a red graphic on the back side of the newspaper that was showing through because the paper was wet.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Regis the blue and gold macaw and Grover the Amazon were prisoners in tiny cages. As near as anyone can tell, they lived this way for at least 25 years, somewhere in Virginia.

A kind veterinarian found out about their plight and immediately mobilized into action, trying to find fosters and hopefully permanent homes. I contacted her to let her know we could take them in even temporarily until a permanent home was found but she stated she wanted to find someone closer. She was also contacted by a woman from Arizona who had heard about the birds' plight and was willing to the take Regis. At first she was turned down due to the distance, but the vet stated she had this feeling, and after viewing the woman's Facebook page she found out they have a flock of well cared for and very spoiled macaws. It was apparent from her tons of pictures and videos that they literally live for these birds. She works from home and can spend lots of time with them. They have big cages but are out most of the day, and a huge planted aviary complete with an outdoor shower and waterfall to play in. But after just finishing the aviary, they were a bit short on cash to buy a last minute flight to pick up the bird. That's where we came in.

The vet posted a request for frequent flyer miles. I let my husband, who travels for business, know and he agreed to donate the round trip flight.

Meanwhile, a very lovely woman was fostering Regis and he began to bask in the new-found attention and actually being able to move around!

Note how shredded his flights and tail are from beating against the bars in that tiny cage.

On Sunday, his new mommy came and met him and Monday she flew back home with him to their beautiful paradise of a home with his new flock! We are very honored to have had even such a small part in this rescue. It's one of those perfect happy endings. Poor Regis has found a wonderful home with flight and flock and parronts that will love him. Grover is going to remain with the vet that rescued them. A win all the way around!

Is there no legal recourse?

There is, but birds don't have jobs or lawyers. They are completely dependent on the kindness of others to raise enough money for a lawyer. And even then, that doesn't guarantee justice will be served.

It didn't. One is already missing and had a very bad beak in need of a trim. Just found out today when she was offered help to get it out of a tree, she told this person no, one of 2 things will happen... he will come down to eat or die. I am sick that she got 11 of them. She will not be getting the other 7. 2 I have committed to so that leaves 5......

There are so many people opening "rescues" that shouldn't even be bird owners. This one definitely sounds like she falls into that category. I'd be interested in knowing also, as I network with a lot of other rescues. That one I definitely want to avoid.

Thru a friend I was invited to help with a surrender. This guy loved his birds and it was obvious. Too f-ing bad that the rescue people were only there for themselves. I am very angry about it because this was a good guy who is much older and the primary caretaker was put in the hospital and not expected to be coming back home. This sanctuary saw all the stainless steel cages and I swear busted a gut rushing to get them loaded. Saw the pistachio shells and commented that he shouldn't be spending that money on that, they won't be getting them at the sanctuary blah blah blah. I tried to get her to let me take an amazon but all she saw was dollar signs. Sorry had to vent... did sign the petition though. :-) hope she gets back home soon!

I have to agree with you. Many "rescues" pretend to be non-profits but operate just at the edge of being so. I understand what it takes to run a rescue. I understand the need for income. But really, you have to do this with the goal of compassion and that includes for the owners. Sometimes we can help the owners keep their birds. In some cases owners are giving them up simply because they can't take care of them by themselves.

We don't charge a fee for surrender. If an owner wishes to donate, they can. Some do, some do not. As I said, unless miracles fall in my lap, I am not going to adopt out birds. This is why we weren't running away from taking the budgies. Many rescues won't take them because their adoption fee won't even cover a few weeks of food, let alone the vet care.

So far we have rescued 40 birds but taken in only a few hundred in donations, not even enough to cover the lab work for the budgies. Most of what we do comes out of our own pockets. But I try to do in each situation what is right and fair to all involved. In some cases the owners are just out to dump the birds, but in other cases, they are grieving parronts who are being forced to part with their babies by cruel fate. Then I try to imagine myself in their shoes and do whatever I can to make it easier for them.

I don't ever want to have to fight through court to get a bird back from an abusive and neglectful owner. The woman who adopted Mealy seems mentally ill to me. She is now saying she will give Mealy back if they offer her a comparable "cuddly" bird like a Cockatoo or an Amazon. After she neglected Mealy? I hope she *never* is able to get another bird! I think I'd have gone all shades of medieval on her the moment she grabbed the bird by the neck. It shows complete disregard for the bird and that she only sees it as a possession.

SOoooooo cute!!! Love the mayhem one!

Sophie DOES have her own checkbook! When I do bills and pay by check... Sophie sits on the opposite side and pays her bills. She has her own registrar. She talks out loud, and tries to balance. She doesn't do a good job! Nancy

I would love to see this! Sophie sounds so adorable!

Wish I lived closer as I am looking for a cockatiel. I have four parrots but for some reason I have it in my head that a cockatiel is going to be my next rehomed parrot. I will find one, I just know it.

Keep an eye on Craigslist. I see cockatiels and budgies constantly on there. And if any bird needs rescued, it is often the ones that are being dumped on CL.

That's funny! I bet your daughter was surprised by the "translation."

