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News and Updates From Iowa Parrot Rescue |
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APRIL 1 2008 Still too cold and wet to start building yet. We're spending a lot of time planning interior stuff. Lots of traffic this week here. PJ and Verdi went home...we'll hope to see them next year for their annual vacation. Pirate macaw finally decided where he wants to live, and has gone off to move in with a couple other macaws down the road. A pair of pretty little budgies just arrived, and are sitting and scoping out the small bird room as I write. I attended the Mid-American Cage Bird Society Bird Fair in March, and will be at TASC's show in Wheaton IL this coming Saturday...looking forward to meeting Irene Pepperburg. As we move into spring, make sure all those doors and windows are secure...this is prime time for escapes....people have been used to winter, and forget to watch the openings. Plans for the rescue seminar are going forward nicely. There'll be a toy-making workshop, with a make-and-take, by our pal Janet Walker. She makes all the cool home-made stuff that we amuse the birds and amaze the visitors with. Our fave vet and bass player, Dr. Jo Drahos, will be here to talk about health and quarantine. And, we'll have a talk about incorporation and non-profit staus from Andy Hosmanek, who's not only a great legal eagle, but a bird-keeper as well. He's married to the former Macawprincess of AOL message board fame. All three of these people have been involved with Iowa Parrot Rescue from the beginning, and have a lot to teach us. APRIL 8 2008 Well, I didn't make it to the TASC show....came down with a cold that would make a Russian tractor whimper. But I'm all better now. The big news today is that Charlie amazon has found a home! We had a call fom a person so nearly identical to his original loved owner it was amazing...and when she visited, he was pretty easy about it...so I moved him, cage and all, this morning. Looks like being a great match. I'm very happy to say that our concept of cooperating-but-independent rescues is already working. Karen and Neil in Waterloo have been handling cockatoos, and have successfuly placed several. Katy and Roberta in Omaha have been doing educational programs, and are also taking referrals at that end of the world. All in all, very satisfying. APRIL 14 2008 Due to a resurgenece of Abi's asthma, we sent the three tiels to Karen's place in Waterloo yesterday. Sunny will be permanent there, but Herky and Sweetie will be available for adoption. Also, Ali the ekkie went to a fine new home yesterday...he likes his new mom a lot! In other news, please note a change in phone numbers here....we're getting satellite internet and wireless phone, so the old landline number won't work anymore...new phone is 563-506-5479. Finally, we now have Iowa Parrot rescue baseball caps available. They'll cost $15 + $5 for shipping. APRIL 26 2008 The rescue seminar is a week away, and we're excited about it! It's going to be a huge amount of fun for us. The calendar of visits and appearances for the spring and summer is filling up nicely and I'll be around all over Iowa and Illinois...I hope to get to meet a lot of you. It's been a wet spring, and we're still waiting for the ground to dry so we can start construction...we'll see when that happens. New in the rescue this week is Draco, a youngish male BG macaw. He's had some nervous issues, but is basically a pretty good bird. We'll be looking for a special home for him. Incoming soon, we're told, are a white-cap Pionus from New Jersey and a Blue-front amazon from Wisconsin. MAY 7 2008 The seminar was a huge success! People came from all across Iowa and Nebraska, and the sharing and brainstorming were awesome. Besides our own discussion sessions, we had talks from Dr. Jo Drahos of Riverside Animal Hospital in Muscatine, and attorney Andy Hosmanek of Iowa City. Janet Walker of Dubuque did a super make-and-take demo on great home made toys. There was a great deal of swapping of experiences and materials, and planning sessions were still being done by email after everyone went home. The ladies in Bellevue NE, Roberta Barr and Katie Travers, have their rescue up and runnning, and have already re-homed almost 10 birds. Karen Fisher and her dude Neil of Waterloo are also in operation, with several re-homes under their belts. Ann Wykowski down in Keokuk has begun accepting birds, and is accumulating equipment for a larger operation. All three are preparing to pursue incorporation. A year ago, I had hoped that some day there would be a network of small in-home parrot rescues across the Midwest, to deal with the needs of birds at a grassrootsd leverl. Today, that's becoming a reality, thanks to all the people who shared that dream and took up that challenge. We're movin' on, folks! More, more! In other news...we pulled off two perfect rescues this week; both birds get to stay where they are! Both were birds who needed their keepers to get some new information and understanding...both owners came to us looking to place, and ended up discovering they could keep their birds. We're all happy. |
