This is another great 'Thank You' that a school class sent along after visiting the World Parrot Refuge:

If your group would like to arrange an educational visit to the refuge, please contact us ahead of time so we can arrange the details. We're always glad to explain our work and the wonders of these amazing birds.

The World Parrot Refuge in Coombs, BC, Canada, is home to over 600 previously owned pet parrots.

They end up here for many reasons, because basically, parrots do not adapt well to captivity. This is especially true of the larger species like the Macaws, Cockatoos, Amazons, Grays, etc. And while the smaller budgies, love birds and cockatiels are easier to keep as pets, they do require special attention to be truly healthy.

The best our amazing birds can now hope for is a secure home with the World Parrot Refuge where they are encouraged to regain some semblance of what they are meant to be.

This music video is dedicated to the birds and to those who care for them. I hope it conveys some sense of the magnitude of the problem, as well as the dedication and compassion of those seeking to be part of the solution.

By Wendy Huntbatch
Co-Founder of F.L.O.P.R.S. (For the Love Of Parrots Refuge Society)

February 24, 2007
Presented to the SPCA Annual General Meeting, Nanaimo BC

Looking in the “Pets For Sale” column in the newspaper, you will find a huge number of dogs and cats on offer, many of them “free to a good home”. In all the years that humane societies have preached the importance of “spay and neuter” you might think that this column would be just a memory by now. There are two reasons for this lack of success. The first is that there are always people willing to make a dollar on the back of a “cute” or “exotic” living being. The second is that there are always devoted individuals or community groups willing to take responsibility for the same living being who has outlived the welcome at a home that, at the moment of purchase, could not imagine life without their new family addition.

These same groups of devoted animal lovers end up being responsible for ending the lives of animals for whom they cannot find a home. All this is done quietly and with dignity behind closed doors, so that the irresponsible feel no guilt. Even with “No Kill” policies at many shelters, more than 400,000 dogs and cats are killed in humane shelters in Canada every year. There are simply no homes available for these “excess” animals – and yet people keep on breeding them for money. What would happen if these shelters went out of business because people could no longer bear the heartbreak of having to kill another innocent animal?

Do you think this stops with dogs and cats? Think again!

Read more »

Parrots are prey birds, and in their normal life they would be flying freely in flocks, with fresh air and sunshine, eating the natural foods of their country in order to continue the habitat growth. They would have families of their own and be well adjusted.

Human beings chose to capture them, incarcerate them and feed them foods that their systems do not recognize. Most pet parrots spend their lives as a single bird in a human home. When they come to the world parrot refuge, they have to learn to live as a flock. We get to know each bird individually and observe their personality traits. We then choose the ideal flock partners for a successful new “family” life in one of the enclosures we have with other parrots of similar temperament. From this point we carefully observe them to make sure they adjust appropriately to their new home.

Birds arrive her being known as screamers and biters, but we rarely experience these problems when we provide them with a more normal parrot life, high canopy perching in a flock environment and the freedom to move around removes much of the fear experienced by the birds who are caged individually and kept below eye level.

Screaming or calling flock members to locate them is reduced when they receive the expected reply and the opportunity to have friends and spend hours grooming each other is normal relaxation for parrots.

"The World Parrot Refuge is a true sanctuary where parrots live out their lives in a loving, spacious and happy environment under the guidance of extraordinarily caring people. The many visitors destined to pass through the refuge will come to understand that parrots are not toys or trophies, but beings with needs and emotions as real as our own."

– Rosemary Low (author of more than 30 books on parrots)

"This is, in a word, a great place and these miraculous creatures deserve no less, but few places can deliver it this well. It is, indeed, 'world class'."

– Stewart Metz (author and Director of the Indonesian Parrot Project), after his visit at the Grand Opening of the Refuge on August 13, 2005.