Molly Update

It's been over a year since our last update on Molly!

He's doing really well at CARE, but we'd love to place him in a home.  We are just a temporary stop for these birds, who need to find placement in a family.

Here's a video of Molly waving.

He has much love to give and if you've been thinking of adding a cockatoo to your life, please stop by and meet him.  It might just be a perfect match!

Snowball

Snowball is an approximately 25 year old Eleanora Cockatoo.  He's been at CARE for about two years now -- maybe 2011 will end up being his lucky year!

Though 25 isn't really considered senior for a cockatoo, he's one of the oldest toos we currently have up for adoption.

He is a very sweet bird.  When he first steps out of his cage, he bites down really hard -- it appears as though he never learned proper beak pressure!  We just wrap a towel around our arm, so he bites down on that, and then he's fine.  He loves coming out of his cage and is just a bit too exuberant at first.

We adopted Snowball out about 9 years ago.  For the first four years, things were really great and Snowball was a loved member of the family.  However, the last three years he spent in that house, he was never allowed out of his cage, which is terrible for such a gregarious flock animal.  They realized they weren't giving him what he needed, so he was returned to us.  He's spent the last two years with us, and we're hoping to find him a new home soon where he can spend the rest of his life.

Despite what he's been through, this resilient parrot has lots of love to give.  If you've been thinking about adding a cockatoo to your home, Snowball may be the fellow for you!

Lucky Update

It's been a while since we've talked about Lucky; the last time was here, in March 2010. His original story was posted here.

In 2007, when we introduced you to Lucky, we mentioned that he was the adoptable bird who had been looking for a home for the longest time. Four years later, he still is looking for a home.We still don't understand why so many cockatoos have been adopted out during the time that Lucky's been here, while he hasn't been. For that reason, he makes an appearance during the week when we are featuring our hard to adopt birds. It's a mystery why he's on this list, but the fact that he's been waiting so long is enough.

He's about 17 years old now. He tends to prefer women, as he was physically abused by a man in his past. He loves playing with toys, and we are constantly giving him new wood to play with. He is incredibly smart and quickly learns tricks.

Although he has settled in to life at the Center, he is hoping for a home of his own, where he can receive more attention than we can provide here. The last time we wrote about him, we'd hoped that 2010 would be the year that he found this. That didn't come to pass, but maybe 2011 will be the magic year when Lucky's life lives up to his name.

Meet Tiki

Meet Tiki, an adult bare-eyed cockatoo. We think she's around 10 years old, and we are waiting to receive her DNA-sexing results. In her last home, Tiki bit her owner, who threw her to the ground. Prior to this incident, Tiki was a friendly and happy bird, but that scared her and she has become relatively phobic.

We are looking for a patient, experienced cockatoo home for Tiki. We believe that in the right home, with time and understanding, she will regain trust and her carefree attitude again. It just has to be done on her time.

Please stop by if you'd like to meet Tiki. She deserves a happy captive life, and we're hoping we can find one for her soon, as she will make more progress in a private home than at the Center.

Perky Update

Perky, who we last wrote about here, is back at CARE. He became hormonal at the home he'd been at for a few years and started showing aggressive behaviors. They were not willing to work with him on these issues, and instead decided to return him to us.

Given his background and the fact that we don't want him bouncing around from home to home, we've decided that the best option for Perky is to be placed in a sanctuary. Cockatoo Rescue and Sanctuary is willing to take him into their program. This will give him the opportunity to interact with other birds and live a life closer to one he'd have in the wild. This was not a decision that we made lightly, but we feel it's in his best interest.

Here is a picture of Perky and another cockatoo at the Center (Snowball) preening each other. We suspect he's really going to like living among his own species!
It will cost around $500 for us to get Perky out to his new home. This includes costs related to his health certificate and vet exam, an airline approved carrier, and airline charges.

If you are able to help by making a tax-deductible donation to cover some of these costs, we would really appreciate it. We hope to be able to share Perky's progress with you over the years at the sanctuary.

You can drop a check off at the Center if you'll be visiting anyway, or mail it to us at: 3053 Beechwood Industrial Court, #1, Hubertus, WI 53033. You can also donate to us through paypal.

Thanks for your support!

Joey turns 25!

Today, February 14, 2011, Joey turned 25! Here he is with Lori, his favorite person.Like most parrots, cockatoos can live a very long time. Joey is probably not yet middle-aged. But now he can rent a car :)

Meet Darla

Darla, a lesser-sulfur-crested cockatoo, is another of the 18 birds. As we find out more about her personality, we will post it here.

