Recouperating in a fish tank in our bathroom.
One is definitely the loneliest number if you're an orange-fronted conure who should travel in a flock of thirty to one hundred squawking parrots. Especially if you have a broken wing, and will never fly again.
I volunteered in the bird nursery at a wildlife rehabilitation center in WA state for two summers, where protocol dictated humane euthanasia for all wildlife (birds and mammals) that couldn't be released. Intellectually I accepted the premise that death was better than captivity, and I never had to make the decision, so I shed a few private tears and fed the next gaping beak.
I volunteered in the bird nursery at a wildlife rehabilitation center in WA state for two summers, where protocol dictated humane euthanasia for all wildlife (birds and mammals) that couldn't be released. Intellectually I accepted the premise that death was better than captivity, and I never had to make the decision, so I shed a few private tears and fed the next gaping beak.
Things are different this time. I know the back story. Paul was taking an afternoon walk in the jungle with Magdalena, the street dog we rescued, and our new puppy - when a troop of capuchin monkeys (omnivores) came through. Magdalena chased them, obviously unable to do them any harm in the trees. But when she returned, the rescued had become the rescuer, and she carried a flapping green parrot in her mouth.
I've fed this little parrot with a huge appetite - affectionately called Piggy Bird - for a week now. I've taken her to two vets (one an avian specialist in another city), and know that her broken wing can not be mended sufficiently for her to fly again. I've medicated her twice a day, and forgiven her for the bandage on my middle finger. And I've seen and heard a squawking flock of orange-fronted conures land in the trees around our house and call to her for the last seven days...as well as her excited answers.
Should I euthanize her because she can't survive in the wild? Or should I find a few others who can't be released and let them enjoy companionship, the possibility of reproduction (and offspring that CAN be released), a smorgasbord of fruit and vegetables, and fresh air...in a protected aviary?
I've named her Uno, because she's the first rescue actually from Magallanes to enter our Centro de Rescate de Vida Silvestre Magallanes. Now I need to contact other rehab centers and adopt Dos, Tres, and maybe Quatro.
I've fed this little parrot with a huge appetite - affectionately called Piggy Bird - for a week now. I've taken her to two vets (one an avian specialist in another city), and know that her broken wing can not be mended sufficiently for her to fly again. I've medicated her twice a day, and forgiven her for the bandage on my middle finger. And I've seen and heard a squawking flock of orange-fronted conures land in the trees around our house and call to her for the last seven days...as well as her excited answers.
Should I euthanize her because she can't survive in the wild? Or should I find a few others who can't be released and let them enjoy companionship, the possibility of reproduction (and offspring that CAN be released), a smorgasbord of fruit and vegetables, and fresh air...in a protected aviary?
I've named her Uno, because she's the first rescue actually from Magallanes to enter our Centro de Rescate de Vida Silvestre Magallanes. Now I need to contact other rehab centers and adopt Dos, Tres, and maybe Quatro.
 Uriel begins converting a monkey cage into an aviary. |  Just waiting for an occupant...or two or three or four. |
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