Surrendering a Parrot to Birdline
Making the decision to surrender your animal can be a heartbreaking time but can also be one of the most unselfish things you can do for your companion pet.
Life changes can sometimes make it very difficult to carry on the responsibility of pet ownership and being able to say “I need help” is not a bad thing to do.
Life changes – a move – a death in the family – acts of nature ie: flooding/fire etc are all common reasons for relinquishing a pet.
We are however “not” a drop off zone for those who simply are looking to “trade” and/or “sell” their current pet in order to find something a bit more exciting and new – or because they have grown tired of the responsibility. We are not out to judge anyone who makes this decision, but please know we will discuss other options with you and help you in any way we can to assist you in keeping your parrot.
We will work with individuals in all circumstances – we can provide food/toys if those are needed to help with behavior and/or enrichment concerns or if financial circumstances happen to change, and a family just needs a bit of assistance during that time, we can also offer the assistance of our behaviorist for those experiencing negative behaviors in their parrot and need some assistance to change/alter those behaviors with positive reinforcement techniques.
On our first initial visit with you, we will meet you and the bird/s and discuss the options available – we will not take the bird the same night unless you request it and distance is a factor. We want to ensure you are 100% confident in your decision. When you are ready to proceed with the surrender, we will than meet with you again and pick up the bird and his/her belongings, the bird/s MUST be relinquished with their cages and possessions.
A surrender document will be filled out at this time giving Birdline legal custody of the bird/s. This document will outline all the information concerning the bird which will be helpful in understanding the birds likes/dislikes in regards to food/favorite toys, people.
The bird is brought back and placed into quarantine for a period of 30 days – the bird is NOT alone during this time and has the company/socialization of human companionship. The bird is taken in to see our Avian Vet for a full panel workup – once the bird has a clean bill of health and has surpassed the 30 days with no issues, the bird is than brought in to closer proximity with the rest of the flock.
A lot of rescues do take in parrots and than send them out sometimes within a week or two – the understanding is that this is less traumatic for the bird and that they may bond with their caregiver, we do not do this for a number of reasons.
Parrots are “excellent” at hiding any illness/disease and most times the issue will ‘not’ show up until the bird has been in a stressful situation – being rehomed “is” stressful and can trigger different issues.
While the bird is in our care, we can deal with these issues along with our Avian Vet and can offer whatever treatment is necessary – we have experience dealing with medical issues that an adoptive home may not – its also difficult on the family to adopt a bird and have the bird succumb to a disease that was NOT detected by ourselves and our Avian vet.
Being in our care or a foster home will allow us to watch the bird and analyze their behavior and determine what the bird does/does not like – if the bird has not had a quality diet – we will than work to improve the diet and introduce new food items and monitor the bird at the same time – we introduce toys/socialization and play time outside of their cage – other birds will share the same room at play time but every cautionary measure is taken to ensure that there is NO interaction between birds.
The average time frame is 1 – 3 months and could be longer if no suitable home is found – being able to watch/monitor the bird for longer than a week or two allows us to best determine the most suitable adoptable home for the bird – most birds do not normally display negative behavior until after what is termed the “honeymoon period” for some its as short as a day or week, for others it can be as long as a year.
You have the option of receiving updates on the bird you have surrendered but visits will not be allowed and the foster home/adoptive family will not be revealed.
Any information shared with Birdline will remain in the strictest confidence unless its imperative that it be shared with the foster/and or adoptive family – personal information ie:name, phone number,address will not be disclosed to anyone at anytime.
We take the placement of parrots very seriously and work closely with families before/during and after placement when required. As we do work personally with families, we do not/and will not ship parrots.
If you need to place your companion bird, please call the number provided on the home page or send us an email and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
We do not charge a surrender fee at this time, but greatly appreciate any donations given for the bird/s you are surrendering to assist in their medical costs.
If you wish to surrender your parrot to Birdline after speaking to us, download this form: Surrender Form