Meet Daisy

Meet Daisy, a citron cockatoo. She is yet another of the 18 birds we discussed here.So far, like the others, she has been very sweet; it's obvious that she received love and good care at some point in her life. We're looking to find that for her again!

As we learn more about Daisy's personality, we'll post updates on this blog!

Meet Zoe

Meet Zoe, an umbrella cockatoo who is approximately 12 years old. We're not sure if Zoe is male or female, but I'm going to use female pronouns as that's what I think of when I hear the name!

Zoe is tame and handleable. As you can see, she has some feather destructive behavior, which is not uncommon in captive cockatoos.Zoe had been a much-loved member of the family. She was surrendered because her owners added a child to their house. Zoe had not shown any signs of aggression to this new addition, but her owners didn't want to take any chances.

We currently have a lot of cockatoos up for adoption; so many in fact that we have a waiting list for cockatoo surrenders until some get adopted, opening up some space. There may never be a better time to add a rescue too to your house, as we have so many that we can work with you to find one that will fir into your house.

Please stop by if you'd like to meet Zoe! She lost her home not due to any behavior problems, but due to changes in her owners' life circumstances.

Vet Updates

We introduced you to Molly last month. We recently got the test results back from his biopsy, and it is not cancer! Therefore, Molly is now up for adoption.

And, in even more good news, we also got the pathology results back on Chip, whose latest update is here. Chip also does not have cancer! He will soon be cleared to go to his new home.

What a week of good news we've had!

Meet Sawyer

Meet Sawyer, a male umbrella cockatoo. His former owners smuggled him into the Lincoln Park Zoo and abandoned him there to fend for himself. Luckily, he was found and captured by some zookeepers. They did the best they could for him, but due to zoo regulations, had to be very careful with him, in case he might spread disease to their collection.

They contacted us, and two of their amazing, caring keepers brought him to the Center.

He's received a clean bill of health from our vet. His feathers are a little ragged, but we believe that once he goes through a molt, that will improve. We suspect that someone who would dump him at a zoo probably wasn't feeding him the best diet.

He is wildcaught, and we suspect that he is around 30 years old, given his condition. He's got at least 20 years of good life ahead of him!

He is very sweet and craves human attention. He'll do anything he can to get you to pet his head! He is still a little leery coming out of his cage, but we suspect that will disappear as he gets used to the routine.

If you'd like to meet Sawyer, please stop by. After the turmoil he's been through, we want to find him a stable, permanent, forever home.

Molly Update

Last week, we introduced you to Molly. We got his vet results back, so wanted to share them here.

It was determined after the biopsy that he had a traumatic infection. If it heals, he'll be up for adoption. If it doesn't heal, he'll have to go back to the vet for a deeper biopsy. Hopefully this would give our vet more information in order to develop a better plan for him to heal.

Molly remains an incredibly sweet bird. When it is time to find him a new home, whoever adopts him will be getting a treasure!

Reminder: Rainforest Night at the Domes

Just a reminder that CARE representatives will be at Rainforest Night at the Domes tonight from 6-9. The Domes are located at: 524 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53215.

Here is Joey, who will be there. He loves going out in public and meeting new people! When we reminded him yesterday that he'd be going today, he got very excited!Other birds scheduled to be in attendance include: Tango, Daisy, Tangy, and some alumni birds.

We hope to see you there!

Meet Molly

Meet Molly -- an approximately 16 year old Greater Sulfur Crested Cockatoo. He is a very sweet bird!

Unfortunately, Molly had a huge growth on his neck when he was surrendered to us:It was removed at our vet's office, and now we are waiting the pathology report to see if we can get a better idea of what caused the growth.

Molly is not quite up for adoption -- we need to get the results back and make sure he is healthy. We'll update on the blog when we hear back, and hopefully find him a home quickly!

Edited to add: we just got sexing results back on Molly, and he is a male, so all pronouns were changed in this entry

Meet Lola

Lola is an female adult umbrella cockatoo. She is one of the parrots that has been with us the longest, looking for a home: almost four years! We've mentioned her before, but never featured her in her own entry.
Lola was confiscated by animal control and transferred to us. As such, we do not know much about her history; not even how old she is.

During the time she's been with us, most of our volunteers have fallen in love with her. She loves attention, and draws you in with the sweetest "Hello" you've ever heard.
It is hard for us to place cockatoos in general. They do not make good pets as they have complex needs that are difficult to meet in a captive environment. It's even harder for us to place cockatoos with severe plucking issues, as many people have a hard time looking past the bird's exterior.

If anyone is considering adding a cockatoo to their home, please thoroughly read mytoos.

