HOLLIDAY S EXOTIC AVIAN RESCUE TEAM
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Mission Statement
We are responsible for what we have captured, and when we know better, we should do better.
About This Cause
It started with a phone call from a lady I had gotten my two conures from in Crownpoint Indiana. There has been a huge, multi species hoarding surrender, so local bird club members took in the birds. They had brought home an Amazon and an umbrella cockatoo, the Amazon settled in easily, but the Cockatoo not so much . She told me they had the Cockatoo for three days, she had not stopped screaming the entire time, and they really did not know what to do to help her, but after praying, she felt drawn to contact me. I had been around cockatoos when I had lived down in the Florida Keys and a friends mom had some, so I told her I would take her in and see what I could do. She was the most pathetic looking site I had ever seen, she reeked of cat piss and smoke, had some flight feathers and powdery down feathers on her body, but the only place they were essentially untouched was her head. If I do something I am all in, so I immediately started educating myself the best I could, which was a bit difficult, because there were no real Avian vets near me, and online information was so controversial. I was unaware at the time of the crisis with cockatoos needing homes, but I figured that out pretty quickly, because it wasn’t very long when I got another phone call about taking in a female Moluccan Cockatoo, and an African gray because her mother was dying of lung cancer. After that, it just continued to steam roll, my husband and I were paying for the majority of things, including putting up a 18 x 20‘ outdoor aviary, so they could be outside in the summertime. We now have nine, one of them attached to the house. I had a pretty strong following of people on Facebook because of the animals in my life, so I shared my journey with what I call my village, the good, and the bad. I would’ve never been able to do this if it wouldn’t have been for their prayers and support. When I took one in that was a candidate for cataract surgery to restore his site, I was completely on board, and thanks to people donating we were able to get that done at Purdue University. At this point, I had found a really good vet down in Indianapolis, unfortunately a 3 hour drive each way. I continued to try to improve what they had here, by buying larger cages, better food and then, after realizing how much easier the stainless steel cages clean up, I went on a mission, and with the help of my Facebook family locating the cages, we gathered them from all over the country, as well as some aviaries from Corners unlimited, that there was no way I could ever afford new. In 2019, I joined this rescue, and as the couple that started it decided it was too hard, now it’s just me. I do allow my best friend to operate under my umbrella, and she has Red feather farm. I continued to build my following, I had some auctions and be my valentine, toy drives, to help cover expenses, because at this point, it was getting beyond what my husband and I could do alone. We are not wealthy people, at least, not money-wise, I feel very blessed and humbled that God thought I could do this, even though sometimes it’s so hard, and heartbreaking, I didn’t know if I could continue. No joke, there is a reason why cockatoos are the most abused and rehomed bird, not that they’re exceptionally mean, they just by nature are loud, like hundred plus decibels loud, and in the wild, they communicate with their beak, which is fine for other Cockatoos, but when they use that with us, not so much. Plus, we take a bird that is essentially a warrior, and we put them in tiny little cages, most people stop giving them toys because they tear them up so fast and that leads to more frustration. Also, by nature, they have a very tight social group, and are basically never out of yelling distance of their mate, unless they are off gathering food while she sits on the nest. So in homes this leads to separation anxiety that is expressed by screaming, mutilation, feather destruction, attacking other members in the home, other animals, etc., so unfortunately, in very few cases, do these birds get to live out their life with one family, and most of them have been in multiple, multiple homes. I have some here that were being tossed around on a three week schedule, so literally every three weeks or so that family gave it up and passed the bird on to someone else. I look at them like foster children, they might have a smile on their face, hope in their heart and a nice new suitcase as they go to their first family then, if, for whatever reason they don’t fit in there, they get passed on to another family, and so on and so on. Before long you have a child that does not believe what you say, convinced you’re going to give up on them, and lots of times decide to act out, to just get it over with . This is the life of cockatoos, the thing that’s different, is with foster children they grow up and then they can take care of themselves, cockatoos can realistically live to be 60 to 80 years old, but they are forever at our mercy, so they just keep getting passed around. I have one here that was bought from a pet store in 1965, thankfully for her she’s only had three homes, she is the exception, not the rule . I currently have 30 cockatoos in my home, 16 of them require multiple types of medication twice a day, generally, it’s tied in with atherosclerosis, aneurysms and heart disease . I have a cold laser, critical care unit, oxygen, concentrator, assisi loop etc to try to give them the best quality of life. My vet now is Bird And Exotic Pet Wellness in Toledo, it’s a 2 1/2 hour drive so it’s closer, and they are so wonderful, Dr. O has kept the prices as low as she can so people can get their birds the care they need. On average, I am there at least once a month, there has been times that I was there three times a week, or every other week for a month or two at a time, so, even with my followers, that support me, and the fundraiser/auction, I do once a year we still struggle to financially give them what they truly need. They get fresh chop six days a week, I try to get everything from FRESH Thyme and my average bill for that alone is $60-$80 , and that lasts a week. If you have read all of this, I hope you have a little bit of a better understanding of the plight of these larger birds in our care, and if you decide to help support what I’m doing, I truly appreciate it. I am 100% transparent, between the Rescue page and my personal page, I share everything with my village, and as everything is public, anyone can go and see. Thank you for being a company that helps your employees keep people like myself in a position to do what we should to help these beautiful birds.