by Pajarita » Mon Jan 01, 2018 11:42 am
Yes, you are absolutely right, Patti! I've been saying the same thing for a long time... just because it calls itself a rescue or a sanctuary and has a 501[c]3 tax status, it doesn't mean it's a good place! Lots and lots of places are just a cover up for collectors [I know a couple in NYC that has a rescue/sanctuary that are nothing but collectors], hoarders [too many of them to even list], or places that start off good and with the best of intentions but become so overwhelmed that end up being a bad place [and this, unfortunately, is the most common problem] and then there are the ones that are there for the money and just flip birds left and right [and there are way too many of these!].
But this doesn't mean that there aren't any good places. As you say, people need to do their homework. Visit the place, look around and check to see if the birds have good housing, that they are not crowded, that they have a place to fly and good food in their bowls [particularly look for fresh produce], make sure they don't have too many birds [even when they say they have volunteers taking care of them, it's too iffy and volunteers don't normally last long enough to make a difference or take their duties as a job that needs to be done every day], that there is natural light and good artificial one. And ask to see the vet records making sure the name of the bird and the dates correspond because I just found out that they are giving copies of vet records of different birds [different name and wrong dates].
There was a project where two ladies went around USA visiting rescues and sanctuaries with evaluation forms so as to put together a database of all the rescues that had voluntarily cooperated with it but I can't remember who did it or what the name was...