The vast majority of birds that we rescue go on to be adopted by new, loving homes.
Here are some of the most memorable success stories.
Charlie
Charlie is a Greater sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita galerita). With a ‘larger-than-life’ personality and a voice to match, Charlie certainly made his presence felt when he arrived.
Charlie came to us when his previous owner passed away. He had been well loved and very well cared for and was in relatively good condition. A health check and a few weeks to settle down and have his behaviour observed was all he needed before he could be adopted.
Sadly, his first adoption fell through after just a couple of days; a reminder that it is easy to under-estimate the volume a cockatoo can achieve, and that his large size can be quite intimidating to younger children too.
It wasn’t long before someone else fell in love with Charlie though, and a year on he is still happily in his new home where he is spoilt rotten with home-cooked meals and spends most of his time wandering around the living room floor in the family home.
Pigeotto a.k.a Gary*
Pigeotto and Starly (named after Pokemon characters) were relinquished to us as a pair. While Starly looked in perfect feather, Pigeotto was almost completely bald, with only a few tail feathers remaining. In fact, we were so concerned when we first saw Pigeotto that we asked their owner to take both her and Starly for a PBFD test to rule this out – PBFD (Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease) is a highly contagious viral disease that causes extreme feather loss. To the surprise of our vet, all the test results came back clear.
We started Pigeotto and Starly on a health diet, with the addition of both a calcium and multivitamin supplement. They were both treated for mite and worms on the advice of our vet. A selection of toys were added to alleviate boredom in case Pigeotto had been pulling her own feathers. After a few weeks it became clear that Pigeotto was not feathering up despite our efforts. Back to the drawing board….
The only possibility we hadn’t considered was that Starly was pulling Pigeotto’s feathers. It seemed a shame to separate Starly and Pigeotto as they were obviously very closely paired, so we set up two cages side by side, with perches at the same height so that they could still perch next to each other. In a matter of days, pin feathers began to emerge on her head, closely followed by more on her wings and back. By week two she looked like a tiny hedgehog, and we were eagerly waiting to find out what colour she was!
It took almost three months, but it was worth the wait – Pigeotto was a beautiful yellow-faced blue budgie, with the most amazing markings. She was quickly adopted and is enjoying the single life in her new home. Starly was introduced to a new girlfriend once we realised that he could not go back into the cage with Pigeotto. He quickly fell in love and the pair were adopted together.
* Why ‘Gary’? Short for ‘Garibaldi’ of course! (Gary Baldy)