Update on the WPR rescue

[Dragonlady2]

Greyhaven has done an amazing job of caring for and placing these poor birds.


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[Quakerella]

That's an amazing story. It is always sad to hear about rescue facilities closing the door, as it is obvious they are required. It is wonderful though to see people step up and help these poor birds that need it. I am always disheartened at how many birds some of these facilities have to take in.

[PlaxMacaws]

I always love to hear of support efforts for birds in need. It's disturbing to read about failing rescue organizations. Another thing that bothers me is the fact that media typically ignores the homeless parrot problem while they tend to present plenty on dogs and cats who need homes. The appearance is that a great portion of society views companion bird catastrophes as less than important :(

[Lady]

Wow, thank you for posting this follow up. Thankfully there are some generous folks still able to assist these wonderful, beautiful, deserving feathered beauties.

[Cedardave]

Before we get to excited about how wonderful the work they do is...ourselves and a number of well versed bird keepers had offered to help by taking in a couple of their birds.We were all turned down because although we had the knowledge and experiance...they were not located in an area where they could keep an eye on us.One of our friends has a specially designed building that sits with a dozen huge macaw flight cages...she was turned down as she was "to rural"....so before we raise a glass to the efforts of these folks...let's be aware of the entire storey.

[Dragonlady2]

I, for one, will still raise a glass to them. They have gone over and above to take care of a situation that can only be described as horrific. I am not one to second-guess their decision making. I am just happy that they were there to help.

[Lady]

Dave,
Your right in us not knowing the whole story, but still it is much better for the birds than it was.

[PlaxMacaws]

Before we get to excited about how wonderful the work they do is...ourselves and a number of well versed bird keepers had offered to help by taking in a couple of their birds.We were all turned down because although we had the knowledge and experiance...they were not located in an area where they could keep an eye on us.One of our friends has a specially designed building that sits with a dozen huge macaw flight cages...she was turned down as she was "to rural"....so before we raise a glass to the efforts of these folks...let's be aware of the entire storey.Hi Dave. A couple of things come to mind. Did these folks have other options available to place the birds at the time of your offer? In other words, were the birds at risk of losing the only option for their placement because your offer was declined? As I see it, answers to those two questions are quite relevant as far as determining whether it's reasonable to judge the overseers harshly.

And the other thing I'm wondering about is whether the simple fact that you are a breeder may have put these people off. Despite how noble your practices, policies and intentions happen to be, many homeless bird advocates have trouble trusting breeders and typically view them as contributing to the huge homeless bird population. So this begs the question: if these people weren't intimately familiar with your facility and your policies/practices, is it possible they may have suspected that your ultimate motivation was to generate some amount of profit from any of the birds you might acquire from them? And please be mindful that they likely wouldn't tell you if that were their underlying concern.

Those are just a few of my thoughts on what may be at the root of this issue. I'm not trying to judge... and perhaps I'm wrong.

[Cedardave]

I can clearly see you point and the hesitation they could hold since they don't know of us....however,in our area alone many non breeders also contacted them as well as former,retired breeders with years of experiance in the care of even their more difficult birds...all were either ignored or declined.This included our provincial parrot club who's primary goal( like ours) is public education.While Greyhaven now has the remaining birds in there care...that's terrific....but there's a lot more to this sad storey than is made public.

[PlaxMacaws]

Well they obviously had their criteria, whatever that may have been. Only you know what was stated during your communications with these folks. If there were any attitudes involved it would be fairly difficult for us as thread participants to gain an impactful depiction thereof. I still can't help but wonder whether they have an aversion to bird breeders, including to anyone they believe might be connected with them. I suppose the proximity thing may have genuinely been a factor as well - they may have plans to physically check in on the birds they've placed from time to time. Irrespective of the dynamics that have gone down and their decisions, though, I think all that's really left is to feel glad for any of the birds who have been placed in good and safe homes. I'm guessing you'll agree with me on that point, Dave.

[Cedardave]

Indeed.The most important thing is they have good forever homes.The last I heard was on Friday that they still needed to place 300 birds.They are beginning to panic as well,since vet bills and food have now hit $300000/ month.

[plax]

Wow! That's a lot of debt :(

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EDIT:
Are you sure about that figure being per month?

