Humane Society Question?

[Macaaaw]

I see here mentioned the Humane Society from time to time.

Question: How many here have adopted birds from shelters?

When you save a dog or cat from a shelter, many people report the animal knows you saved their bottom. Does the same or similar expirence hold true for adopted birds from such places?

Please share your experiences with Humane Society birds with the group.

[birdlady49]

I adopted my first ringneck dove from Colorado Humane Society. He was about nine months old when I got him and he's 22 years old now. I've only had to bring him to the vet once for a beak trim. He's healthy as a horse.

I also was on the board of Colorado Humane as well as a volunteer. The dogs and cats were properly cared for and they received all necessary shots. They were also spayed and neutered if they were old enough.

I think the humane societies provide minimal care insofar as food is concerned. Birds will receive seeds and little else because of budget and because they expect the birds to be adopted quickly. When they leave the shelter, the new owners are given detailed information on proper care.

[Monica]

I haven't adopted any of my birds from a shelter... actually, most of the birds are rehomes... mainly from people who knew I loved birds, or at least had an interest in birds, had a bird themselves, or knew someone who had a bird, and was looking to get rid of the bird.

I much prefer them happy over being tame (can certainly be stressful being in a new place!), and I can easily bribe them with food (well, most!) as they have learned to trust me enough for that, or trusted humans enough to take food from the hand, but not more than that.

Some of the rehomes have come from really bad situations... Tomi Girl in particular. She was found in the yard, then was put into a "finch" cage, with a mite protector and crappy food. She was a little noisy so they put a cover over her cage (which they all thought was a male at the time). I upgraded her cage, plus toys, dishes, perches... Next time I visited her, she was 58 grams or less, could have cared less about being handled so long as she got somethin to eat, and was sitting on a clutch of eggs (that were kept being taken away). Not only that but her cage was covered most of the time.

I didn't really try to tame her but I was so worried about her weight that I sometimes weighed her as often as 6 times a day, when I had brought her here. I still haven't tried to tame her, but if I talk pretty to her, she'll usually step up for me, and wait for me to take her over to the gram scale to be weighed... once weighed, she's off again! If I don't take her to the gram scale, she gets impatient with me and flies off. It's kind of cute though, as once I have the gram scale ready, she will actually hop on and wait until I pick her back up before taking off!


So yes, I gotta say I do believe birds have some understanding.

[catschair]

Over half of my birds are from public animal shelters in the metropolitan Los Angeles area & I am impressed at the quality of care they received. I've had so few pets who were not rehomed in one way or another, that I can't imagine any other kind!

[Copper]

Most of the birds in this area and the ones up north call the bird rescues when they get one in at the humane society. They say that they don't have the knowlege or experience for handling them, where the avian rescues do. Most of mine are rehomes too in various stages of handle-ability. As long as they are healthy and happy, we're good!