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A Rescuers Story by Lynn Abell, Ph.D.
Imagine for a moment that you are a creature of beauty and light, intelligent, playful, joyfully greeting the sun every day and welcoming the rain when it comes. Imagine then the horror of being such a creature and being locked away in a windowless room without heat and very little light, kept in a cage that had not been cleaned in weeks or months, fed only the cheapest sunflower seeds and not given fresh water. It was in these deplorable conditions that the parrots at Parrot Express in Paradise Pennsylvania were kept until Saturday 11/5 when a hastily organized group of concerned animal lovers bargained with the owners, and with what funds they had gathered from ATM machines and donations, paid for their freedom.
These conditions were in sharp contrast to the conditions I and a friend had encountered at Parrot Express over 10 years ago when I entered the store for the first time and came away with a well fed, well raised, 3 month old male red-sided eclectus parrot who has been my constant joy and companion ever since. At that time, the parrots had clean cages, gentle handling and nutritious pellets. If it had been otherwise, I am sure I would not have acquired my parrot there.
The current situation at Parrot Express came to my attention and that of others on the previous Wednesday when I received an e-mail describing the condition of the birds and the shop. The owners were going out of business and having a liquidation sale. The care of the birds had clearly deteriorated over the years and with the impending business closure and they were receiving less than minimal care. The birds were clearly malnourished and sickly but the owners were still more concerned with getting money for them than their welfare. The hours of the store were erratic, the phone had been disconnected and with the cold evenings approaching concern over the fact that the building appeared to be unheated heightened the sense of urgency and concern over the birds. Animal welfare agencies had been ineffectual in getting the conditions changed so a plan was hastily fashioned to collect as much money as was reasonable and bargain with the owners for the sale of as many birds as possible. Money was donated from bird lovers and animal lovers alike. One woman contributed $500 with the only stipulation being that if there was a senegal that she would like to adopt it, as she recently lost a beloved senegal; ATM machines were maxed out by several people. Giving these people money for the birds was repugnant, but legal options take time and we didn’t think that these birds had much time left.
Entering the shop was difficult; I purposefully looked only at the birds and not at the bottom of their filthy cages where the bowls of black water resided, if there was any water at all. When the distasteful task was completed, 16 birds were ransomed that day in various states of health; two blue and gold macaws which could barely perch, a green cheeked amazon (Mexican Red-Headed Amazon), five female Eclectus Parrots (one plucked), two Patagonian Conures, two Budgies, a Severe Macaw, a Derbyan Parakeet, a Senegal and a Double Yellow-Headed Amazon named Zeus among them. As stressful as this situation was, leave it to Zeus to lighten the mood. As we were rearranging the carriers in the cars for transport to adoptive homes and the parrot rescue, Zeus began to talk up a storm in typical amazon fashion. He was one happy bird to be on his way!
Unfortunately two pairs were left behind due to lack of funds. Another attempt will be made to try to bargain for their release.One particular case of personal interest to me was a cage that housed three female eclectus parrots. In talking with the owner, I determined, without tipping my hand, they were indeed from the same mother as my male at home, thus making them his half sisters. Needless to say they came home with me and are in quarantine. I had no intention of getting another parrot but fate had other plans.
Emily Dickenson wrote “hope is the thing with feathers” and the good news from this story are the ongoing efforts to rehabilitate these birds and their response. All were undernourished and too weak to perch properly and many will probably be permanently stunted by their past poor care. Many took awhile to figure out what real food looked like before they considered eating. However, I am very optimistic that most of these birds will rebound and will find good homes. Two of the eclectus that came home with me are eating very well, but have bacterial infections which require antibiotics. The littlest one which we determined was well under a year old (a baby!) has spent some time in an incubator, is 20% underweight, has an erratic heart beat and a klebsiella infection. She too is on antibiotics but is starting to eat on her own. I don’t know how this will turn out for all the birds, but surely if we had left this particular bird in the shop with the cold nights approaching, she would have died.
Before leaving the shop, we asked the owner what they were going to do with all the considerable non-bird merchandise left in the shop. They mentioned that they would have several bird clubs in to buy the stuff. I would urge bird and animal lovers everywhere to avoid patronizing the shop for their remaining merchandise. The money we gave for the birds was indeed blood money but to give them money for anything else would be a bigger crime.
Follow-up Note: The two pairs of birds that were left behind due to lack of funds were rescued on 11/13.