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Foster Parrots, Ltd.
Start Your Own Rescue

In response to the many who write or call about starting their own rescues we offer the following advice, be careful.  There are many more birds in need than you can care for and it is easy to get in over your head.  There is little or no support from the public and even less from other animal welfare/rights agencies.  Be prepared for a tough life with few rewards, save those you will get from each bird you help.

Karen Windsor offers the following advice:

I would actually NOT recommend that you start your own formally structured rescue.  Think very carefully about it.  Potentially, it will consume every moment of your time, chip away at your sanity and drain you emotionally.  Also, it will exhaust your finances.  If you do decide that rescue is something you are absolutely driven to do, my advice to you is to plan carefully and establish a set number of birds you feel you can provide top quality care for at any given time.  This means having the ability to provide medical care, having the resources to establish your birds in a quality, stimulating environment, and having the time to devote to feeding, watering, environmental maintenance and personalized attention.  

 Having the ability to vet your birds is critical.  In-coming, seemingly healthy birds should receive well-bird exams.  You might establish a protocol whereby the surrendering party would be responsible for financing this veterinary cost... but you will inevitably assume the responsibility for emergency cases and birds who become sick or injured while in your care.  You must have the ability to guarantee medical care to any bird in need.  You also must have accommodations for quarantining in-coming birds for periods between 30 and 90 days, depending on their histories and medical dispositions.

If you are only able to provide restricted cage space to in-coming birds, then many birds will be no better off in your rescue than they were in their original situation.  They will be cage bound!  You must be able to dedicate a room or several rooms to birds that allow for ample out-of-cage time and an improved quality of life.  At Foster Parrots most birds are NOT caged.  They live on hanging play frames in carefully orchestrated communities.  We advocate keeping birds flighted!  Some birds, however, do have to be caged, at least when they cannot be supervised.  Their cages should be the largest possible cages, and/or you should have the ability to build large floor to ceiling flights.  Remember, it's all about QUALITY OF LIFE.  You must have the ability to provide boxes, swings, trapezes and toys for the enjoyment of your birds.

Diet is important for the health of your birds.  Seed based primary diets are actually unhealthy for birds!  You should be able to offer fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, sweet potato mashes and cereals up to five days each week.  Ideally, your rescue birds should be maintained on fresh foods, whole nuts and natural, nutritionally complete pellets with seeds as an infrequent treat.

Once you have all of these components in place, or while you are putting these in place, you should be pursuing your 501 (c) (3) non-profit status.  This is the very involved and complicated legal process by which you will be able to solicit donations and grants in order to finance your rescue organization.  The paperwork is extremely complicated and involved.  It helps if you can dig up an attorney to help you through this, but it is possible to plow through it mostly by yourself if you have a lot of time and patience.  You will have to establish a mission statement, by-laws and a Board of Directors....  Without a non-profit status it is very difficult to get contributions, and impossible to solicit support from foundations and charitable suppliers...

It is important that you put your paperwork in order and establish what your surrender and adoption policies are going to be.  You can look at our guidelines for adoption as a reference, and then you can formulate your own.  You should devise an adoption contract that prohibits adopters from breeding and from selling or giving your birds to any third party.  If adoptions don't work, you should be prepared to take the birds back.  You should screen adoption applicants thoroughly.  Also, you should devise a surrender form that must be signed and dated by surrendering parties, relinquishing all rights to the bird to you.  It should also request a clear history on the bird...

In order to get your paper work in order I'd advise you to research what some of the other big rescues around the country are doing.  You can find lists of rescue organizations on the Avian Welfare Coalition ( www.avianwelfare.org ) and Avian Protection Society

 ( www.avianprotectors.homestead.com ) web sites.  It is critical, also, that you establish your own web site so that people can find you.  Be forewarned, however, that  "if you build it, they will come..."

Above all else, please keep in mind that the easiest thing to do is to get in WAY over your head.  It's hard to say no.  It's hard to turn birds away.  At Foster Parrots now we are turning away up to two dozen birds each week.  Because we have reached well beyond our limit at more than 200 birds.  The best thing you can do is to stay small and provide top quality services to a small, manageable flock of parrots.  Be prepared to say good-bye and put the most precious birds you've ever known into someone else's home.  But do so knowing you have selflessly put that bird's needs before your own.

Good luck and please call if you would like to talk,

Karen Windsor

Recommended guidelines for the care of parrots in sanctuaries

There are many forms that the rescue, sanctuary and adoption of exotic birds and parrots may take. Because of this fact there are no hard and fast rules that will apply to all efforts. Honesty, integrity and the desire to do the best job possible are part of what is needed when addressing this much needed effort.

Whether in a private home or organized non-profit setting, it is recommended that the advice and services of a qualified/certified avian veterinarian be enlisted. Protocols for routine testing will vary depending on each rescue or sanctuary's circumstance and financial ability.

Recommended medical standards

As circumstances will vary from one rescue/sanctuary to another it is up to each organization, whether public or private, to do everything in their power to prevent the spread of disease to any established flock, either residing at the facility or to the potential adoptive home.

Different scenarios may include the following examples

∑       Private home rescue/sanctuary where NO other birds are currently residing
In this situation it is possible that a bird may be taken in without any medical testing (except in cases where medical attention is required for a sick or suffering bird) or quarantine IF the bird will be re-homed before the entrance of any other other birds. It would then be incumbent upon the new adoptive home to carry out the appropriate quarantine and medical testing as per the recommendations of their vet or according to the recommended tests listed below. The cage should then be thoroughly disinfected before the arrival of the next bird. The efforts of those who may only be able to rescue one bird at a time, even if they can only afford minimum medical testing, are and will always be, a valuable resource to each and every bird given a second chance. It is still recommended that a vet check, with tests for psittacosis and PBFD, be done to keep any bird entering your facility/home from being exposed.
 

∑       Sanctuary/Adoption programs, private or public, where there is an established flock in residence
For groups with an established flock of birds awaiting adoption there should be a quarantine period of between 40 ― 90 days. The duration of the quarantine may be determined by the incoming bird's history; the less that is known about the bird's past, the longer it is recommended the quarantine period last.

Medical attention should be sought for any bird with obvious injuries or outward signs of illness.

Each new bird should receive the following tests as recommended by your avian veterinarian:

CBC
Psittacosis
Cultures
PBFD
Polyoma
Papiloma Virus
Pachecos
PDD (when it becomes available)

As the commingling of many species in home, pet shop and breeding facilities has become the norm, specific testing i.e. Cockatoos for PBFD, becomes less realistic and ideally every bird, finances allowing, should be tested for as many of the above as possible.

Wherever two or more birds are brought together, and as there are diseases for which there are no cures or tests, there will be a risk of spreading disease.

If there isn't anyone willing to weigh the risks involved and address the problem of parrot overpopulation, as well as the growing number of unwanted and suffering birds, surely we will face the death of thousands, if not millions, of these sensitive and intelligent creatures. Thousands of parrots now languish in basements, sheds and garages. Many more will be set free by uncaring and irresponsible guardians. Until the support and money needed is found, we must all work to the best of our abilities to do the best job we can ― for the birds.

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