We know someday the perfect home will arrive for Lola, and she'll have a family that sees through to the wonderful bird inside. Until that time comes, she has a place at the Center.

Meet Snowball

Meet Snowball, an approximately 23 year old medium sulfur crested cockatoo. We adopted him out 7 years ago, to what appeared to be a great situation. And it was for the first four years. He was out almost constantly and received a lot of attention.We were told several different stories about what happened next, but apparently he was not let out of his cage at all for the next three years. His family finally decided to return him, and now we're hoping to find him the right forever home.

He is tame and friendly, though does tend to prefer women. Cockatoos can be very challenging to keep in captivity, and we recommend that anyone considering bringing a cockatoo into their house first spend some time at mytoos.

Katie Update

We recently told you that long-term resident Katie was preparing to move into a home -- a milestone we weren't sure would ever happen.

She spent her last day at the Center making an impressive wood pile. This is what $300 in toys looks like when it's been reduced to matchsticks:It's so important to provide parrots with destructible toys. They have a need to chew, and if they don't have an appropriate outlet, like toys, they will seize whatever they can find. Like baseboards, cupboard doors, or antique desks. All of which can be toxic to parrots depending on how the wood was treated.

We are going to miss Katie, but are so happy for her that she has this wonderful opportunity!

Meet Rocky

Rocky is a lesser sulfur crested cockatoo. His previous owners trained him by using a squirt bottle and a broom. As a result, he is scared. He feels more comfortable stepping up on a towel than on a bare hand. He'll frequently fly off of the towel and on to the ground, but then comes running back to the person who squats down and jumps on the towel again!He spent the past year in a foster home. They were able to make progress with him, but lately had not been seeing more improvements. We're hoping that finding him a new family where he can live out his life will help him to improve even more.
Rocky does not have an aggressive bone in his body, and it is just heartbreaking that he was treated in such a harsh manner by humans! With love and patience, we know he can become a loved family member again.

Katie Update

Katie is an approximately 15 year old Moluccan Cockatoo. She's been with us for 8 years; even before we moved into our current location, so if you've visited the Center, there's a good chance you've seen her.

When Katie was surrendered to us, she was 7 years old and had already been in 7 different homes. Her last owner had taken her to a vet clinic to be euthanized. The vet was able to talk to her owner and convince them to surrender her to us instead.When we first met Katie, she was a mess. She hadn't experienced stability in her life. Large cockatoos are very difficult (if not impossible) to keep properly in captivity. Their needs are so complex that they need to be in the wild.However, we do our best with the cockatoos who are in captivity, and try to provide them with the best captive environment that we can. With a lot of patience, love, and care, Katie began to trust humans again. It took years, but she ultimately began to find joy again in life.

We thought she'd be a resident forever, given her beginning with us. However, sometimes life throws us curveballs, and one just arrived for Katie!One of our former volunteers, who had a fantastic relationship with Katie, recently lost her Moluccan Cockatoo, freeing up a space for Katie in her home. We couldn't hope for a better home for her -- a flock environment with owners who really give their all for these amazing creatures.
We are, of course, sad that Katie will be leaving us. She has been a constant presence at the Center for almost 8 years! She was used extensively in our education programs, and did a lot of PR with us as she loved it.

However, with this new beginning, Katie has such an opportunity. We hope to keep you updated on her progress!

Meet Malaky

Meet Malaky, an Umbrella Cockatoo. He was purchased as a baby from a pet store about 5 1/2 years ago. Everything went well for the first few years, when he was a compliant baby. However, as he's now beginning to enter sexual maturity, his former owners realized they are in over their heads. Most people are when it comes to cockatoos, which is why there are so many surrendered to rescues. We currently have several on a waiting list -- we just don't have room to take any more in until we adopt some out. It's very sad.His former family wasn't interested in help to work through these issues -- they just wanted him gone. He turns 6 on June 15, 2010. He has decades yet to live.

Cockatoos are among the most difficult parrots to keep in captivity. They are wild animals not well suited to lives in our living rooms. Their natural calls are very loud, occasionally resulting in threats of eviction or complaints from neighbors. They are quite destructive, especially if not given enough toys to destroy. Their bites can be quite severe -- it is not unheard of for a cockatoo bite to send the victim to the emergency room for stitches.Given his behavior, we suspect Malaky didn't have many toys in his previous home, which likely contributed to the behavior issues he was exhibiting. He quickly got the hang of toys, as you can see from these pictures and is now a master of destruction.Malaky is up for adoption, though it will likely be a challenge to find a home up to the task of providing him with what he needs. We're sure that home is out there somewhere -- we just need to find it!