The Parrot Man – Part IX
Baby Boomer Bird Bust Looming?
Christopher is anticipating a tidal wave coming in the next 10 or 15 years. It is thought that many baby boomers, a huge demographic, will feel that they are incapable of taking care of their parrots. So perhaps thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of parrots will need new homes. Those in the parrot rescue world are not looking forward to this, but they do want to be ready for it.
“Because we don’t have much funding and a limit on space right now, we can only take in the worst of the worst cases.” It is his hope that in the future, the aviary will have a bigger facility and more funding and be able to take in even the birds that just cause their owners “inconvenience.” He said the aviary gets a couple of calls a week saying that it is difficult for the owner to take care of their bird, they work a lot, whatever. It seems bad, but it is still a convenience problem. “We currently just take in birds that are in an emergency situation.”
Visitors At the Flight Cage: Yes!
Christopher does not want his flock to stress out about, “Being a prey animal in a small cage, unable to fight or to flee, and having unfamiliar people walking around your cage staring at you.” He prefers not to have too many folks visit the inside of the aviary; the birds would feel trapped.
However, he welcomes visits to the outside flight cage. The flight cage is big enough so that the birds could move to the other side if they felt nervous. On most nice weather days, with the temperature above 60 degrees, Christopher brings the parrots out around noon and takes them in around 4 pm. The birds are very social when they are comfortable. Please come and say hello. Some of the birds, and perhaps even Christopher, will answer you!
To find out more about parrots or to make a donation, please visit the Garuda Aviary website.
Tags: abused parrots, Garuda Aviary, Jetsunma Akhon Lhamo, KPC, Kunzang Palyul Choling, parrot man, parrot sanctuary
