Not All Rescues Are Equal

I don’t love to talk about my clients publicly because I want them to feel confident trusting me with their information. But, on today’s call, the advice they were told about their grey by a rescue was absolutely heartbreaking. This is a huge learning lesson for everyone, so I find value in sharing this anonymously.

The grey has started to aggress more in the past month. 20 years old, fully feathered, flighted, never had aggression, same caretaker it’s entire life. Bit the caretaker 3 times, all in the kitchen. The bird likes to hangout in a corner countertop with cabinets over the bird.

The caretaker was looking for advice and contacted a rescue. The owner said the bird “simply cannot be saved.” The bird will continue to aggress and will start to move up to the face and more sensitive areas to bite harder. Anthropomorphizing this bird like you wouldn’t believe. Scared the caretaker that their companion of 20 years is not within reach within the span of a month.

A 501c3 nonprofit said this to my client. This shows how not all rescues are equal or good. This person likely just wanted the caretaker to relinquish the bird to them so they can adopt it out with a fee, knowing all of the advice wasn’t true.

Thankfully, they contacted other rescues to get more opinions, and the rescues lead this caretaker to me. It was determined that it was resource guarding due to the bird being overly hormonal (nest building, diet didn’t help), and now this client is set up with a plan, training, and visiting their vet.

The client said they learned so much from our consultation. The change in mind set from the new education had every behavior make sense now, and it’s no longer aggression “out of nowhere.”

Always contact your vet and a certified behavioralist if you’re seeing aggression and not take advice from people without the experience and credentials (like social media forums). This client would have rehomed their bird and broke their heart following uninformed advice.