Raising Money For Parrot Rescue Organizations
| Attention Agents! I'f you've been following my brother and I on our latest mission to catch crappy pet shops around the world, then I've got an important favor to ask of you: Agent 'D' and I (Chet & Dave Womach) are in the process interviewing/analyzing parrot rescue organizations. We've set a lofty goal to raise over $10,000 on behalf of a great rescue organization, and wanted your input and opinion on some of the better organizations out there. I want to be 100% confident that the money I'm raising will go to a top notch parrot rescue organization. So your feedback would be greatly appreciated. To share any insights you have into a great parrot rescue organization I should raise funds for, please click on the comments section directly below this post. Thanks Agents! Agent 'C' and 'D' out... |
25 Comments:
Hi Chet,
I bought your training CD about a year ago. I STILL haven't had time to watch/listen but want to let you know that I did a lot of Internet research on Bird Tricks before I bought from you, and I really do plan on using them! Thanks! I have a young African Grey, and we're just having fun playing and interacting now. But I'm ready to start some training work with her, and your CD is on my desk!
I also enjoy the emails you sent out occasionally, which brought me to your blog. I just took a few minutes to read your first post about raising money for parrot rescue organizations, and wanted to let you know that The Gabriel Foundation in Colorado is doing an amazing job. Their web site is http://www.thegabrielfoundation.org/Home/ . They relocated closer to my home last recently, and I've visited their shelter 3 times now. I was so impressed with their living conditions, the health of their birds, and the total commitment of their staff to bird welfare that as soon as I visited the first time I came home and donated money to them. I've also offered to volunteer in any way I can.
If you are ever out this way, do yourself a favor and visit The Gabriel Foundation. They have a vast number of the most beautiful parrots of all species, and they are all living in the best conditions humanly possible!
Deb T.
By Debbie aka Webmistress of the Dark, at 3:51 PM
Thanks for the input Deb... I'll keep them in mind.
-Chet
Birdtricks.com
By Chet Womach, at 4:39 PM
The Lily Sanctuery located in Fountain Valley, Ca. www.lilysanctuary.org
is a very worthy consideration. The sanctuary is in a private home that presently houses about 50 birds, with about 40 in the big bird category. Every day, every cage is changed and cleaned, fresh food for breakfast along with premium seed, pellets, and nuts. Every fresh food and water dish is washed daily. This place is cleaner than most peoples homes!Every bird goes outside in aviaries for sunshine and play time. Recetly a bird room was added through donations of money, materials and labor.
This sanctuary is run by Dan and Venette Hill. They are both over 60, and have physical conditions that cause daily pain. Dan was laid off from his job last year, and has been unable to find suitable employment since. In spite of these hardships, the quality of care the birds receives has not slipped one inch. So many of the sanctuary birds have come from neglectful or abusive homes. I have seen such healing physically and mentally of birds that seemed there was little hope for them. Seeing this is like witnessing a miracle.
Although volunteers are scheduled daily to assist in the care and cleaning, often they are left short from cancellations, and have to do most of the work on those days. The sanctuary is 100% dependent on donations to exisist. Dan and Venette both are receiving some disability, along with the outside donations they barely make it each month. A donation such as this would be a heaven sent blessing, and so needed. I hope you consider The Lily Sanctuary for this donation. Thank you
By Laura Cowan, at 5:07 PM
I have recently become involved with TLC Bird Haven in Spokane, Wa. Here is their website. http://www.tlcbirdhaven.org/ also we are having a parrot festival in May which is going to raise funds for the rescue...we will have booths, food, fun and training sessions. Learn about it here http://www.spokaneparrotfestival.org/home.htm. Please check out this organization as they are very deserving of help and the current project in the works is to build a large flighted aviary on 15 donated acres! We've got the land but need funds to build the building. Joanie Lamm and her husband run the rescue and they have many macaws, a cockatoo, Amazons and a hawk head parrot. Joanie is extremely knowledgable and works many hours each day working with the birds and providing an outstanding enviornment. Please consider this organization. Thanks
By Anonymous, at 6:57 PM
www.birdelicious.com has several excellent rescue orginizations that they support. Bird-e-licious sells a high quality parrot food. They are dedicated to bettering the life of all parrots. Thank you for your efforts.
By Anonymous, at 7:35 PM
i volunteer at earl(exotic animal rescue league) in memphis tn i dont know enough about their finances to say how good it is but i can say that it has people who care running it.