[Cedardave]

Yes..it includes food and vet bills.One of the local vets works her practice during the day and then heads over to the rescue to care for the sick birds.Im not sure if that includes employee wages

[plax]

Hmm, okay. It's just somewhat difficult to imagine racking up one third of one million dollars each month in expenditures. So that would be $1000 per bird per month based on there being 300 birds left, right? That's a huge financial obligation!

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[Mare]

All's I know is, there are too many parrots being bred in hopes of forever homes.

[plax]

All's I know is, there are too many parrots being bred in hopes of forever homes.Indeed! It's a perpetual tragedy :(

[Cedardave]

I can't find the article that quotes that number .Anyone interested can use google and search Greyhaven rescue.Its possible that my old brain misread an it's the amount they are in debt since they took in all the birds.

[plax]

Its possible that my old brain misread an it's the amount they are in debt since they took in all the birds.I really bet that's what the figure represents. Thanks, Dave.

[Cedardave]

I have a sad and ironic irony to add to this storey.As i had posted before, there are no qualified rescues in our provence so we were considering adding a new building to do so.
Were awful busy and thus far havent got there yet.However, we were contacted by a young woman a few weeks back who left a message that simply said " i have some macaws and dont know what to do with them" ....of course I had to follow up. It turns out there were 2 blue and golds, a greenwing and a harlequin. This poor womans mother had passed 2 days earlier with no direction on what was to become of her birds. All 4 of these came into the WPF and then Greyhaven. greyhaven sent her 4 macaws ....tthe greenwing and harlequin were a pair,and on the aggressive side. This woman was able to split the blue and golds between her mothers friend and herself since they were tame...we accepted the greenwing and harlequin as surrenders. I find it ironic that Greyhaven would offer out a breeding pair to someone with no breeding experiance. The end result is we have received them in good health and they will live out their lives here...

[Lady]

Glad to know you and your wife will be taking care of these two GW's. Thank you both for your tireless efforts in having these birds live out their lives with your family. How exciting to be thinking of expanding your aviary so you can have more space for them.
Sad that their are so many who need your TLC.

- - - Updated - - -

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Keep up the good work Dave... and can we see pictures of the newbies please :)

[plax]

Way to go, Dave! Thanks for helping that macaw pair :D

[Cedardave]

Im away from home until monday night...I will try and post a couple pictures if the suns still up when I get home. The greenwing has some missing feathers,but that is likely due to a large number of moves in his life.The Harlequin is in perfect feather though. I still cant understand how a rescue would allow a male and female to be adopted out together on the condition that they stay together. Nature dictates that once the hormones hit they will have offspring. Now thats not why we accepted the surrender...the woman (quite young) was planning on putting them in with her chickens!! Im glad we were able to avoid that guaranteed disaster and both have been able to stay together and have settled very well into their new home. We NEVER sell or rehome our surrenders...they have been thru enough.

[plax]

I still cant understand how a rescue would allow a male and female to be adopted out together on the condition that they stay together.My hope is that the decision stemmed from compassion about the emotional trauma that would ensue from separating bond mates. Thinking about it, the poor things have been forced into disruption by losing their home and their human caregiver, then bounced around to various temporary facilities where they have no idea as to their ultimate fate. If someone were to then rip them away from one another, never to reunite again, it would be nothing short of mentally/emotionally devastating. Weighing that result against the possibility that they may procreate, thus adding to the homeless/abused bird problem in our world, makes it quite a rough call :'(

[Cedardave]

I absolutely agree. There are people that would pair up a couple of these birds and breed for profit. The board of directors turned us down immediately because we are breeders...Im fine with that...they have their criteria and stuck to it..
The part I cant understand is the two macaws I ended up with as a sad result of the passing of their owner just out of the city here are male and female and the person that received them before she passed away was told they have to stay together. A male and female will by nature reproduce...which sort of throws the credability of this board of directors out the window. It doesnt really matter. They are here,they are safe, they arent going anywhere and they remain together. Our goal in accepting them as a surrender was to accomodate their needs. We have done so and they seem quite happy.
Mission accomplished :th_smile:

I agree with everything you said....just took my short rant for it to sink in...