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Thursday, December 9, 2004

Bird Rehab Starts Over in Sandia Park

By Kathy Louise Schuit
Mountain View Telegraph
    Many Tijeras shops featured musical ensembles for last weekend's Village Christmas Faire, but at one store the sounds resounded with a different pitch.
    At Two Cousins Antiques and Whimsy, visitors were entertained not by flutists but by colorful tropical birds.
    For the two days of the Christmas Faire, each participating store designated its own charity and encouraged patrons to help with donations.
    Joy Junction, Roosevelt Middle School's giving tree and food baskets, Our Sister's Closet clothing bank, Skyline Therapy Services and Friends of Tijeras Pueblo numbered among the recipients of store and patron generosity.
    At Two Cousins, the two cousins— Janine Zabel and Anne Tanner— chose to benefit Mountain Vista Bird Rehab and Sanctuary, aka the parrot rescue.
    Formerly based in Santa Teresa, N.M., the parrot rescue has been in the Sandia Park area for about two months. Director Cathy Herald said the move was precipitated by a transfer in her husband's job.
    Through the exposure at the Christmas Faire, Herald said she hoped to generate some working cash and meet people willing to work with the center's 17 exotic birds.
    In Santa Teresa, she said, a network of volunteers helped with expenses and the cleaning, feeding and socialization of the birds. Now she's pretty much starting over, and so far Zabel is her only East Mountains volunteer.
    Even people who would just like to come by the rehab center and handle the birds are welcome, Herald said. The center's assortment of parrots, macaws, cockatoos and cockatiels need constant work on their behavior, she said.
    "If they're not social it's hard to adopt them out," she said. "I can't place them if they're not sociable."
    Most of the birds have come to the rehab center after being abandoned by their owners or after their owners discovered that caring for a large, squawking bird can tax a family's nerves and resources, Herald said.
    Obviously a bird lover, Herald said she started the rehab center after first attempting to start a club for people of similar ilk.
    Veterinarians, queried about the number of people who might be interested in a club, urged her to start a rehab instead. In December 2001 she set up the nonprofit and started rescuing pet birds and finding them new homes.
    Since then, the center has also adopted an educational mission. On request, Herald will present the birds at just about any group activity.
    Last weekend's visitors to Two Cousins watched, mesmerized, as George, a scarlet macaw feathered in brilliant red and yellow, belted out raucous sounds and laid down some perch dance moves.
    They oohed and aahed over Indigo, a Hyacinth macaw with feathers the color of the night sky and a sweet disposition that makes him seem as cuddly as a puppy.
    And some of them stood delighted as Snowball, a white umbrella cockatoo, flew to their shoulders on command.
    Although each of the rescued birds is available for adoption, Herald said she's careful about placement in new homes.
    Before she will even consider letting one of her birds go, Herald said the interested individual must spend a good deal of time interacting with the selected bird.
    The entire family must be in favor of the adoption. While one family member may consider squawking and bird-talking a joy to wake up to every morning, another may find it unbearable, she said.
    People often don't realize the expenses that come with owning a large bird, she said. Cages start at about $400 and go as high as $1,200 for the sizes needed for most macaws.
    In the case of Hyacinth macaws like Indigo— called the "gentle giants," they are largest of the macaws with wingspans exceeding 36 inches— the needed cage space of at least 5 feet square by 7 feet tall nearly equals that of a small room.
    Many people also don't realize exotic birds live extremely long lives, Herald said. Macaws routinely live to be 75 to 100 years old. Smaller birds can live 25 years or more.
    Even after birds have settled into new homes, Herald said new owners may not sell or give the birds away. If new owners cannot keep their bird or simply tire of it, the bird must be returned to the rehab center.
    Herald said a good part of her work is appealing to people to resist buying birds from pet stores. Pet store sales encourage breeding mills, which turn out thousands of birds each year, she said. With so many unwanted birds in need of homes, she said, there's no reason to breed more.
    "People think secondhand birds are no good," Herald said.
    But she says with personal attention, even birds with health problems or bad habits can make wonderful companions. As with other animals, bad habits are usually the result of poor handling by humans, she said.
    However, most birds are very intelligent, she said, and capable of some retraining.
    Her own bird, an Amazon gray macaw named Tickles, has a 600-word vocabulary and differentiates the appropriateness of its conversation.
    "Tickles only says 'Good night' in the evening and only says 'Good morning' in the morning," she said.
    And Tickles doesn't just ask for a nut— he says, "Please give me a peanut," Herald said.
    Besides handlers and financial help, Zabel said the rehab center needs sheets and blankets. The birds also love to shred cardboard paper towel or toilet paper end rolls.
    To contact the rehab center to donate, volunteer or for a presentation before a group, contact Herald at 286-9563.