Winnie's Wish

Hi everyone
Excuse me while I dust the cobwebs off my Unleashed account. Life has been busy and I don't get to spend as much time in front of a computer freely as I used to. (kids change everything!)

For those who know me, will know that I am a crazy bird lady... and until recently I had 3 galahs. Sadly it was time for one of them, my first, Winnie, to fly free into the sunset and be free from pain and suffering.

I will tell you his story quickly.

Winnie came into my care at the end of April 2010. He was about 15yrs old and had lived a long life of neglect. He was lucky to have fresh seed and water each day. His cage was out in the open and actually had to be dug out of the ground as it had started to sink/have dirt built up around it.
When I got him he wouldn't let me touch him. He wouldn't eat anything other than seed. He did like to dance though!
Over the past 29mths I had introduced him to love, kindness, warmth, and apple cores, almonds, red cabbage, and many other things. He learnt to trust me to the point if he was on the ground and I wanted to pick him up he'd actually lift a foot for me. He learnt to love scratches, and would request them daily by dipping his head and puffing his neck feathers out.
Just recently his health started to deteriorate. A never ending respiratory infection thanks to an immune system that didn't exist. He basically lived on Baytril (antibiotic). He had been diagnosed with arthritis and we had just started treating that. The treatment started to work oh so well! Then one day he just didn't look "right" anymore. That was 2wks ago. We carried on with treatment thinking he had just hit a slump. A slump he never came out of. My partner and I made the heartbreaking decision on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, he was now flying free. Winnie could never actually fly. It was physically impossible for him. The bones in his wings were bowed, and he didn't have the muscle on his chest to even flap his wings. This was all caused from his diet and never being let out of his cage to freely move about. Birds need more than parrot mix to survive.

No bird should ever live like this. And it's from this thought that Winnie's Wish came into existence. His wish would be that no bird ever live their lives like he did for so long. It's going to be a long time in the making as I can't do it on the half acre I currently own, we need to find about 5 acres with a house and move. We also need to save funds for aviaries and an isolation room (for new birds who come into care). It's going to be a costly adventure, but cost is nothing. To change a birds life is what is important to us.

The plan would be to rehome most birds with the correct families. I will also have a soft release aviary for local wild birds (in my area these include galahs, Red-cap Parrots and Australian Ringneck Parrots, aka in Perth as the '28'). I also know someone who used to go and buy these birds from pet shops as young birds and rehabilitate them to be released as wild animals. This is also something I would look into when the time comes. Demand & Supply is one of my issues about this idea however.

In the meantime, while we get the finances set up, I have a Facebook page called Winnie's Wish www.facebook.com/winnies1wish to help raise awareness for pet birds and wild birds.

If you could head over and "like" the page, that'd be great. We're still in the early days. Until Wednesday I was posting as Winnie, and telling things from his perspective, now it's me.

I plan to get a bit of info going up about how to feed your birds correctly, how to house them correctly, the importance of toys to a bird, and also who to call in each state if you find an injured bird. I have a bit going on in my life (11mth old daughter, a small business, my pets, currently organising my next feathered adoption, and this, plus I'm a house-wife so I have a house to run also!) but this is my plan.

I appreciate any new likes, any shares, and any stories about perhaps you're own rescued pet who lived a neglected existence before they had you in their lives - feathered, furred or scaled.