The World Parrot Refuge is seeking someone to take over the duties of webmaster for our web site. It won’t take a lot of time, maybe a few hours a month. If you are interested, please send Wendy an email at wendy.huntbatch@floprs.org

Thank you Makenna, from all the parrots, for your kindness. May you have a wonderful birthday year!

UPDATE: Hello Macaw has been virtually adopted: partially by Christine from Toronto and partially by Alice from Richmond – just look how happy he is! Thank you both so much.

Hello Macaw is over 60 years old and completely blind due to Vitamin A and D deficiency. He is also one of our resident Parrot Painters, and his artwork has been made into one of four notecards created to help raise funds for the new WPR Palliative Care Centre. You can see the set of 4 cards here.

I want to help sponsor a World Parrot Refuge parrot!

Click on the ‘Virtual Adoption’ button below to proceed to our Virtual Adoption page, where you will be able to make a secure monthly or one-time donation, and nominate the parrot you wish to adopt. Please use the post title to identify a specific bird, e.g. “Tilly”.

Virtual Adoption

UPDATE: Coco Macaw has been virtually adopted by Taina of Port Coquitlam. Thank you, Taina!

I want to help sponsor a World Parrot Refuge parrot!

Click on the ‘Virtual Adoption’ button below to proceed to our Virtual Adoption page, where you will be able to make a secure monthly or one-time donation, and nominate the parrot you wish to adopt. Please use the post title to identify a specific bird, e.g. “Tilly”.

Virtual Adoption

UPDATE: Peaches #6 has been virtually adopted by William from Victoria. Thank you, William!

Peaches #6 had a large wound from self mutilating. With medications and our special “Dior” shirts, you can see that she has almost healed.  She is really enjoyng her freedom here and has friends already.

I want to help sponsor a World Parrot Refuge parrot!

Click on the ‘Virtual Adoption’ button below to proceed to our Virtual Adoption page, where you will be able to make a secure monthly or one-time donation, and nominate the parrot you wish to adopt. Please use the post title to identify a specific bird, e.g. “Tilly”.

Virtual Adoption

-Written by Judith Lavoie.

One artist is blind, another is epileptic, and they all paint with their feet and tails.

Geriatric and chronically ill parrots at the World Parrot Refuge in Coombs are creating artwork for cards, which are then sold to raise money for a parrot palliative-care unit.

“In the last couple of years, we have become the go-to place for senior citizen parrots,” said refuge president Wendy Huntbatch, who is caring for almost 900 birds.

Some are blind, some suffer from arthritis and some don’t seem to be quite as sharp as they used to be.

“Some of them just want to sleep and watch Littlest Hobo on TV,” Huntbatch said. “Their minds seem to wander.”

That makes it difficult for older or sick birds living in flocks where friends or relatives try to persuade them to take part in parrot activities, Huntbatch said.

The answer is a 111-square-metre trailer with electricity, plumbing and a steel lining.

The renovations to create the geriatric parrot centre will cost about $15,000, and Huntbatch is hoping the cards, sold in the gift shop and online, will help.

The artists include a macaw called Hello, who is more than 60 years old and blind because of a vitamin deficiency; Bailey, a 20-year-old umbrella cockatoo who had a foot amputated after catching it in a toy; JR, an Amazon parrot caught in the wild 38 years ago and treated for epilepsy for the past 36; and Lago, a 22-yearold Moluccan cockatoo with bone and lung cancer.

Huntbatch started providing the parrots with finger paints last year. Some throw paint at the canvas, others like the sweeping effect of tail feathers and some enjoy using their feet.

Money raised through the cards, which cost $5 each, will go directly to the palliative unit, but Huntbatch is also struggling to raise money for the refuge’s day-to-day operations.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to make the next payroll. It’s really tight.”

The refuge is the only one in Canada and takes birds from across the country.

“We have received a large number of birds this year that are not financially supported. Many are coming in from rescue organizations that cannot find homes for them and cannot afford to keep them,” Huntbatch said.

Even though all fruit and vegetables are donated by Save-on-Foods, it costs $1,339 a day to run the refuge.

In addition to volunteers, there are 18 paid staff.

“There are 295 water dishes to be washed and refilled, 505 seed and nut dishes and trays to be cleaned and refilled, 236 fresh fruit dishes and trays to be filled every single day – and that’s just a small part of the enormous amount of work it takes,” Huntbatch said.

To purchase your own set of Parrot Painting cards, click here.

Article originally published November 7 in the Times Colonist here.

If you are interested in purchasing your own set of cards, just click here.

The World Parrot Refuge is happy to let you know that it now has beautiful cards available for sale. The cards feature artwork by 4 of the parrots living at the refuge: JR, Lago, Bailey and Hello Macaw.

Wendy writes:

The cards are primarily to raise funds for the new Palliative Care Unit.  We are getting the double wide trailer ready right now.  We have to line it with steel of course – floor too so that the parrots do not have to be caged.  We have to get the power put into the building and plumbing as well.  We do have a lot of cupboards already – so we think if we can raise $15k we will have a great area for the very special needs birds.

Each Card Pack contain 4 cards (one of each design).

The cards have been produced by Cranky Crow Studios, and are available in a pack of 4 ( 1 of each design) for $20, which includes shipping in Canada.

To order your Card Pack, please type in how many Packs you would like, and click “Order Card Packs” to add them to our shopping cart:

Thank you very much!