Sad stories
Rescued parrots vary as widely as the reasons people decide to help them. They range in size from budgie to macaw and may be a few months old to many decades. However, almost all arrive with a sad story. It is these birds that attract rescuers and keep them in the trenches.

S. R. "Jake" Stewart, an ornithologist for over 30 years in Virginia, founded Rescue Me, An Avian Sanctuary five years ago after being asked to take in a 5-month-old citron cockatoo that had been struck every time she screamed.

Mickaboo Cockatiel Rescue near San Francisco also has seen its share of deliberately injured birds.

One cockatiel arrived with a broken wing after its angry owner stormed out of his house

Some birds, such as this cockatoo received by FosterParrots, mutilate themselves when neglected.

and spiked the bird over a fence into the next-door neighbor's hedge.

Turbo, a paralyzed Mexican Amazon, occupies a special place in Evergreen Acres Bird Sanctuary volunteer Michael Lockey's heart.

Lockey has cared for Turbo since another volunteer at Evergreen, a 2500-square-foot facility on 160 acres of farmland near Toronto, discovered the bird three years ago at a discount pet food store.

"He was literally sitting on an 8-inch pile of poop, covered in his own excrement and dragging himself around by his beak in a state of absolute terror whenever anyone approached," says Lockey. The Evergreen rescuer paid the store $150 for Turbo, who was cleaned up and eventually tamed.

Although he will never regain use of his legs or wings, Turbo now seems "very content," says Lockey. "He can manage to lurch into an upright position against a branch and watch the world. He preens himself as far as he can.

"He can be held, but we limit the amount of contact; he's not a toy, nor a cripple to be poked. He is, however, a special delight to take and show to handicapped kids."

Many more parrots with heart-tugging stories have found a home with LARRA since Bockenhauer's first memorable bird, Amos the naked African grey.

One, a conure dubbed Sunny D, is LARRA's mascot because of her invincible spirit, says Bockenhauer.

Sunny D lived at a pet store until Bockenhauer received a tip that an injured bird there needed help. A "mean" ex-breeder the store had given up trying to sell, the small bird had chewed a golf ball-size hole into its chest, through which the breastbone and splintered ribs could be seen.

Sassy, a cockatoo who lives at The Oasis Sanctuary, wears specially-made booties on her crippled feet. A luckier bird than most, she received exceptional care from her previous owner, including reconstructive surgery.

"That bird acted as if there were nothing wrong with her," marvels Bockenhauer, who managed to convince the storeowner to give Sunny to her instead.

After she and another LARRA volunteer "sat and cried" in the car over the bird's pitiful appearance, Bockenhauer took Sunny to the vet, who operated to close the chest cavity.

Several months later, when the vet removed the bird's body bandage for good, the two women helped the conure open up all the new feathers that had grown in underneath.

"When we were done, she had a full chest of feathers and you could not tell there had ever been a problem," says Bockenhauer.

Greedy owners
Unfortunately, not everyone with a neglected parrot is willing to give it up as easily, and weak animal cruelty laws in the United States do not offer much assistance.(See "Mistreated animals: How you can help").

Many owners want full or partial payment to recoup their investment, and that is where some rehabilitators draw the line, saying an exchange of money only repeats the abusive cycle.

"There is not enough money in the world to save all the birds who need to be saved. This is a sad truth--one we wish were not but is so," says Kim Noble, founder of Northcoast Adoption and Rehabilitation Center, Inc. in Aurora, Ohio. [If we go] into pet stores to look for abuse cases, we will certainly find them."

Others cannot turn their backs on birds in dire straits. At an Illinois aviary that was going out of business, LARRA's Bockenhauer found "the water was green muck, the birds were being fed a 100% sunflower seed diet, and the smell was so horrific my lungs hurt for two days. Yet the only way the guy was going to part with these birds was if I paid for them."

She decided to buy the birds most likely to be discarded or left for dead, and took home two "bare-naked, thin and weak" macaws for $400 apiece.

Not all surrendered parrots are neglected. A small percentage come from owners who are elderly or ill, or who realize they can no longer provide the kind of care the bird needs to thrive. These cases can be almost as heart rending as the ones that involve abuse, say rescuers.

Parson, a blue-and-gold macaw, came to LARRA because his owner developed fibromyalgia, a debilitating disease of the connective tissues.

"I drove 10 hours to pick up him up in Illinois," recalls Bockenhauer. "He was in perfect feather, the epitome of health. I met the owner in a snow storm because that was the date we picked and neither one of us could bear for her to keep the bird another day because she was so heartbroken."

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