stockjock
New member
Early this year, my beloved Moluccan buddy of 35 years, Spooky, passed away of suspected heart failure. Exactly one week later, my own mother was diagnosed with heart failure. While she is fortunately still with us, she isn't in great shape.
And while no bird can replace Spooky, I began looking for a new buddy. After checking out various sources, I finally decided that I would prefer to adopt a bird, if possible. After all, I have about 35 years experience working with cockatoos, and I figured that there were some orphaned birds out there looking for a new home.
I contacted several rescue centers and I received a reply from the Avian Rehabilitation Center in Jamul, which is in the San Diego area. They had 3 cockatoos available. 2 did not sound like a great fit, but they had just gotten in Dodi, an 8 year female Umbrella. I was told that she needed some work, but had great potential.
After going through the adoption process, including several visits with the bird, a roughly 1.5 hour class on avian care, and an in-home visit by the ARC team, I have now completed Dodi's adoption.
She is the sweetest bird too. Loves to cuddle. Very healthy. Nice feathers. As cockatoos go, she is quieter than most. She can talk a little bit too.
At first she would not step up, but now she will do that most of the time. She also has this flighty thing going on, where sometimes, rather than step up, she just jumps off the top of the cage and flaps her way onto the living room carpet. At least now, when she does that, she'll step up, where before, we had to chase her down and she even bit me (but not hard).
Apparently what happened was that a woman bought Dodi from a pet store. Dodi bit her (she is not a biter, btw), and the woman then left her in the cage and neglected her, not really playing with her or letting her out of the cage.
Dodi and I are hanging out right now. She is a real sweetheart.
I cannot say enough things about the good people at Avian Rescue Center. They really love these birds and they spend a lot of time and money looking after the birds that are not adoptable. They've had a lot of success with pluckers and such. And Spooky's Avian Vet is on their Board of Directors.
Obviously, I still miss Spooky, but Dodi can help to fill that hole in my heart and so far, she sure seems like a great bird. If you are looking for a companion and not trying for resale or breeding (forbidden by contract), I definitely do recommend that you consider an adoption/rescue organization.Home
And while no bird can replace Spooky, I began looking for a new buddy. After checking out various sources, I finally decided that I would prefer to adopt a bird, if possible. After all, I have about 35 years experience working with cockatoos, and I figured that there were some orphaned birds out there looking for a new home.
I contacted several rescue centers and I received a reply from the Avian Rehabilitation Center in Jamul, which is in the San Diego area. They had 3 cockatoos available. 2 did not sound like a great fit, but they had just gotten in Dodi, an 8 year female Umbrella. I was told that she needed some work, but had great potential.
After going through the adoption process, including several visits with the bird, a roughly 1.5 hour class on avian care, and an in-home visit by the ARC team, I have now completed Dodi's adoption.
She is the sweetest bird too. Loves to cuddle. Very healthy. Nice feathers. As cockatoos go, she is quieter than most. She can talk a little bit too.
At first she would not step up, but now she will do that most of the time. She also has this flighty thing going on, where sometimes, rather than step up, she just jumps off the top of the cage and flaps her way onto the living room carpet. At least now, when she does that, she'll step up, where before, we had to chase her down and she even bit me (but not hard).
Apparently what happened was that a woman bought Dodi from a pet store. Dodi bit her (she is not a biter, btw), and the woman then left her in the cage and neglected her, not really playing with her or letting her out of the cage.
Dodi and I are hanging out right now. She is a real sweetheart.
I cannot say enough things about the good people at Avian Rescue Center. They really love these birds and they spend a lot of time and money looking after the birds that are not adoptable. They've had a lot of success with pluckers and such. And Spooky's Avian Vet is on their Board of Directors.
Obviously, I still miss Spooky, but Dodi can help to fill that hole in my heart and so far, she sure seems like a great bird. If you are looking for a companion and not trying for resale or breeding (forbidden by contract), I definitely do recommend that you consider an adoption/rescue organization.Home
