The creation of Wingspan Parrot Sanctuary
Why Sanctuary
As I've traveled through life with my birds I must confess that I never saw myself having a sanctuary. Or even wanting one. About 15 years ago I was actually approached by a large sanctuary looking for a manager. As tempting as working with all those adorable parrots was, I turned it down. I've never been interested in having huge amounts of animals, especially on a restrictive budget. I lack the "collector" mentality. In fact its very stressful and unpleasant for me when I feel like I have a bird in the house that isn't receiving an exceptional quality of life. So I surprised myself when the next step in my contribution to aviculture became sanctuary. It wasn't a singular decision but rather a culmination of factors that slowly turned the trajectory. The major catalysts for the change came from two parrots that are polar opposites and outliers.
Tiki
The first is my lifelong companion of over 30 years.
Deci
The other is a wild bird with a fierce heart
TIKI
Tiki has been tremendously loved her entire life. She's a gentle, kind soul. She's sensitive and has great emotional intelligence. She is extremely smart. She has a great deal of freedom of choice here and control over her life and her environment. She hasn't been caged often in her entire life, and has lived cage-free for almost a decade on a 15' by 10' multi-layered 10' tall playgym full of dozens of toys. Just for reference - a 10'x15' area is 150 square feet of space. In comparison, a 4'x3' (by 6' tall) cage is 12 square feet. If she were to be put into a typical "macaw cage" she'd be going from 150 to 12 sq ft. She'd go crazy. The thought of her being rehomed every 4-6 years (the current national average for Parrots) makes me ill. She loves to play in the dryer. Look out her custom window that we knocked a hole in the house for her to have. She asks to watch the lion king every morning with her fresh breakfast, and has a large flat screen TV next to her play gym and a Disney subscription so she can have that. She's at the center of the household. There aren't many birds that get treated the way that she does. I know. I've been in thousands and thousands of households. Several years ago I started detailing my will to make sure that my animals were cared for after I was gone if they outlived me.
When I got to Tiki I was at a total loss. When I got Tiki, 30 plus years ago, the information available was different and unchallenged. They told us if you let birds interact with other birds that they would bond and hate you. I was 10. I was selfish. I wanted my new pet that I adored to love ME. I didn't see the big picture or think long term. And my parents were thrilled they didn't have to get another macaw! So she grew up alone. And now she tolerates very few other birds and strongly dislikes sharing space with most others. And if they're not quiet during the Lion King; they're dead to her forever! In my experience most birds eventually come to loveeee living in a flock when given exposure to it. But Tiki has not. I'll continue to give her the opportunity to have a feathered companion, but it is her choice.
The reality of placement is difficult. Especially when you understand what it involves. So you ask - Why not place her with your family? This is a great question because Tiki adores her "grandma!" and gained 300 grams while she watched her when I was living overseas because grandma sneaks her all kinds of snacks! But realistically she is 25 years older than me and not in a place anymore to take over with permanent long term care. And kids rarely if ever actually want their parents pets. Sadly, I've personally seen dozens of cases where the children relinquish the birds just days or weeks after their parents pass. The rest of my family does not want a parrot....especially after seeing up close and personal for decades the sacrifice and commitment needed.
So what about friends? I was recently on a podcast with an amazing lawyer who devoted her entire career to specifically doing pet trusts and assisting in the transfer of animal care after passing to make sure the owners wishes were honored. She told me her hard and fast rule that she tells her clients is to never give your animal to anyone who has had your kind of animal (parrot, horse, pig, etc) for less than 10 years. Because that's how long it takes for the interest or life phase to wear off and for them to transition, if they are going to. When I thought about it this was magnificent advice!! And I indeed saw it myself. In fact, it's so prevalent that many of the leading rescue orgs are refusing to use the term "forever home" any longer because of the return rate of the parrots that people adopt. Everyone has a story of how they, or someone they know, once "had" a bird. People who have recently gotten "into" birds are extremely passionate and often collect them quickly and have a list of all the different kinds they want. But the burn out and rehoming is something that I've seen hundreds of times. Even from the best people. The most loving people. The kindest people. Lifelong animal lovers.
