Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Meet Molly

Molly is a Mealy Amazon, which is one of the largest Amazon parrot species. When Molly came to us, he was probably among the largest Amazon individuals, as a poor diet and sedentary life combined to make him a severely obese parrot!

When he was first surrendered to us, several years ago, you couldn't see his feet when he perched -- his belly hung out that far. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures at that time, as his transformation is truly amazing! He also had fatty lipid deposits covering his body. Poor guy!

Molly was adopted by a couple, but they ran into problems with him. They had several other amazons, and Molly fell in love with one of their other parrots. Doing what parrots do when placed in unnatural settings (our living rooms), he became aggressive against his owners in an attempt to court this other bird.

His owners realized that they could no longer provide a good environment for him, as he was spending more and more time inside his cage, so he returned to CARE.

Molly is most likely in his upper teens/lower 20s. He is a very happy and vocal bird. As you can hear in the video, he loves to sing scales! And look at the way his eye pins at me towards the end when he says hello -- breathtaking!

He has a cataract in one eye, though this does not slow him down. He receives a homeopathic spray in his water every day for this. He may require additional medication in the future should his condition worsen; however, we're hoping that an improved diet will make additional medication unnecessary. He also requires daily exercise in order to keep his weight down.

Molly is quite tame, though he tends to pick people he likes and doesn't like. He is also stick trained. His vocal exploits could keep me entertained for hours.

Although Molly is up for adoption, his special needs are such that he may end up being a resident.

Next time you're at the Center, stop by Molly's cage and sing/whistle a few scales with him. He'll love it!

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