By Anonymous, at 8:29 PM
Dear Chet
I always read with great interest your Emails and articles.This subject is of great interest as i have long been a campaigner to stop pet shops stocking birds. as a breeder i have not and never will sell to a pet shop. I know of one pet shop owner only who knows how to properly treat and advise new owners of the things new owners need to know,perhaps there are more but i know every pet shop in my area and would not trust my beloved hand raised babies to them.
The parrot rescue centre located on the Gold coast in Qld Australia does a magnificent job in rescue rehabilitation and where possible adoption to properly trained new owners. They take all mistreated or unwanted pets some with hardly a feather left on their poor little bodies and give them a whole new outlook on life. They deserve the respect and support from all parrot lovers.
Keep up the good work Chet you obviously love birds and put your money where your mouth is not just your pocket.
Thank you
Jenny Lee
By Anonymous, at 8:53 PM
I would agree, that raising money for this, is a good idea, but then there are the risks....But therefore I support this idea.
There are many good organizations out there, but most of them don't need donations. And let me tell you now, there are about as many bad ones in my case. I walked into a parrot shop and walked right out. Every single parrot had plucked feathers and had a bad diet. I went back to see what I can do about this, but it turns out, it had gotten closed down the day after!
By Anastassia, at 10:15 PM
Hi!!! Want to recommend a parrot rescue organisation in the U.K., if that's ok. (Don't know if you only raise money for organisations in the U.S.) It's the National Parrot Sanctuary. Website: http://www.parrotsanctuary.co.uk/
They even drive to people's frontdoor to pick up parrots, charges only for the petriol!!!
By Tomas, at 2:46 AM
Here's an organization that the parrots should be rescued from and not taken to: Perfectly Precious Petfinder. The people who are foster homes for this organization don't have a clue about birds. I went to check into rescuing an Umbrella Coctatoo and went to the Foster family's home to see if the bird and I were a good match. This family fed the Too only seed. They also had other smaller birds like conures on the same playstand with the Cocatoo AND they had ferrets running around loose in the house. Ferrets are predatory animals that FEED on birds!!! Not only that, the Foster family also fostered dogs and had at least 5 of them running around. While they claim to be a rescue organization, they don't screen their foster families too well.
By Anonymous, at 6:14 AM
The Long Island Parrot Society is a
wonderful organization that helps
parrot owners in many ways. They also
have a relocator service for lost
birds and ownerless birds. they can
be reached at
www.liparrotsociety.org.
God bless you for your wonderful
efforts. Unfortunately, I am not
financially able to help you at this
time, but I wish you the best of luck.
Sincerely, Paula Holst
owner of Shadow, Mona, Earl, Minkey,
Layla & Rosco. (my flock)
By Anonymous, at 8:11 AM
Above I read a comment that stated "There are many good organizations out there, but most of them don't need donations." I couldn't believe that someone wrote that! I am not an organization and I do not get donations, but a single mother of 2 with 11 rescue parrots. The birds I have taken in have been abused, neglected, or otherwise have no where to go. Most of them hate humans, that is how I found Chet's program. I was looking for some training to help rehabilitate these parrots so that they might have a more enriched life and maybe be able to love humans again someday. There are literally millions of birds that have no where to go because no one wants a screamer, biter, or feather plucker! Please help these organizations with anything you can! I hope I speak for all animal and bird lovers when I say CHET...YOU HAVE MY SUPPORT! Saranda in LaVerkin, UT
By Saranda Lynn, at 2:16 PM
I am involved in http://phoenixlanding.org/
I highly, highly recommend them as a worthy organization. They require that their adopter go to parrot behavior classes and are very careful to make sure the parrots go to good homes.
I have two difficult foster macaws here that I am rehabilitating. I have your tapes. :)
You can see some videos of some I am fostering here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ACVa18Sisq4
You can see all my parrot videos here:
http://youtube.com/profile?user=piercesdesigns
By Debbie Pierce, at 6:24 PM
I am involved with a great group. It is called Parrots & People www.parotsandpeople.org This group rescues parrots in the Dallas and Fort Worth Texas area. We use a lot of foster homes to give the birds lots of TLC. We also use some of the rescued birds in programs with children with special needs, nursing homes, and different education programs. Everyone that becomes a foster parent or an adoption parent must go thru a training program. This allows a person the make sure this is right for them and they learn how to care correctly for the parrots. As you know Vet bills are not cheap for parrots. We have some great vets in our area but with quite a few birds it can get expensive. They are always looking for donation of both time and money. It doesn't take but a smile from one of the kids with special needs to make you want to give everything. My husband and I have 4 parrots and they are just great. When we started all I knew was that parrots bite. Now I have learned that it was my fault and so many other things. By the way I have not been bit in a long time. There are still so many birds that need our help.