The weight of owning a parrot is a lifestyle. They are not pets. And sustaining that kind of lifestyle for the rest of their lives is a challenging ask of even the best people with the best of intentions. I have had many many good friends (who still are!) over the years give up all their parrots and move on from the bird lifestyle. They're not bad people. But birds require so much. So then I to look at friends who give their birds an exceptional quality of life for over 10 years that have large outdoor aviaries. That list is unimaginably small. And they are full. And when I say "full" I mean they wanted to stop 4 birds ago but they somehow snuck in because these beautiful people couldn't leave them in some horrific situation and now they're overfull times 4 - full!
I have done rescue now for over 20 years. It's hard. Ask any good parrot rescue and they will echo these sentiments. It's really challenging to find good qualified positive long term homes. But more than anything, for me, it's scary. Or if I'm being honest, It's terrifying! Over the years I've been directly involved with a couple dozen horrific abuse cases. Hoarding cases. Cruelty cases. All rescues have. They are frighteningly common these days. But the much more frequent group that I see and interact with is actually low grade neglect. Birds that haven't been let out of their cages in years is sadly very common. Or simply are let out to stand on top of their metal cage door or cage top. Birds that have no enrichment, or toys that have been in there for years that aren't played with. Poor diets. Infrequent showers.
Birds who haven't been outside in years or decades. - or ever. Low grade punishment or abuse such as covering their cages in the daytime to stop screaming or getting sprayed in the face with water. Being forced to comply by means of thick gloves or objects that create fear such as towels or brooms. Birds being relegated to back bedrooms in order to deal with noise and mess issues. Rusty, small, old, broken, and unsafe housing. Uniform perching like dowel rods or inappropriate perching like metal or pvc rods. Lack of grooming or vet care. No opportunity to fly. Unaddressed behavior problems. Lack of enrichment. Unaddressed aging ailments like arthritis, dry skin, cataracts or organ support. This neglect is by far more common than any other scenario that I encounter. The truth is that it's much easier to do the wrong thing than the right thing. The wrong thing is less time consuming. It's less expensive. It's less labor intensive. It's "less" in every way. So it tends to be very easy to fall into doing less. For example, it's easier to have smaller cages. They are less expensive, they take up less room in peoples homes, and they are easier and faster to clean. Some very small ones can even be wheeled outside still assembled for easy washing. The smaller, lighter, cages are much easier for the caretakers. While large, heavy, multi-panel 15' long walkin cages are much better for the animal. It is tremendously easier to feed a bowl of dry food. Whether that be pellets or seeds. You can order a big bag a few times a year and simply pour it into a bowl in seconds. It can be left for days at a time and are often changed only weekly. To compound the positives for the caretakers. Dry food is also much easier to clean up and doesn't stick to bars or stain floors.
In comparison, fresh food must be purchased every few days or at most weekly. Then it must be prepared every single morning - fresh. The dishes need to be pulled and washed thoroughly every single day when fresh food is involved. And then the workload is tripled when you're cleaning blueberries off the walls, pomegranates off the floor, and dried chop off the cage bars and perches. This also means the cage needs to be cleaned daily to prevent the fresh food from rotting and attracting bugs. The birds here also get fresh sprouted beans and seeds and cooked birdy bread and bird street bistro. Approximately 2 hours a day goes to feeding the birds here a fresh, balanced, varied diet, and keeping the environment clean from doing so. A dishwasher load of food and water bowls is run every. single. day. here. We replace the dishwasher and garbage disposal about every 36 months from the heavy usage! Don't get me started on the vacuums LOL!
