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Foster Parrots, Ltd.
 

SURRENDERING YOUR PARROT

 

Before making the decision to surrender your parrot, we ask that you carefully revisit your reasons for wanting to re-home your bird and to consider the possibility of making the changes or employing training techniques that will allow your bird to stay under your care.  We will be more than happy to evaluate your situation and try to coach you through some strategies that may help improve your relationship with your parrot.  Sometimes there are health, logistics or family issues that make it impossible for people to keep their birds.  Other times, though, it is possible to manipulate environment, introduce routine and employ training techniques that can save a parrot from losing its home.

 

 

SURRENDERING OPTIONS

 

  1. Friendly, well-socialized birds may be candidates for our in-house adoption program.  We have a limited number of spaces available for adoptable birds at our Parrot Rescue & Adoption Center located in Rockland, Massachusetts.  Space will be filled on a first come, first serve basis.
    • A surrender fee of $300 for small to medium parrots and $500 for large birds is required.  This fee is necessary to fund the veterinary expenses for your bird’s mandatory in-take evaluation and to help off-set the cost of feeding and caring for your bird for an indefinite period of time.
    • Foster Parrots assumes responsibility for screening and educating potential adopters, ensuring a quality home environment and follow-up on the adoption.  Contracts are in place to govern the adoption process.
    • Admission is limited to space availability.  If your bird cannot be accommodated, he/she will be added to our waiting list or may be referred for outside adoption placement.
    • Admission will be scheduled in accordance with quarantine rotation procedure and may require a waiting period of 1 to 3 months.
    • Parrots that must be placed expressly will be referred to other agencies.
  2. Permanent Care Sanctuary Program -  People seeking to surrender wild and unadoptable birds or people who would simply like to ensure  quality lifetime care of their birds in a natural setting with other birds may elect to surrender their birds into our Lifetime Care Program.  Parrots surrendered into this program will live out their lives at the New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary (NEEWS) located in Hopkinton, Rhode Island.
    • The surrender fee for permanent care placement is $2.00 per day based on the expected life span of the bird, with a minimum fee of $10,000 and a maximum fee of $50,000.
    • At our discretion, a payment schedule can be implemented dividing payments into pre-designated installments and including a down payment due at the time of surrender.
    • The futures of parrots can also be safeguarded through Will Bequeathment and Life Insurance Policies that provide for lifetime care of parrots at the New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

 

 

IDENTIFYING LEGITIMATE, TOP QUALITY RESCUE AND SANCTUARY ORGANIZATIONS

 

The decision to place one’s parrot, a cherished family member, into an adoptive or rescue situation can be difficult and heartbreaking.  It is vital that guardians proceed carefully and always in the best interest of the parrot.  While hundreds of parrot rescue organizations exist in the United States, not all are legitimate or ethical, and not all are capable of providing quality interim or prolonged care for your bird.  It is important that, before you entrust the care of your bird to an organization, you do your homework.  The future of your parrot depends on it.

 

  

1.      Ethical, legitimate rescue organizations do not breed,  do not adopt to breeders and do not work in concert with the breeding community.  Most well-established Rescue and Sanctuary Organizations have web sites which clearly state their mission and policies.  Make sure the Rescue you are considering stands against breeding and perpetuating the crisis of unwanted captive birds.  Check out the “Links” section of Rescue web sites.  If they link to breeders, their affiliations speak volumes.

2.      Make sure the Rescue Organization screens adoption applicants carefully and has contracts in place to govern the adoption process.  Legitimate Rescues conduct a responsible adoption process which screens applicants carefully to ensure parrots are being adopted into committed, experienced, loving homes.  Adopters should be required to sign contracts agreeing to return their adopted birds to the Rescue organization if the adoption fails.  The Rescue should conduct follow-up visits and inquiries to ensure that the bird is being properly cared for in a home that provides an enriched environment, ample social interaction and out-of-cage time, and a varied, nutritious diet that includes plenty of fresh food.

3.      Experienced, top quality Rescue Organizations provide dedicated care to parrots in clean and enriched environments.  The Rescue you are considering should have nothing to hide.  You should be welcome to visit, usually by appointment, and you should find happy, well cared for birds enjoying a clean environment, a healthy diet and toys.  You should be able to observe an obvious effort to provide enrichment into the lives of the resident birds.

4.      A facility that presents rows upon rows of caged birds may be a poor choice.  At Foster Parrots most birds that come under our care make a gradual transition into a free-flighted, open community.  Birds that must be caged due to vulnerability or aggression issues are invited out of their cages during the daytime hours and/or while they can be supervised.  Birds are caged in pairs or groups when cages are necessary.  While not all Rescues are able to establish free-flighted flocks, the good ones still have imagination and are dedicated enough to make the effort to pair or group resident birds, deliver ample socialization time, or offer  rotating out-of-cage time.  Your bird many spend months or even years as a resident of the Rescue organization you entrust him to.  Make sure that doesn’t mean years of sitting alone in a cage, day after day after day, waiting for something to happen.

5.      Make sure the Rescue is stable and well-established.  You want to be assured that the Rescue organization that accepts your parrot is not going to fail, leaving your parrot’s future uncertain.  Some indications of a Rescue that is strong and likely to be successful and operational long into the future are:

·        They are well organized with a clear mission and established operational policies.

·        They fundraise effectively and charge appropriate surrender and/or adoption fees.  A quality Rescue organization cannot operate without financial support

·        They have a good reputation and are well-connected within the larger avian welfare community.

6.   The Rescue should be experienced, knowledgeable and active in education and advocacy.  Good, reputable Rescue organizations have a great deal of parrot care expertise and are eager to share information in order to ensure that parrots everywhere are receiving proper, good quality care.  They ensure that their volunteers are well educated, that their adopters are well educated, and that information is readily available to anyone who cares for or is considering acquiring a parrot.

 

  

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