Roanoke
Member
Hey all, since I last visited this forum I aged 4-5 years and am now pursuing a career in wildlife. I’m trying out volunteering at different nonprofits to build my resume, and one is an exotics sanctuary not far from my house.
I applied to volunteer and went to check it out because they have some highly regulated native species of mammal & reptiles, which is awesome, but I discovered they have 2 huge metal sheds FULL of caged parrots. My excitement seeing all the pretty babies turned into disappointment pretty quickly because they don’t get time out of cage (except for the educational ambassador cockatoo like 3x a year for special events), and few have more than 1 toy and 2 perches. They don’t adopt birds out. The air is thick with dust from dry poop buildup. Seem to feed mostly that “parrot mix” stuff with seeds and dried fruit/peppers (y’all know what I mean). These birds are just… in jail. Indefinitely. I don’t get it. This is a fully permitted sanctuary run by former zoo curators and they even work with the DNR. Now, I’m torn because I want to go back and help the birds, and have it on my resume, but I do NOT want to support the facility and can’t afford to improve the conditions of their housing on my own dollar. What would you do in my position??
Also, yes volunteering is unpaid and I scraped 2 dozen birdcage pans over the course of 3 hours, just me and a teenage boy, in an ice cold building with no ventilation. I’m still coughing. They want me to come every Saturday morning.
I applied to volunteer and went to check it out because they have some highly regulated native species of mammal & reptiles, which is awesome, but I discovered they have 2 huge metal sheds FULL of caged parrots. My excitement seeing all the pretty babies turned into disappointment pretty quickly because they don’t get time out of cage (except for the educational ambassador cockatoo like 3x a year for special events), and few have more than 1 toy and 2 perches. They don’t adopt birds out. The air is thick with dust from dry poop buildup. Seem to feed mostly that “parrot mix” stuff with seeds and dried fruit/peppers (y’all know what I mean). These birds are just… in jail. Indefinitely. I don’t get it. This is a fully permitted sanctuary run by former zoo curators and they even work with the DNR. Now, I’m torn because I want to go back and help the birds, and have it on my resume, but I do NOT want to support the facility and can’t afford to improve the conditions of their housing on my own dollar. What would you do in my position??
Also, yes volunteering is unpaid and I scraped 2 dozen birdcage pans over the course of 3 hours, just me and a teenage boy, in an ice cold building with no ventilation. I’m still coughing. They want me to come every Saturday morning.
