I am sickened by what i am reading... Warning:::GRAPHIC PICTURES DISTURBING VIDEO

[Bebe'smom]

Cockatoorescue.org Stanwood Washington. Do not bother with website her next of kin shut it down.
This was the first article I read

Post | Roadside Zoo News

www.roadsidezoonews.org

I did a dive into this ' sanctuary' on this past friday night. anything I could find on it. There had been board of governors until last couple of years. There was couple years that her annual reports were either delayed or insufficient.
The business was on the Better Business Bureau but was rated mid range.
She allowed no visitors on her property. If you relinquished a parrot to her, you said your good-bye and never saw it again.
This was couple of days later, I found this online.

Stanwood parrot sanctuary owner dies, along with dozens of birds | HeraldNet.com

Lori Rutledge oversaw a bird paradise at Cockatoo Rescue and Sanctuary. No one knows what happened before her death.

www.heraldnet.com

This was was published a day ago. Please be aware there are very graphic pictures and disturbing video.

Records reveal details of tragedy at Cockatoo Rescue and Sanctuary in Washington

Records reveal new information about the estimated 50 parrots that were found dead in March at Cockatoo Rescue and Sanctuary in Stanwood.

www.roadsidezoonews.org

There was some huge bright "red" flags flying but nobody noticed.
What were those red flags; no visitors allowed, neighbors that either didn't care or were sick of noise, family that was absent in her life, a board of governors that disappeared. I am have very very hard time with this. My final thoughts are this; before you decided to relinquish a bird to any rescue/ sanctuary, do your home work check out all possible aspects of the rescue. Talk to city officials county officials and state officials. Make sure to include the neighbors around the rescue. Look it up on Google maps read all the reviews. Check with 501c status in the state, if it claims to be not for profit business.
And this IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT RIGHT, DOES NOT SMELL RIGHT OR YOUR SPIDEY SENSE GOES OFF. THEN SAY SOMETHING ASAP TO ANIMAL CONTROL ,TO THE POLICE ,THE MEDIA!!!!
Maybe you will save the lives of precious animals, birds and the human that is in over their head.

 

[Cottonoid]

I would not be surprised if many volunteer or non profit based rescues (for all types of animals, horses especially) in the US were one step removed from a tragedy like this happening. Unless the species is part of our food chain, places that house large numbers of animals aren't really regulated or inspected (to my knowledge).

This woman seems to have cared for the birds at one time - until she couldn't - and nobody stepped in or even seemed to notice anything was wrong. It's so incredibly heartbreaking!

I didn't read the links posted in this thread; I'd heard about this from former classmates that live in the general area and read an initial report but couldn't stomach further details. It's horrifying and so so sad.

 

[Cottonoid]

, do your home work check out all possible aspects of the rescue. Talk to city officials county officials and state officials. Make sure to include the neighbors around the rescue. Look it up on Google maps read all the reviews. Check with 501c status in the state, if it claims to be not for profit business.
And this IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT RIGHT, DOES NOT SMELL RIGHT OR YOUR SPIDEY SENSE GOES OFF. THEN SAY SOMETHING ASAP TO ANIMAL CONTROL ,TO THE POLICE ,THE MEDIA!!!!
Maybe you will save the lives of precious animals, birds and the human that is in over their head.

+1

 

[birdloverusa]

RIP WOODY the Shamrock macaw and Nimbus the mulucon cockatoo plus 10 others ,

 

[Bebe'smom]

RIP WOODY the Shamrock macaw and Nimbus the mulucon cockatoo plus 10 others ,

You knew the birds that lived there? I am so sorry for their loss

 

[StormyPica]

Wow- horrible....

 

[birdloverusa]

You knew the birds that lived there? I am so sorry for their loss

yes i did personally i am the one who took those said birds above to there , i thought it was a great place after reviewing and talking to many people i took my birds to their deaths i will always now live with this for the rest of my life Woody was my baby i rescued him from the storage shed i was picked as his favorite person but he did not get along with my deceased husband so yes this weighs heavily in my heart and mind after seeing the videos

 

[ravvlet]

I am so sorry for your loss, @birdloverusa .

This is far worse than what anyone expected. I’m certain the local rescue community is shattered over this too. It seems she was offered help many times and refused it repeatedly. I believe she had brain cancer so it’s possible dementia was at play, but heartbreaking and horrifying all the same.

 

[Bebe'smom]

yes i did personally i am the one who took those said birds above to there , i thought it was a great place after reviewing and talking to many people i took my birds to their deaths i will always now live with this for the rest of my life Woody was my baby i rescued him from the storage shed i was picked as his favorite person but he did not get along with my deceased husband so yes this weighs heavily in my heart and mind after seeing the videos

I am so very sorry for you loss.

 

[birdloverusa]

I am so very sorry for you loss.

thank you i did get out of rescue i no longer take any parrots in stopped in 2014 i will help people find homes but will not be and have not taken any in i down sized what flock i have now i have 3 greys 2 amazons and the rest are 6 conures and 3 ring necks thats all those will stay with me until they pass, but im rescuing days are over the reason the cockatoos had to go is i have lung issues and it almost cost me my life so i had to choose , not easy to do

 

[Henderbird]

yes i did personally i am the one who took those said birds above to there , i thought it was a great place after reviewing and talking to many people i took my birds to their deaths i will always now live with this for the rest of my life Woody was my baby i rescued him from the storage shed i was picked as his favorite person but he did not get along with my deceased husband so yes this weighs heavily in my heart and mind after seeing the videos

I am so sorry

 

[Zoruace]

Wow this is horrible….

