By Wendy Huntbatch

Many years ago, when we first opened our doors to a Lesser Sulfur Crested Cockatoo named Little Charley – who needed a home because his owner was going into permanent care for post polio syndrome – Horst and I had no idea what the future would bring. As the years passed, and more and more birds arrived, we kept expanding the facilities in our home, and then moved on to building the free-flight parrot houses on our farm in Abbotsford. When we moved to Coombs just under four years ago, after an outbreak of bird flu in the commercial poultry industry, we had 400 parrots. We built the current 23,000 sq foot facility as we could see that we had already outgrown the 10,000 sq feet we had in Abbotsford. Thank goodness for foresight! Since arriving in Coombs, we have increased our number of residents by a further 300, and I am sure this year that we can expect at least another 100 parrots who need a Home For Life.

What is behind this influx of birds? Homes are getting smaller; people are working longer hours; and the grandparents who have had parrots for years are moving into care facilities where parrots are not welcome. When faced with these situations, people who currently own parrots look to place them in a safe haven: a place they feel confident will provide the proper care for their beloved friend. Many other people purchase a parrot for a pet, especially cockatoos, only to realize that the parrot is a highly intelligent living being and that flightless incarceration is an unkind situation. When we understand that these living beings have needs of their own, our minds are opened. Let me share a few insights with you.

When you introduce a parrot into your home, you are amazed by his abilities: to love and be loved; to enjoy interactive play; and of course, to communicate in your language. Without giving it a moment’s thought, most people allow the parrot to establish his position in the flock. The person he most loves is number one. The parrot is number two. The other person in the household is number three. However, if a new baby comes along, the baby is automatically elevated to number two, directly next to Mom, by the human members of the flock. A hand-fed parrot is only one step removed from a wild parrot. By the time he reaches sexual maturity he has not only learned human abilities, but has automatically updated his own instinctive behaviour as a parrot. He is prepared to fight for his position in the pecking order of his adopted human flock. Pecking order is vital for success in any family group, whether it be comprised of humans, birds or animals. Chances are extremely high that the baby will get bitten, as well as the primary caregiver because they are making the wrong choice in his eyes. This bird is not being "mean" or "stupid" as we are often told. This is a parrot being a parrot. He is not jealous in the manner that we understand jealousy; he is establishing the importance of his position in the only way he understands.

However, the parrot’s instinctual protection of his position does not work in his favour in most human homes. The outcome can be very sad and difficult for everyone involved, particularly the parrot. He is often caged for the majority of his life so that people can be protected from his bites. This makes him more upset. His calls for interaction and flock assurance become very annoying and are misunderstood as screams for attention. As a result, the parrot is often relegated to his own room. For a flock bird, this is akin to putting a human being in solitary confinement, although he did not commit a crime. The fear endured by a prey bird when he is caged and alone often results in stress that compromises the physical health of the bird. The parrot chooses to eat only one type of food, further injuring his health, and then begins pulling out feathers and ultimately damaging flesh. We receive many birds from such situations. This is not intentional cruelty by any stretch of the imagination. This is a situation created by loving, caring people who did not know about the intelligence of a parrot or the emotional needs it has when removed from a parrot’s natural lifestyle.

Parrots are a prey species and live in flocks for survival. While some eat and sleep, others are vigilant sentinels, watching out for their team members. The positions change in an orderly fashion, so that everyone gets through their day safely and the flock is not endangered. When a parrot is purchased as a pet, these facts of his nature do not come with him. Many people are talked into clipping the bird’s flight feathers, so that the bird will not escape and suffer the consequences of dying from exposure or starvation. While this is a convincing argument for the caregiver, the poor parrot has now lost his only means of escape should a predator – perceived or real – come into his life. He is then put into a cage where food and water are readily available. From our viewpoint, the bird needs a safe place when he becomes a member of a household. The parrot, however, sees the cage as a trap. After a certain amount of time the parrot accepts the cage, and the owners believe that he loves his house. The truth is he must accept it, in order to survive in an alien flock. Many people want the bird to enjoy the view of the trees, the garden, or perhaps the golf course and the forest beyond, so that he will feel the pleasures of the outside world without the possibility of harm. The parrot, however, sees that he is in a trap, without wings to fly, and exposed to his worst enemies: eagles and hawks. He cannot see the windows that keep him safely in his home: he sees only the predator watching his every move. He cannot sleep for fear of being attacked. He has to watch his back when he eats, and his screams to warn of predators go unheard by the working family. He has to be sleeping parrot, eating parrot and sentinel parrot, all at the same time. No reassurance in the world can change the fact that this parrot is expected to live in a human home, and understand what we do to make him safe in our "world".