Megan has a few good ones.

She learned "Whee" and "peek-a-boo" but she says "weekaboo". She also likes to turn things around. I tell her "Be a nice bird. Don't bite." She translated that to "Don't bite, nice bird." One of her favorite phrases (learned while I was attempting to potty train Marden) is "Come on, go potty! Do it, do it! SQUEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeze one out!"

This is the second day in a row that Luna regurgitates his food for me. It is sweet but disgusting at the same time! It's happened where I'm holding him and he comes up to me and leaves me a present.

Peck, too, has found a lover.

It's the good looking bird he sees in his stainless steel bell. LOL

It makes cleaning the bell and perch below it a lot less fun.......

Whisper will snuggle with me but then she has to make attempts to destroy my earrings or necklace or regurge somehow that kind of spoils the cuddle effect.

Megan loves shirts. I don't wear jewelry, but then I don't let her sit on my shoulder as a rule because she's bitten me in the face before. Daddy's shirts often have nice lacy patterns around the shoulders area where she will sit and make little snips with her beak.

Cute. Amadeus will snuggle like that with me, when he is good and ready, lol. Most of the time he whistles and talks to me trying to get my attention. I get up and go to his cage and try to get him to step up to me and come back to my SLUG chair across the room. I think the mistakes I made when I first got him have him responding too aggressively. Biting, not hard, is his way of playing. I don't mind the nips, as he is just talking to me with his beak, and he does not try to actually hurt me. When he nips me I say no, and he backs up and says no back to me. When he does this at my desk, it is usually because he wants more attention than I am giving to him. When he nips me on the neck in my chair, he just wants to snuggle, but the NO comes out, and he gets taken back to his cage.

Megan kind of does the same with him. She can be very rough when playing though, often breaking skin. Good thing daddy has tough hands. She doesn't play like that with mama because I don't let her chomp my fingers.

It sounds like your boy has you pretty well trained!

I still can't get my mind around Ray reaching under the cover and rubbing Cricket's head without looking. I am granted sporadic and gradually more frequent privileges to touch Gilbert on the head, only through the bars and then I must watch carefully for signs of her being finished far sooner than me. When I see that photo, I think "maybe someday" and yes, I too have pangs of envy. Lucky lucky Daddy bird.

I know exactly what you mean. Peck has only recently permitted me to give head scritches out of the cage. And at times he does the 'big bad bird' fluff thing, but still lets me (and I am stupid enough to try) without a bite. The trust is coming. Slowly. He's staying on my head longer each time. He's learned not to yank out clumps of hair but rather to preen more gently. But it's all on his terms and I do so very cautiously. He still strikes the bars of his cage at times. He actually flew across the cage the other day but merely ran into my arm with closed beak rather than biting. He's very hard to figure out.

Daddy is this girl's world. She tolerates me. I am her servant, food dispenser, and her minion but she will suck up to me with voluntary kisses if she knows I am going to take her to where daddy is.

OH, A daddy grey.

We affectionately refer to him as the "daddy stand". When Mar was alive, he was the preferred perch for both birds. Even though Mar loved his mama, he loved his daddy more (except during hormonal times). Megan worships the ground he walks on.

I will not be jealous. I will not be jealous. I will not be jealous. I will not be jealous.

 

I'm so jealous! lol

I try not to be, but I can't help it. Marden was very cuddly, in fact - he loved to climb under my shirt and nestle in my bosom to sleep. He was the most cuddly bird I have seen. It was like a stab in the heart every time I'd see Megan cuddling daddy.

But in a new development: Jack is a mitred conure. Somewhere in his distant past he was abused. His right femur is shattered and his right eye ruptured. He went for his vet check as part of quarantine a couple weeks ago where, sadly, they found his good eye is developing a cataract so that he will soon be fully blind.

Sunday he was acting like he didn't feel good and his right eye was matted shut. When it finally opened, it looked infected. So off to the vet we went. As the vet tech and I were trying to get him on the scale, he jumped on my arm. I was trembling, expecting a bite. He's lunged at me every time I got near him.

Nothing. Just a sweet bird sitting on my arm. Then, he climbed on my shoulder as soon as she left the room. I was really nervous about that. He'd only been here a month (exactly - he came here 7/11). I normally don't let birds I don't know well on my shoulder. I cringed in anticipation of a bite to the face. Nothing...

The "lunging" I was perceiving as aggression is him using his beak to steady himself because of his disability. With his broken femur (shattered in multiple places and not treated) he can't "step up" like other birds. And he's almost blind and cannot see where he is going. He's lunging forward with beak open to feel where he is going and to steady himself. He doesn't bite down and pull himself. It's all very gentle. I feel like such a fool for not trusting him.

He spent a good hour on my shoulder last night after I got him out to clean his eye with saline solution (per doctor's orders). He was very upset with being toweled but immediately forgave me and very gently climbed the front of my shirt (without leaving holes) to perch on my shoulder. I found he is a cuddler, a preener and a kisser. The preening tends to be one hair at a time and he removed a few (Please, God, let them have been the grey ones!) but he was super sweet and affectionate.