Also, im so sorry @birdloverusa

 

[birdloverusa]

THANK YOU ALL very much i know those birdies are in heaven pain free and flying free like they should be , i will live with this for the rest of my life but i also know GOD TOOK HIS BIRDS HOME ,AND NOW LOVED FOREVER IN HEAVEN please please always stop by a rescue unexpected unannounced and check if they are 100 percent legit they wont have a issue , but thank you all for the kind works , hopefully some laws will be changed over this

 

[Bebe'smom]

Adding this article:

Cockatoo Rescue collapse makes case for Animal Welfare Act inspection - Animals 24-7

Lori Keene Rutledge, 66, for thirty years often among the go-to people in parrot rescue, was on March 14, 2022 removed from her Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary in a rural area southeast of Stanwood, Washington by emergency medical services.

www.animals24-7.org

Please read it for yourself

 

[HeatherG]

Hi—I am not excusing what happened at all. But I want to say that sometimes people fall through the cracks and very sad things happen. Maybe the lady who managed this place was not dealing mentally with how sick she was, or kept putting it off, or got much sicker quickly. This is why places with multiple animals should have a current board of directors and oversight so more than one person is responsible and knows what’s happening. I had to deal with a similar case with a cat rescue.

Several years ago, my friend adopted a neglected cat through a cat rescue. Only a few weeks after this, my friend suddenly died of a heart problem. He was well under 40 and it was a horrible shock. He was my best friend. I was listed as a reference on his adoption agreement and I was worried about the cat, so I called the cat rescue to tell them my friend had died and they ought to pick up the cat.

The woman who owned the home he lived in—his work supervisor—was just leaving food and water out for the cat and said she would give the cat to my friends 90 yr old grandmother. This was not a friendly cat but an abused one and grandma would have had a problem caring for it. So I gave the cat rescue lady the supervisor’s work number so she could contact her and get the cat. Otherwise it had been alone for several days and that was not good.

Anyhow it turned into a big stink, all because my very nice friend died shortly after adopting a cat and hadn’t made provisions for it. The supervisor got nasty to the cat rescue lady. There was yelling. The supervisor then blamed me for calling the rescue lady and said “I wouldn’t really have given cat to his grandma. You liar!” Badmouthed me to my best friend’s family (and happened to be on his insurance policy) so I have no photos or anything of my friend.

It was very scary and people do not behave well when they’re sick or upset. They think they have an excuse or it’s not their problem. I hope that wouldn’t have happened to me and the cat if she hadn’t been upset, but I will never know, and I’ll never know what really happened to my friend.

P.s. that supervisor/ insurance beneficiary also told me she didn’t have my friend’s family contact info (the family was estranged) so I found his grandma’s number online and called and told her what happened to her grandchild. Yes, his family and everyone thought I was a horrible person. But I’m not. Almost nothing has ever hurt as much as hearing his grandmother’s old lady voice long distance.

Moral: death makes people behave terribly. Hopefully they wouldn’t do that otherwise.

 

[kme3388]

These were extremely sad articles to read. It's hard to understand how something like this could go on. Hopefully change, and something was learned from this situation.

 

[trini2boston]

I am totally devastated as I am only now learning of this tragedy! After much research and recommendations by other sanctuaries, I sent our bird to Lori. He was a wild caught Moluccan Cockatoo who was bounced around from home to home until we took him in. He was afraid of people and I thought sending him to Lori was the best place for him to live out the rest of his life, in the company of other birds. I cried, tears of sadness, when I dropped him off at the airport. I cried, tears of happiness, when she called to tell me she had picked him up and the noises he was making to communicate to other birds, made her so happy as it was why she started this rescue/sanctuary. I cried happy tears again when she next called weeks later to tell me he was doing really well and was very happy living with the other birds. Now I cry, tears of pain as I will never know what really happened to my Simon. By all accounts he was about 50 years old when he went to her, so I hope and pray he did live a good life at the sanctuary and passed away naturally before Lori got ill and couldn't care for him and all the other birds anymore.

 

[trini2boston]

And before I am judged, let me just tell you that for the past 6 years, we have had several family members with long term illnesses and eventual deaths. Before that, I would call and leave messages, send Lori emails or letter and checks. I never heard back from her but I just assumed she was busy. I am forever going to live in pain with the unknown.

 

[kme3388]

And before I am judged, let me just tell you that for the past 6 years, we have had several family members with long term illnesses and eventual deaths. Before that, I would call and leave messages, send Lori emails or letter and checks. I never heard back from her but I just assumed she was busy. I am forever going to live in pain with the unknown.

Hi there, and welcome. I’m sorry to hear about your cockatoo. I’m sure it really is worrisome to come across this thread, and finding out what happened at Lori considering you sent your cockatoo there.

By the sounds of the articles maybe some health issues came into play with Lori, and she could no longer care for all of the parrots towards the end of her life. It sounds like she had 50+ parrots (WOW). I’m not sure if she had volunteers, or what took place. I’m making an assumption here but more than likely this situation was/is under investigation by law enforcement. Until that investigation is complete more than likely all of the details haven’t been released.

Again, my heart breaks for you. I’m so sorry to hear that you had surrender a cockatoo here where these articles took place.

You could always contact local law enforcement (non emergency number) where Lori lived. They may be able to provide you with more information.