Tonight when I got home from work, there was a message waiting for me on my answering machine from a woman I didn't know. she wanted to know if I did foster care for African greys. She got my name from a Bird lady I know who fosters birds, and sells bird toys near my home. She is a wonderful person.
This woman who called me is a caregiver that has been taking care of a woman for the past 3 years. This woman is 88 years old and has a house full of animals, cats, dogs, and birds. She now has dementia, has 24 hour care and will soon need to go into a long term care facility. So before I called her back, I thought it over (took about 2 minutes) and decided if a bird needed a foster home, I will take it and foster it.
Well it turns out, she really is looking for homes for a 13 year old AG, and a 23 year old Amazon. she didn't even know if it was a cag or tag, but she now knows from me, it is a cag. She said the cag is very smart and talks up a storm, and the amazon talks only a little. This caregiver has bought toys for them as needed, and brings them fruits and veggies from her home. Up until she cared for them , they were only fed seeds. The saddest part is the birds haven't been out of their cages ever as far as this caregiver knows. She puts her hand in there cages, and they will step up easily onto her hand and step down, but she as never taken them to out as she is only there to care for the animals for a few hours. She tries to sit and talk to them, but her time is limited. She has never had birds before. She said it is a very sad situation for them.
They are in very large cages she says. When I heard of the situation, I knew they were plucked, and they are, especially the cag....
So she is looking for a good forever home, not a foster home. She doent want to see them go into a rescue facility. I told her if she ran into trouble, I would take them on a foster only until they found forever homes...we'll see... But my heart reads or these poor birds. Oh, and she has 6 parakeets and a larger parakeet type bird as well.
What a horrible situation.