Hello everyone!
For a couple years my Mother helped care for an Amazon and another bird at her boss's house. (She used to train and care for birds for shows at Gulf World in Florida). The birds got very little attention and were essentially emotionally abused, and from what we were told, that turned into physical abuse and purposeful neglect.
One day, my mother spoke to her boss about this, and he said she needed to take the amazon, as otherwise his wife would kill the bird. My mother couldn't see that happen, so she adopted the Amazon as she had no other recourse.
She's had him for 5 years now, and her boss said the bird was 10 when she got it, but the vet says the bird is likely around 25 years old, though they are just guessing. Unfortunately, the bird still stays in the cage all the time. She leaves the door open for the bird and provides a place for it to be safe, but it's scared to leave the cage. In addition, she is getting older, and has health issues, and will likely not be able to care for the bird for many more years.
I am not personally prepared to care for the Amazon for many many more years, and we don't know anyone else that currently can take the bird somewhere that we know they will be actually properly cared for, and they will spend the time and have the required location for the bird to be safe.
So I'm asking you all, as you have the best understanding on Amazons and behavior.
What is the best thing we can do for this Amazon? My mother could live 30 more years, but will only be able to care for it for maybe 10 more years. I am not prepared to care for it and don't want to take on this burden, but I'm also not going to throw the bird out or give it a bad home/horrible life moving forward. I also know that not spending time with the bird and leaving it in a cage is also not the right answer.
Should we try to rehome the amazon right away? Is there some resource or place that can place the bird properly in a new home? Is there a rescue that can take the bird and give it a good life? I have seen rescues where the birds still stay in cages around tons of other birds and get barely any human interaction individually, and since the bird currently gets daily interaction and 1-on-1s, that seems much worse.
I just don't know what to do to make sure this Amazon lives it's best life, with someone who wants to spend a ton of time with it, get it used to people, etc. But if rehoming him again will ruin his life and/or if I can't find somewhere that's safe for him, then he seems better off here, even if it's living in a cage.
Thanks for any advice you can provide, I'm very glad a resource like this exists.
(Location is North Florida/South Alabama.)
For a couple years my Mother helped care for an Amazon and another bird at her boss's house. (She used to train and care for birds for shows at Gulf World in Florida). The birds got very little attention and were essentially emotionally abused, and from what we were told, that turned into physical abuse and purposeful neglect.
One day, my mother spoke to her boss about this, and he said she needed to take the amazon, as otherwise his wife would kill the bird. My mother couldn't see that happen, so she adopted the Amazon as she had no other recourse.
She's had him for 5 years now, and her boss said the bird was 10 when she got it, but the vet says the bird is likely around 25 years old, though they are just guessing. Unfortunately, the bird still stays in the cage all the time. She leaves the door open for the bird and provides a place for it to be safe, but it's scared to leave the cage. In addition, she is getting older, and has health issues, and will likely not be able to care for the bird for many more years.
I am not personally prepared to care for the Amazon for many many more years, and we don't know anyone else that currently can take the bird somewhere that we know they will be actually properly cared for, and they will spend the time and have the required location for the bird to be safe.
So I'm asking you all, as you have the best understanding on Amazons and behavior.
What is the best thing we can do for this Amazon? My mother could live 30 more years, but will only be able to care for it for maybe 10 more years. I am not prepared to care for it and don't want to take on this burden, but I'm also not going to throw the bird out or give it a bad home/horrible life moving forward. I also know that not spending time with the bird and leaving it in a cage is also not the right answer.
Should we try to rehome the amazon right away? Is there some resource or place that can place the bird properly in a new home? Is there a rescue that can take the bird and give it a good life? I have seen rescues where the birds still stay in cages around tons of other birds and get barely any human interaction individually, and since the bird currently gets daily interaction and 1-on-1s, that seems much worse.
I just don't know what to do to make sure this Amazon lives it's best life, with someone who wants to spend a ton of time with it, get it used to people, etc. But if rehoming him again will ruin his life and/or if I can't find somewhere that's safe for him, then he seems better off here, even if it's living in a cage.
Thanks for any advice you can provide, I'm very glad a resource like this exists.
(Location is North Florida/South Alabama.)