By Anonymous, at 7:27 PM
Hi Chet,
This year at the Kootenai County Fair in Couer D' Alene, Idaho, in the exotic barn, they had a beautiful red macaw. He was perched above the lizards he had one wing over his face and was yelling at the people to shut up. I talked to him for a while and finally he calmed down and flew to my shoulder....he was a little stressed out and didn't want to go back to his perch. Finally a lady came and took him off my shoulder.
Anyway I have been following your bad
pet store storys... We have a mall in
Couer d' alene called silverwood mall.
They have a pet store there....and the birds do not look to healthy or happy...just thought I would let you know, I talked to one of the people working there but she wasn't the manager,and since I live 35 miles from there I don't get there very often.
I own a paraqueet, a love bird, a cockatiel, and an amazon parrot....Thanks for letting me share....Carla
By Anonymous, at 8:17 PM
Mollywood Parrot Rescue in Bellingham, WA is an excellent organization. Run by Nate & Batsy Lott, they have over 300 birds, most of them cockatoos. I was out there a couple weeks ago, and they need everything (what rescue doesn't?). Toys, food, treats, but most of all, money.
Mollywood is non-profit, relying 100% on donations to keep going. They do not adopt out birds as a rule, so most if them are there for the rest of their lives. Please consider Mollywood. The parrots will thank you for it.
Linda
Luvtiels - owned and operated by 9 small parrots
By Linda, at 12:38 AM
I want to mention two great organizations: National Parrot Rescue & Preservation Foundation and The Gabriel Foundation. They are both great non-profit organizations.
The National Parrot Rescue & Preservation Foundation, in Houston, Texas, rescues, rehabilitates, and re- homes displaced parrots. They promote the education of current and prospective parrot owners and parrot related oranizations, including putting on an annual educational conference, Parrot Festival, in Houston, Texas.
They recruit and train volunteers for rehabilitation and care of the parrots. In their adoption and fostering efforts, they have an application and stringent screening process.
Their website is: http://www.parrotfestival.org/index.html
The Gabriel Foundation, based out of Denver, CO, is a larger organization with a little larger resources and thus has a larger set of programs. It has the ability/facilities to rescue large numbers of parrots from bad circumstances, but as such, its needs for funds are also greater. They recently were forced to relocate by local government and had to buy land, build new aviaries, etc. Their focus is on rescue, rehabilitation, adoption, education, sanctuary and conservation. The Gabriel Foundation also has an adoption application and stringent screening process.
Their website is: http://www.thegabrielfoundation.org/AboutTGF/
Both of these non profit rescue/rehabilitation organizations are wonderful and worthy of donation. I felt both should be mentioned, but if I had to choose I would recommend the National Parrot Rescue & Preservation Foundation, if only because they are smaller and that makes it that much harder to raise money for their cause.
By Michele - Breeder, Pet Owner, at 1:15 PM
Please check out www.phoenixlanding.org and add them to your list. Ann Brooks, one of the founders, does an excellent job both with placements and "free" educational programs. As with most rescues, there is never enough money. Land has been obtained in NC, now funds are being raised to build a facility rather than depending solely upon foster homes. I would definitely recommend them.
By Anonymous, at 1:37 PM
Gday chet,
Greeting from downunder :) (Australia). Good onya for trying to make a difference by expposing bad pet shops. One thing I would suggest that you do is rather than show people how to look for so called "good" petstores (no such thing in my book) you encourage people to adopt a parrot rather than buy. Lets face it its the only ethical way of having a parrot these days. There are so many in desparate need of proper loving homes and many of the addoption centres are at breaking point because they only have the resources to care for so many animals, yet more keep flooding in from the pet trade. Buying parrots tells breeders/store keepers that there is big bucks to be made by breeding/selling parrots, therefore more are produced/sold, and we end up with MORE unwanted birds.
Large parrots are complex and highly intelegigent/social/emotional WILD animals which are genetically programmed to fly over miles of rainforest/savanah/etc in large flocks, not round and round someones living room if they are lucky . Ultimately we should never have forced these poor creatures intro captivity, where they have a compromised qulality of life(lets face it, no amount of toys/attention can copmpensate for the joy/freedom wild parrots experience living wild in large flocks). Yes I know that whats done is done, and we cant release these birds back into the wild. But what we CAN do is TRY to get a handle on the problem of homless birds buy discouraging buying and encouraging adoption.
