Kirby

[Owlet]

So, I'm pretty sad right now. There was this Amazon at work named Kirby. he was pretty much my all time favorite bird at the store. If amazons didn't scare me a tiny bit and I was able/willing to get another large bird, I would have probably gotten him. He sold today.

He was 18 years old I think and he was surrendered to us from an elderly person who decided they couldn't give Kirby the care he needed anymore. He was clearly loved by her though. Everytime we walk in in the morning, he is the first to greet us with a cheerful "good morning!!" and it melted my heart the first time I heard it. He sings opera, mocks you when you cough, and loves to tell you hello. He sings a song about himself and says how pretty he is. He loves kids, he has a VERY convincing baby cry. Flirts with all the women too. Hates men though.

He isn't a very hands on bird, he preferred to chill on his own. He liked to come to the front of the cage and talk to me though. Sometimes i would rest my arm there and he would put his foot on it. He was very sweet. He even let me pet him a few times.

I miss Kirby already, it feels like I just had to give up my own bird.

 

[Scott]

Did you have any interaction with Kirby's new servants? Hopefully they will cherish and appreciate his charms. May your sadness be tempered with him heading to a great home.

 

[Owlet]

I wasn't in charge of the sale since I had a billion other customers to tend to (we were closed Saturday due to snow. didn't want chance the roads and didn't want people bringing their birds out in the cold so it was really really busy) but I was able to interact briefly on a few separate occasions. A family was adopting him and well, the mother and daughter seemed excited and willing to work with him but the dad seemed... off. I don't know. Kirby seemed really nervous and didn't really wanna interact with them much but whenever I went near the cage he would come up to the front and say hi. All other birds I've grown attached to have gone to great homes with customers that regularly come in and that I've grown to know relatively well. I think that's why Kirby is hitting so hard because I just don't know these people.

 

[Scott]

Wonder if the dad was reacting to Kirby's dislike of men? Hopefully they will return for supplies and follow-up as needed. I assume if the adoption doesn't work out, the store accepts returns?

Alternatively, does the store encourage employees to reach out periodically to provide support? If so, sounds like something you'd enjoy.

 

[GaleriaGila]

My ol' man, aka Rival_of_the_Rickeybird is named Kirby, in real.
He says if you wanna talk cutesy to him during your withdrawal, you can.

But seriously, I just hope it's a happy ending all around!

 

[EllenD]

I know exactly what you're going through girl, I really do...I've worked at an Avian/Reptile Rescue for over 8 years now (getting old, my god), and it's a private Rescue but quite large. We usually have between 20-30 birds at any given time, in the summer it's gotten up over 50 because people lose them outside and people bring them in, and then we have over 100 reptiles/amphibians at any given time, including very large Tegus, Monitors, Iguanas, etc. that can be as tame as a puppy and love to actually snuggle with you (7 foot long Black and White Tegu is the sweetest thing in the world)...

I don't do the adoption stuff, I'm the medical person and do all of their intakes when they arrive, and then handle stuff as it arises, and I do all the husbandry and dietary stuff too...But I meet every bird that comes in, and there have been a few that actually broke my heart when they were adopted...And there have been a couple where I totally didn't agree with the people who they adopted them out to. There was one in-particular a couple of years ago that I KNEW was a "flipper" (they pay set adoption-fees based on the type of bird, so this guy adopted a CAG for $350)...Single guy that was 24 years-old, still lived with his parents, and he made his 4 "mandatory visits" with this CAG and the entire time he was there he just sat there with the bird on his shoulder, not saying a word to the bird or acting at all like he cared about him...He went right to the largest and most expensive species of parrot we had at the time, and unfortunately this CAG was a sweetheart and liked everyone, so it's not like they could say it was a "bad match", no one would have been a "bad match" for that bird...

This guy rubbed me the wrong way from the first time he came in and targeted the CAG who loved everyone, and I told the director of adoptions about him and asked her to watch him during his next visit with the bird (3 hour visits and he might have said 10 words to the bird and stroked his head twice)...Well they adopted the CAG out to this guy, and 2 months later didn't our CAV call us up to tell us that this couple who had just graduated from high-school and moved-in together into a tiny apartment show-up with him (our CAV remembered him from when he microchipped him)...They had brought him in to get his wings clipped because they didn't want him "flying around our tiny apartment" and making noise for the neighbors...These two had gotten a $2,000 PayPal Credit Account with absolutely no credit at all, and they paid the guy who adopted him for the $350 adoption-fee $1,500 for him, he sold him on Craigslist about 2 weeks after he had "adopted" him...This guy adopted him so he could flip-him and he made $1,200 doing it, and god only knows what those 2-weeks while he had him were like for him...And this couple that paid him $1,500 for him were told that the CAG "Was his grandmother's bird, she had gotten him as a little baby and hand-fed him herself, and he inherited him when she passed away"...Our CAV said that he didn't want to upset the couple by telling them the truth because he was trying to get them to do regular Wellness-Exams, work on his diet, and counsel them about letting him stay flighted, etc., but I had no problem giving them a call and filling them in on the situation...They were horrified and the girl started crying hysterically because she was worried about how he was treated by the guy while he had him...This one actually worked-out for the best in the end because the young couple love that bird like their own child and they're actually doing everything our CAV tells them to do and doing it the right way, and the CAG is happy as a clam...But that's one of the good-outcomes, we know there are more bad than good, but unfortunately that's how this whole thing works...There are just "bad" people out there...lots of them...you just have to trust that you're able to filter them out and end-up with good ones...

 

[GaleriaGila]

It takes such courage to do the work you rescuers/savers/saviors/sanctuariers do. Thank you so much.