Bird rescue

[Pajarita]

“Once people find out that you’re a bird person, word travels when someone doesn’t want a bird,” truer words have not been spoken!

Another rescue recently opened and which, most likely, will be at full capacity in a matter of months...

http://www.inforum.com/news/3700725-bir ... imals-need

[shiraartain]

A girl who came over for a visit took a look at the parrots and enviously remarked that we had gotten two extremely expensive birds for free. Mind you, this is the same girl who told me she doesn't take in adopted birds because they're too *~problematic~*.

Really wish people would out aside their bias for temporarily cooperative babies and take a look around. And yes, I did buy Fajr, but I couldn't find any local rescues online (was later informed of them through word of mouth) and was working within a time constraint. I still feel awful about it, but live and learn I guess.

That said, what this woman is doing is wonderful, and I hope I can gain the knowledge and enough financial stability to do the same someday! Or at least have one close by enough for me to help out!

[Wolf]

Ah-h Shiraartain, you have nothing to feel guilty about in your getting Fajr. Ok so you did not get him from a rescue, but then you did not have a rescue to go to. We do try to be understanding and not everyone has a bird rescue nearby also there is a downside for whatever way one goes about getting a bird, I really don't want you to look at it too deeply as it will just make you feel bad and that is not my purpose, but if you don't get a bird from a rescue then they may not be able to accept another bird right away, so what happens with that bird that could not get in the rescue? But suppose you get a bird from the rescue instead of buying it at the store or from the breeder, what happens to that bird? There is a downside to either way of this bird thing and there always will be and that is not your fault. Suppose you decided to not get a bird from anyone then there is still the same downside to that if you want to look at it in that way. All you can really do is the best that you can for you and you help where you can and then you get to hope that eventually it might make a difference. To my way of thinking you gave a wonderful little bird a home and a life that he would not have otherwise had. This is a good thing and is probably the best that any of us can hope for.

[Pajarita]

I really do believe that, same as happened with dogs and cats, the general attitude toward adopting a bird instead of buying a baby is changing - and very rapidly at that! And thank goodness for it because rescues are sprouting off all the time but others are going under all the time, also. It's HUGELY expensive to support a bird rescue and I am not talking from what people have told me or what I've read, I am telling you this from my own personal experience. You have vets that donate their time or give you huge discounts for dog and cat rescues but hardly any avian vet does that and a complete wellness exam for a single bird goes into the hundreds easily! Housing and food is much more expensive for parrots than for dogs and cats and let's not even go into the amount of time you need to devote to the whole thing! Plus, people donate all the time to dog and cat rescues but you hardly ever get donors for bird rescues...

[Wolf]

I also believe in supporting your bird rescue as much as you can and I recommend for people to visit and volunteer with one all of the time. We need to reduce all of the overbreeding of these birds and the sooner the better. Educating the general public is going to be a big help over the long term and in the meantime the bird rescues will continue to require all of the help that we can give them.
But Shiraatain did not know of any close enough to her at the time and can not be faulted for what she did not know of at the time that she got her bird. This is not an area that I feel that she was being remiss about and it is wrong of her to judge herself based on what she knows today for her choice of over a year ago when she did not know the same things, We have people all the time that purchase birds from breeders even when there is a rescue that they know about nearby, even though the rescue has several birds of the species that they are looking for.

[shiraartain]

Thank you for your reassurances, Wolf. I believe I do bear a certain amount of responsibility however, as I could have waited another year. Our house and lives had felt so empty without birds for a year that i let my emotions get the best of me. And I know what you mean about the pet store birds. The twins met a black capped conure at Petco and apparently she's still there. Older twin has yet to cease begging to bring her home. We're at full capacity for now though, and i dont want to support the pet store industry. And I believe Parjarita was addressing the last part of my post, where I wished for financial stability.

I can believe it Parjarita! The seed supply that was expected to last us three months suddenly disappeared in less than one with our new additions. I just got my first part-time job, but minimum wage barely makes a dent in these expenses. Just enough to account for toys. And the vet fees... . I do tell everyone I know considering birds to consider a rescue...but most of my friends are cat people who adopted, so the opportunity is scarce. I can't imagine Petco makes much of a revenue off of parrots that require care....hopefully they'll stop selling them soon.

[Pajarita]

Petstores (large chains or mom and pop ones) almost always buy from bird mills. They can't buy from good breeders because their prices are much, much, much higher and they cannot provide the huge numbers they buy. I was reading about this undercover investigation they were doing into who the large petstores buy birds from and under what conditions so somebody was posing as a breeder who wanted to do business with them and was told they needed shipments of hundreds of budgies at $1 each several times a year. Now, you know no good breeder can actually provide such shipments!

Actually, my comment was addressing yours "Really wish people would out aside their bias for temporarily cooperative babies and take a look around." I really do think that people are beginning to 'take a look around' whereas some years ago, nobody would adopt a 'second-hand' parrot!

[shiraartain]

It is disgusting to think of all of the bird farms...especially considering that is for just ONE store...think of all of the others...thousands of poor babies born every year.

My parents used to be from the baby crowd, and my dad still is. He speaks of hypothetical future birds in terms of breeders and babies, but fortunately my sisters and I all insist on at least checking out rescues when the time comes knowing full well that he will fall in love with every bird there when he gets there.

[Pajarita]

The older generation was raised to think that only babies bond with people (I belong to it, myself) so I understand where he is coming from but I am sure he is reconsidering his position on this with the two new great birds you got which were not acquired as babies.

[Navre]

There is a pet store in the Allston section of Boston. It is small and cramped, but in the back he has a room full of birds. I haven't talked to him too much about the birds, last time I was in there a couple of Senegals were competing to see who could pierce my eardrums first, but he has a lot of older birds. He has a 28-year-old hyacinth, a 32-year-old scarlett, a couple of cockatiels with splayed legs, and an almost totally bare-skinned eclectus (He said that she doesn't pluck much any more but that the follicles were damaged).
There was a beautiful 7-year-old CAG. He mentioned something about not knowing if the owner would ever come back.

There were no prices on any of the birds. It almost seems like he is running a bit of a rescue there. The large birds never seem to leave, and more are added every time I go in. It's possible that he sells a conure from time to time.

The place is a bit sad, because the birds don't really have enough room and some cages are on floor level shelves, which the birds must hate, but it also looks like he's doing the best he can with some older and disabled birds. The birds are flighted, which is odd for a pet store. Plus, it's the only place I know of where I can scratch the head of a hyacinth (sometimes... He doesn't like men much).