The same goes for toys. The picture on the left is what happens when you put a phone book into an aviary with 4 cockatoos for a day. That's right. You read that correctly. This picture was taken 24 hours after the phone book was put into a newly scrubbed and cleaned cage. What a mess! It's much easier to not have toys and enrichment. Especially the really fun shredable things. Not to mention much cheaper. The toy budget here is thousands of dollars every single year. THOUSANDS. Just in toys that get chewed up and thrown away. The same goes for the foraging toys. It takes me an hour or more to make everyone foraging toys. Which then makes a bigger mess. So it makes me have to clean longer and change the paper more frequently - which costs more money and takes more time. So at this point you can likely see why it's so much easier for caretakers to slip into poor care. This is also why its important to understand why not putting the people that you leave your animal to in a position to be overwhelmed and with a shortage of resources to care, long term, for your parrot after you can no longer do so. Click below to read the article.
Decibel
Decibel, my beautiful wild caught Moluccan cockatoo, is the other side of the coin that made Wingspan Parrot Sanctuary a reality. Deci is the one bird who reminds me so much of my Umbrella cockatoo, Pele. They have that same breath taking wildness that humbles you to be able to be apart of their lives. When you're in her presence, there is no forgetting that she is not a "pet" and that she was born in the sky on the wings of freedom. She's confident, independent, and has soulful eyes. And she cares 0% about what I want her to do! She has her own agenda and a strong fiery personality. She's clever and resourceful. And when she came here I knew instantly that she was not a candidate for "adoption" and needed to be in a sanctuary with other cockatoos where she could feel the sun on her face. Adopting her into a home environment where she would live alone in a small cage was very clearly not the answer for her. Especially since she attacked peoples faces! Not to mention her most noticeable quality where I decided her name would come from - her voice!
dec·i·bel
/ˈdesəb(ə)l,ˈdesəˌbel/
a unit used to measure the intensity of a sound or the power level of an electrical signal by comparing it with a given level on a logarithmic scale.
a degree of loudness.
She is by far the loudest bird I've ever heard. And so Decibel it was!
At that point not being a sanctuary myself, I endeavored to find her a fantastic spot to live out her captive life and started reaching out to all of the sanctuaries that had flocks of cockatoos. As I reached out It brought the gravity of the parrot problem into sharp focus. Every good sanctuary was full. And not just full. Like 10 year waiting list full. Getting dozens upon dozens of requests per year and completely overwhelmed with birds in desperate situations - full. Although I had passively thought about where my boys would go if something happened to me. Until now I had never actually actively pursued an option for an animal that wouldn't do well in a typical housing situation. The lack of exceptional care options was front and center. Fast forward 3 years later I could not find a positive alternate sanctuary situation and so Decibel became a permanent resident. I love her to the moon and back. I think about what would have happened to her if she hadn't ended up here. I still wonder and worry about so many birds that I couldn't take in or help. It's a truly heart breaking reality.
So these two polar opposite birds - One who has never known a day of abuse or neglect and would suffer greatly from a downgrade in enrichment, choices, and circumstance. Who doesn't like strangers and would fail to thrive in normal parrot homes or large scale sanctuaries. The other a magnificent wild animal that needs a huge degree of freedom, constant close contact interactions with other birds, a ton of time outdoors and room to fly and exercise. Both of these birds need more than the average 3'x4' parrot cage in a bird room or back bedroom - But in completely different ways. As I struggled tremendously to decide where they would go if I could no longer care for them, I was overcome with empathy for others in the same position. So I decided that, for at least a few individuals, I could provide a safe landing for their parrots that they adore and want the best for. A place where each animals individual needs can be met. Where each bird is special and their environments are taylor made to suit their physicality, their health, and their idiosyncrasies.
Riot gets a cardboard box every day he is inside stuffed with an in shell nut - his favorite thing! Carat gets a square of wood daily to drag under his paper and turn into toothpicks. Swoop likes to stick his tongue out and we hiss together. Styx couldn't survive without his daily almond! Pele needs his humidifier filled up every day so his skin doesn't get dry in the winter months when the furnace runs. Tiki wants to have the Lion King on during breakfast. These are the little things that make their lives extra special. They thrive and are full of joy.