Portraits of Exotic Birds Recovering at Sanctuaries

WASHINGTON -- Whether it be from neglectful owners who are no longer or not willing to take care of their birds or even worse yet, the illegal smuggling of exotic birds, it’s a problem that is only getting worse and will only be solved by folks like Oliver Regueiro who have taken it upon himself to shine that much needed light on what is underserved issue.

 

 

Oliver, doing what he does best, has created a series of portraits of a number of birds that he met this year at both Zazu’s House Parrot Sanctuary and Mollywood Avian Sanctuary. No matter their condition, he has succeeded in bringing out each and every one of their own unique personalities and begin the process of telling their story of recovery.

To learn more about these birds (and some others) and to read their stories, visit Oliver’s website.
You can also purchase prints of any of the birds in the Earthbound series here.

Bella Rose

BELLA ROSE
Female. Goffin cockatoo   
                                                 
(Cacatua goffiniana)

Age: 16

Purchased as a baby by a lady who ended up not being able to keep her. The sanctuary boarded her for 6 months prior to moving to a new location and the owner thought she'd be happiest at the sanctuary. She was adopted but for some reason she began to pluck and over pluck in the new home.

The new home ran hundreds and hundreds of medical tests and could never find a reason for this. She was regretfully returned to the sanctuary.

We were able to capture only this one photograph of her before she jump from the perch and hurt her elbow. She was fine but we didn't want to stress her too much.

BJ

BJ
Female. Blue and gold macaw  (Ara ararauna)

Age: Unkown

Rescued 3 years ago by a sanctuary in Florida. Her owners were selling their house and going to live in an RV and travel. 

The owner said that BJ had previously been owned by a man in a neighboring city and he had three Macaws and two of them beat up on BJ all the time and she plucked herself naked.  They also broke one of her wings and the owner never sought veterinarian care for it. 

The man would beat on her cage with a broom to get the macaws to be quiet.  The sanctuary placed her with a friend and when that friend died recently a sanctuary in Washington was called to take BJ in.

Scruffy Joe

SCRUFFY JOE
Male. Citron cockatoo.

(Cacatua sulphurea citrinocristata)

Age: early 20's.

Owned and loved by a man who was a manic depressant.

The owner finally decided the bird needed more than he could manage and gave it to the sanctuary.

Simba

SIMBA
Female. Moluccan cockatoo     
                           
(Cacatua moluccensis)

Age: 36

Simba arrived at the sanctuary in 2001 from another rescue who was unable to successfully place her and her then companion because Simba was a major mutilator. This is different from plucking. She was pretty plucked as well. Mutilation is defined  as physical damage to their own flesh.

In her case, she had a large crater like wound in her chest, right across her keel bone.  Upon examination by the local veterinarian, who also took x-rays, it was discovered that her keel bone had at one time been shattered beyond repair. And judging from the bone shards and calcification, never had any medical care. There was a lot of scar tissue too. And whenever it was particularly annoying or possible painful, Simba would gnaw on herself to try to alleviate the problem.

Over the years, we've had to treat it surgically, topically and lately, with cold laser therapy. But today she is as healthy as she’s probably ever going to be. She’s happy and mostly healed up. She wears a lot of body armor but appears to be rather comfortable in general.

(PetaPixel - May 10, 2015)