As I sat down for the first time today and looked out of the window, I noticed that the flags were starting to rest too. The bright colourful rainbow fabric sails that flap so wildly during the day also needed to sleep. Sadly, resting will not help the flags to heal: the wind has shredded them this year. Maybe we should get some new ones. It seems to be such a short time since we bought them and proudly put them on display to show people where to find us. So much has happened since that week. In fact so much has happened since our last newsletter that I decided to try and pull it all together, so that others could glimpse the busy life we have here at the World Parrot Refuge.

Larry Neil, one of our special volunteers, erected all the steel piping and chain link fencing in the new Macaw House. He did an incredible job and stretched the fencing really tight. Even with cuts, bruises, and very sore hands he didn’t give up until it was finished. Thank you Larry from all of the humans here at the sanctuary. When the Macaws finally get in there, you will hear the cheers as far away as Victoria!

The newly constructed Macaw House, thanks to Larry Neil and Andy Breslin.

The next step is to get trees and branches for the compounds – especially arbutus. If anyone has some that they don’t want - we will be happy to put it to good use. We have a large number of Macaws all waiting to move into the new Macaw House - but we have to build forests first. We can use fallen trees of all kinds, except cedar. Parrots need to have family roosts to call their own. Each small flock that makes up the larger flock prefers their own special home in the forest.

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We would like to thank Robin Horemans for sharing his experiences, and also the Calgary Parrot Club for permission to reprint this article from their publication, Calgary Psittascene, on our website.

The World Parrot Refuge Visit, April 2008
By Robin Horemans

I was fortunate recently to take a vacation on Vancouver Island. There, I visited the World Parrot Refuge, in Coombs BC. It's about half an hour from Port Alberni. To be honest, I've never really been a fan of 'sanctuaries' or 'forever' aviaries. I've always thought some birds can be rehabbed and live happy and healthy lives with humans. Sure, sanctuaries have their place, but save those places for the birds who really need them.

Make it the Insane Asylum, the Rehab centre. Let the 'normal' birds move to a new, fantastic family. Little did I know what I was about to experience! I have worked with rescues before, so I'm familiar with the trauma, heartbreak, suffering and healing that is involved. I was mentally preparing myself to see 700 birds that have been given up on: who are sad, grieving and torn up inside. I was expecting to see self-mutilators, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, screaming and sad eyes of creatures who have given up hope.

I walked through the aviaries of macaws first, then the amazons. I was amazed at the large spaces the birds were given. The aviaries were the size of a house, filled with trees, perches and every kind of toy. A large set of aviaries just for the cockatoos, filled with many different species of 'too. There was no sad eyes, no grieving, no depression.

Instead what I found was a vibrant community. A thriving flock of souls who had been through the worst the world could offer and were healing together. They preened together. They played. PLAYED like children: throwing and destroying and screaming and flapping for the fun of it.

I saw large flocks of 50 of their own kind, with all the intricacies. There was a sentry, watching. There was a couple, oblivious to the world and cuddling together. There were the Jokers, getting into trouble. I saw squabbles for perches, food, toys, attention. I saw birds, being birds. It was fantastic!

Then, at the end of the aviary was the 'Transition Room'. The newcomers to the rescue were getting used to their new-found freedom. This is where MY education began.

In this room, the birds are caged separately to begin with. They come to the rescue knowing only their cage, and their humans who have given them up. They need to get used to the 'new' way of doing things.

Slowly, the cage door is opened and the birds are left to venture out on their own. A large set of branches and trees intertwine around the room, allowing for clipped birds to experience more freedom. Eventually the wings grow out and they start to fly and become part of the flock.

I started going cage to cage, saying hello and giving head-rubs. I soon found myself with two African greys who had waddled over and were now chewing on my shoes. I reached down and both demanded head-rubs. The overwhelming sense of healing was everywhere. The amazons looked exhausted and slept. The cockatoos demanded petting, or solitude. Everyone screamed. They were all learning how to be birds again.

Then the most moving part of my experience happened. A man came in to surrender his bird.

It was a cockatoo: it was plucked and had a wound on its front from mutilation. But the bird was friendly and sociable, sitting on the man's shoulder and getting attention. The man was crying as he took his bird out of the carrier. He was facing the difficult decision to surrender his bird.

She sat on his shoulder as he walked around the room, tears in his eyes. She had a firm grip on his shoulder. They toured the room, saw the cage she would be living in for the first few days, and a volunteer explained how life would carry on after that. The man nodded. The bird stared.

Being introduced to the 'locals', the bird made a surprising decision. She suddenly jumped off the man's shoulder onto the cage top perches in front of him. Fully alert, crest up, she marched over to a high perch, and right up to another bird of her species. The new friend looked at her, obliged, and started preening her head. She leaned over and closed her eyes.

The man stared at her, tears rolling down his cheeks.

She was home.

She refused his hand for a step-up. She refused a head-rub. She moved away from him to a higher perch. She put up one foot and started preening.

I was crying watching all this go on. I can only imagine how that man must have felt. Sad, deserted, alone, yet happy to provide this creature with what she needed. A flock of her own!

I have sincerely readjusted my view of rescues. I was profoundly moved by not only what I saw at this fantastic facility, but how the birds were happy, healthy and comfortable. I am so proud of what this rescue does for the birds. The life they live is as close to natural as we can provide. I hope they continue with their heaven-on-earth for the birds. I can't imagine a place I'd rather Quentin go.

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)