As far as worthy causes go I am sure that the people from the mytoos.com cockatoo messageboard would be more than happy to give you reccomendations as to which organisations/rescues to help and which ones to stay way from. Just go to: www.mytoos.com then select the message board.
Good luck
Olly
By Anonymous, at 5:10 AM
Chet,
Please check out Feathered Friends Forever if you haven't yet.
They have alot of birds (all Breeds) that are not adoptable and are caring for them forever.
http://www.featheredfriendsforever.org/index.html
By Anonymous, at 9:20 PM
There is this one Avian Rehabilitation Center for Non-Profit Exotic Bird Organization that take in a lot of recue birds of all kinds. They test them when they get there to see how there condition is, give them a check up to see if they are healthy or not. Also if someone wants to adopt one of these birds they are fully screened to make sure that they are going to a good home. These birds have been badly abused in the past that some of them aren't even up for sale cause it would just be to much trama on them again to put them in another home. There are a lot of birds there that are permanent residents and they have a full house. Wish you could see the place, they are very nice ppl and I always buy toys from them cause it goes to helping out for the rehab. If you would like to know more on this you can see more by going to there web site at: http://www.centerforavianrehab.org/ . Please ck this place out if you have time.
Good luck agent C
By Anonymous, at 10:57 PM
Hi Chet and Dave,
I see there is tough competition with other parrot rescues around the world, but I don't see my 'Save The Wildlife' group listed yet! I've volunteered at the shelter for 5 years. To learn about the shelter/sanctuary
go to: www.rescuethebirds.org.
The director is a fireman/paramedic here in the Chicago area. He is certified to care for raptors as well as trained to care for parrots. Currently, we have about 45 parrots at the shelter. At any time, there is at least one raptor being rehabilated too.(Don't worry everyone, they don't even see each other!) Most of the parrots will be available for adoption, but several have been so severely traumatized they will be loved in the sanctuary for the rest of their lives.
As a volunteer, it us up to me to help socialize the birds and take a shift of daily feeding (fine homemade food) and cage cleaning. I am not considered a 'senior volunteer', they have greater responsibilities.
We rely solely on private donations and the director's salary to fund the Rescue. I think, it's an impeccably clean and loving facility.
Please consider us for help with a donation.
Thanks
By Lynne Bailey, at 3:46 PM
Hi Chet! I already wrote to you about Mickaboo already but truely they are the very best rescue around. Check out their site sometime at www.mickaboo.com
They even make sure that potential adopters and volunteers and foster homes take their bird care classes. They do so very much for so many left behind and unwanted parrots, that this place truely deserves consideration.
They never give up on any bird, no matter how sick, or how abused. How ever long it takes to adopt it out. All the birds stay in foster homes which are monitored by the rescue. They spend uhndreds of thousands nursing all birds back to health from horrid situations no matter how sick. Their philosiphy is to never give up on any bird.
Please consider mickaboo rescue. They rescue all types of parrots.
www.mickaboo.com
Anita and Pepper the wonder CAG (thanks to your training system!)
By Anita, at 10:48 PM
I have been to Mollywood in Bellingham. I would rather send toys, and food and stuff. I for one say never send money, but help them pay for food and toy costs and help them pay for vet bills. Any rescue you may choose I would consider this.
I prefer TLC Rescue in Spokane, a real rescue, a real GOOD rescue at that!
By Anonymous, at 5:59 PM
It's very heartwarming to see the devotion that so many contributors here feel about their favorite parrot rescue or sanctuary.
The truth is, their efforts are virtually for naught. Consider that less than 1% of all animal related contributions (out of billions of dollars donated each year)go to the support of parrots while an abundance of monies are directed to (in addition to the traditional dogs and cats) dolphins, prairie dogs, cows, muskrats, wolves, elk, yaks, etc. etc.
Why are we humans so lacking in concern for the welfare of magnificent exotic birds, the birds that have served for thousands of years as a favorite animal companion. At The Lily Sanctuary, we communicate and campaign daily throughout the country for greater monetary assistance for the parrot resuces. Keep in mind that PETA, last reported in 2005, spent some $540,000 to build dog houses for dogs who have to live outdoors. Why can't the owners of these dogs pay for their own dog houses? Incidentally, PETA's financial statement for that year was in excess of $30 million.
It's time the parrot community come together to form a national coalition to support, promote and politically fight for better controls on parrot breeding and prolification, and support the millions of very needy parrots who have been aboused, neglected, or simply not wanted.
Dan Hill
Managing Director
The Lily Sanctuary
www.lilysanctuary.org
By Dan Hill, at 8:47 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home