So now I can be a little less jealous of hubby's cuddle bird because I have one, too.

Note to self: stay out of the way any time Dee's got the bit between her teeth! Wow!!

 

I'm not a really big fan of the "everything happens for a reason" thing. Usually, I think stuff happens & we figure out how to live w/it. But I think I have to make an exception in this case. As hard as it was to lose Mar, it may have been the best thing that could have happened to many used & abused parrots who might not have found a happy ending if you didn't have all that left over love.

 

W/all that you've already accomplished, I can't believe it's still early days. Really looking forward to watching this grow because I have a feeling it's going to be amazing.

I believe we would have probably talked about "we want to have a bird rescue" for years before it happened. Marden's death was a catalyst. An extremely painful one, but it did goad me into immediate action. It's hard to believe he's been gone for nearly seven months. I still cry every day. I was getting to the point where I was sleeping and find it harder and harder to wake up in the mornings.

We now have FORTY NINE birds here. I am doing most of the work with some help from my husband who works and travels. But the added responsibility has been therapeutic and is driving me onward. The tears are still there, but I am working through them.

It is a struggle, and I suspect it will continue to be a struggle. For one thing, the majority of the birds here are not flashy macaws or Greys. They are budgies and cockatiels. Birds that are undervalued and way under-appreciated! They are just as smart and can be very much as sweet and as great a companion. However, because of their cheap price they often receive little to no vet care, cheap food, and less attention. They appeal to the wrong class of consumers - very often given to children as pets.

And I have personally seen donations POUR in for other rescues that take on groups of abused birds - or even single abused birds - but even though these twenty four were rescued from deplorable conditions it seems there is far less support for their plight. But I am determined to show no prejudice for the larger birds. Budgies get the same love and care here as any of the bigger birds. All are precious to me.

Right now it's hectic because we have three still in quarantine downstairs so we set up a quarantine in the guest room. Then we took in an additional twelve birds who the SPCA said were abandoned by the owner. It was not as dire as it sounded at first - he lived with his father and moved out and left the birds there. But the father is older and in declining health and could not care for them. I just couldn't say no. He had no where else to turn.

So I have ten more cages to clean with six from the flock from Virginia and four more from the last group of birds. Our eventual goal is to redesign the quarantine area (as we are FULL UP now and won't be needing it until we can expand or get the outdoor facility built) as the budgie's living quarters by putting in a large walk in aviary (indoors for now). This way they can be reunited as a flock. This was how the twenty-four lived their lives in their former home and I'd like to be able to give them at least that much freedom. I can't let them have the run of the house as they did, but I can give them room to fly and a safe environment to do it in. I just have to keep reminding myself to have patience and faith that this will come to pass.

Thanks for your kind words and encouragement! I will definitely keep everyone here posted as much as time allows with what is going on at Marden's Ark.

I am so sorry for your loss. That must have been terrible to find out while you were at work. That is the very sad thing about the way society views "pets" - as "just a (bird/dog/cat/etc)." We bond to them as our babies and the loss is every bit as painful as losing a human child. Yet we don't get the bereavement leave or any consideration. My husband had to go through that as he had just left on a business trip the day Marden died.

Regarding Maalik mimicking Bogart's song, I had a similar experience. Mar, who went to bed early with daddy, would make a soft cooing sound when I came to bed. After he died Megan, who was always hateful with me at bedtime, began making this same sound when I came to bed. It wasn't as immediate. She took a while after he died to start doing this but it is comforting and a tender reminder of my baby boy at the same time.

I pray for comfort for you at this difficult time.

So happy to hear he's back!

But a Lap Bird....

(Only for daddy)

I am so sorry to hear this. I am praying he will come home soon.

Some say to post here: http://www.911parrotalert.com/ as that is where a lot of parrot owners look if they find someone else's bird.

If you have other birds you may want to put them outside in cages as well. Sometimes birds will call for each other and it may help him navigate back if he can hear one of his siblings.

You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Mealy-Home/553806768074809 THIS LINK NO LONGER ACTIVE

I don't know how many are on Facebook, so here is another link:

http://forums.avianavenue.com/index.php?threads%2Fbring-mealy-home.141237%2F#post-2031675

They have a petition going. I won't bother with the link as you can find it at either Facebook or the avianavenue.com link. I signed it, for all the good it will do.

I have decide Marden's Ark is going to focus on sanctuary and not adoption. Adoption contracts are not taken seriously - the law enforcement really dropped the ball on this one I believe. You think by getting someone to sign a well-written and authored for maximum protection document that you are buying some assurance of good care for the bird. Not! I think I would have left the bird in the car with the husband and dragged that woman out from in front of the car by her hair and beaten her senseless. She CHOKED the bird, pulling her by her HEAD to try to get her back! It's very obvious from not only that fact but from the condition she let that poor bird get into that she doesn't care a bit about it. And now the rescue has to beg and plead and raise funds that will go in some LAWYER'S pockets to save the bird. The whole thing is very, very sad and very frustrating for those in rescue.

We want to save as many as we can - but are we really saving them by adopting them out? This just makes me sick. Very very sick.