Unloading the Hagen donation.

In December, the World Parrot Refuge was blessed by an incredible donation of pelleted food courtesy of Mark Hagen, on behalf of the Rolf C Hagen Company. This nutritional diet was created by Mark, who operates HARI, the Hagen Avian Research Institute in Montreal. Mark also paid for the shipping of the donation. How can we convey our extreme gratitude for such a generous donation?

On one of the wettest days Vancouver Island has experienced in recent memory, the staff were on hand to take delivery of over four pallets of Tropican diet pellets. There were over a hundred 25 lb bags! Nobody was complaining about the weather though. The staff were laughing and in great spirits as they unloaded the pallets and stored the bags in a very dry and safe building. Even the truck driver was excited to be the bearer of such an incredible donation!

Tropican is already being used to supplement the parrots' daily diet, and its fruity scent fills the Refuge! In the week prior to the donation, we received 12 new large parrots, 6 from a seizure by the Calgary Humane Society. Half of these birds are in really poor condition and the veterinary report says it is due to poor nutrition. We are hoping for a major improvement in these Scarlet Macaws, who are only 3 years old, and the nutrients in the Tropican will really help.

Thank you from the depths of our hearts to Mark Hagen and the Rolf C Hagen Company!

Our crew brave the cold and rain to unpack the Hagen donation.

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!

Birds who are now partly sponsored, thank you!

Birds who are now fully sponsored, thank you!

"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.