State Fair: Saturday 8/9/08

The birds at the Fair today were:

• Peaches - 12 year old male Moluccan Cockatoo (adoptable)
• Joey - 22 year old male U2 (our mascot)
• Buddy - 17 year old Citron (alumnus)
• Big Fred - 12 year old male M2 (alumnus)
• Little Fred - 12 year old male U2 (alumnus)
• Dolly - 8 year old female U2 (alumnus)
• Boca - 4 year old female Bronze-Winged Pionus (alumnus)
  

We saw the biggest crowd yet at the Fair - could barely take a break today! Many people with many questions kept us busy all day.

The presentations were about cockatoos. One of our volunteers, C., talked about her experiences with taming down a cockatoo (Buddy) who had been living in a basement for quite some time and came to her very aggressive. She's had him for 6 months and he did great at the Fair today.

M. again told her cautionary tale about Fred getting outside and living in the trees for about a month. She did it last weekend too, but this is a story people who own birds should hear - it could happen to them at any time. These magnificent creatures rely on us to keep them safe, which means that we need to anticipate problems (such as a growing hole in a carrier) and rectify the situation before something tragic happens. Luckily Fred's story has a happy ending!

Getting the word out at the Fair helps us and the birds in many ways:

• meeting people who had been considering buying a bird that decide to adopt one instead
• selling our toy line (proceeds of which support the Center)
• meeting teachers who book us in to come talk to their classes about bird care and conservation, allowing us to reach the younger generation with these important messages
• meeting people who decide to volunteer at the Center
• getting out the word that we exist so that in the future if someone hears about a parrot in suboptimal conditions (via a social situation, for example), they can point to us as a resource.

We get some surrenders in also, but that's okay, that's what we're here for. In an ideal world, with our focus on education, we can help to slow down the parrot rehoming cycle and perhaps put ourselves out of business! Until that happens, we persevere to try to improve the lives of captive parrots.

One more day at the Fair this year!