During the years of working with our flocks, some important facts have come to our attention. We feed a greatly varied diet to the parrots here. Each day, the fresh plate is different, but the same plate is served to all the birds on that day. For example, one day we will serve oranges, apples, red peppers and thawed peas and corn. The next day, we will serve grapes, bananas, broccoli and thawed peas and corn. All the birds at the facility get the same as each other on a given day. They all get a seven-seed assortment and lots of raw in-shell walnuts, almonds and some raw in-shell peanuts, which are available 24/7. If all parrots had the same digestive system then logically their feces would also be the same. In fact they are not, but vary according to species. This leads us to believe that their digestive systems are specific to their country of natural origin. After all, parrots are an important part of the ecosystem in any rainforest, since they drop a huge amount of uneaten seeds and nuts, and branches with flowers, onto the rainforest floor on a daily basis. The seeds grow quickly as do the broken branches, creating a continuous forest to provide food and a breeding habitat. Most parrots originate from islands where 90% of the vegetation is native only to their specific island. Their digestive systems have evolved over millions of years to ensure their continuation. Just because a parrot indigenous to that island is born elsewhere in the world, it does not mean his digestive system has changed. The sweet baby parrots sold in this country are hand-fed; however, their parents are almost always wild-caught birds. Because of their high intelligence, they quickly recognize the foods we offer, and will readily take them as they become exposed to them. Although their eyes recognize the food, however, it does not mean for a minute that their digestive systems do.

The bodies of these captive birds will take whatever they can from the foods we offer, but these birds are not getting what they physically need. In fact, parrots in captivity are really suffering from malnutrition, no matter how much we give them of the varied foods we can buy in the produce store. In addition, most captive parrots live in countries where they do not get warm sunshine every day of their lives as they would in their native lands. Parrots require the important vitamins that their bodies make when exposed to daylight and sunshine. We believe that these are the main reasons why parrots in captivity self-mutilate. Their physical health is so compromised by malnutrition that major breakdowns in their systems are occurring that as yet we are unable to detect. It is not so long ago that it was proven that stomach ulcers in humans were not in fact due to stress, but bacteria. Imagine what we could find out if there was enough money available for the study of such problems in birds. On the other hand, if we did not bring them into our homes as pets, and chose to let them live in their own country in freedom, then these painful problems would not occur. Dr Stewart Metz of the Indonesian Parrot Project and Project Bird Watch has spoken extensively with ex-poachers, who now work on behalf of the parrots of Indonesia. He has shown them pictures of captive Moluccan cockatoos that were feather pickers and self-mutilators. These people confirmed that they had never seen a cockatoo look like that, either dead or alive, in their lifetimes. It seems as though self-mutilation in parrots only occurs in captivity.

There are many millions of parrots living in human homes in North America alone. We need to share whatever information we learn with each other, to help these birds live as comfortable and as happy a life as is possible for them. Here at the World Parrot Refuge, we are always looking for ways to make life as natural as possible for the parrots that come to live in our flocks. We most certainly welcome any advice from friends of the sanctuary. We want to work with people to ensure that as many pet parrots as possible can stay in their homes with their loving caregivers. However, we also hope to discourage people from buying baby parrots and furthering the number of sad lives created just for the love of money. Remember, hand-fed baby birds are mostly bred from captive wild-caught parrots. For every wild-caught parrot that arrives safely at its destination, at least another four died an agonizing death on the journey. There are millions of parrots for sale or adoption in North America. If you simply must have a parrot in your life, please make the choice to provide a Home For Life for a previously owned pet parrot. If you have problems with your re-homed pet, we will be happy to try to help you resolve them. It takes time, love, and patience, just like any relationship.

Please note that we will be publishing nutritional information on our website soon. This information was developed by our sister organization, Phoenix Landing, located in North Carolina. Be sure to check our website often as we plan to have major updates this year.

Please click on the thumbnails below to learn how you can help some special birds have a home for life through our "Virtual Adoption" program! More stories coming soon!

Birds who are now partly sponsored, thank you!

Birds who are now fully sponsored, thank you!

"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.

"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)