The Unofficial Poisephalus Parrot Rescue in Florida
Senegal, Jardine's, Red bellied, Meyer's, Brown headed, Ruppell's, or cape parrot,
Please read the following info before making a decision.
Over the years I have seen a few so called parrot rescues talk bad about breeders to promote their own agenda. With their "right intentions for the birds," they end up being a business anyways even though they call themselves a non for profit organization. In reality that just means that they sell the birds you give them for free and they get to pay no taxes because of their IRS status. You can compare them to a thrift store. A thrift store picks up your donations at no cost and then sets a price so they can sell them at their store at almost retail price and some cases for even more. They then pay their salaries for their workers and owner based with the money that normally would be called a profit.
Many of these rescues will have a lot of expenses such as a huge vet bill. If that vet makes a so called donation back to the rescue is a legal for of accomplishing what most of us will call a kick back. Politicians do it all the time, but lets not get into that.
So a so called parrot rescue can get an African gray for free, and end up "re homing it" AKA selling it for five hundred dollars to "the right home" that they decide on and you don't get to pick. Most of us will consider that a normal sale for profit but they don't consider that a sale, they claim no one makes a profit. Yet they have people in payroll, including the accountant. Who ever controls the account, or owns the non for profit gets paid somehow. Besides there are many ways to legally move the money around. They will claim that they spend a lot of money in vet bills, food, housing and care. Don't breeders have the same expenses? I wonder how many vets are the actual owners of the non for profit organizations and they just guarantee a steady flow of patients that give them a steady income.
A great example of a non for profit is a church. Any Church, no matter what the religion is makes money. Money that then gets distributed through salaries. A church is not double taxed like a regular business but they do make a profit. All churches are tax exempt. Yet, the preacher, pastor, secretaries, cleaning crew, and the rest of the staff get a yearly salary. Its pretty much the same thing. They provide a service and a few people get a salary out of it. In the case of the churches money comes in in donations, member fees, and some services they can provide. I agree that they should get paid by the way, they provide a great service, but technically it is still a business with a huge tax exempt status. No church can stay opened if they can't pay their bills.
Don't fall for the sales pitch of being a non for profit parrot rescue. Bottom line, if they would not make money, they would loose money. Once they do, the non for profit organization will stop. No one will be able to even afford the food for a year not to mention the other expenses. Give your birds to someone that knows what they are doing and don't fall for the "right home" sales pitch. If you would be a parrot, you would want to be given the chance to mate and continue your bloodline. Not to mention at least interact with your own species. Even human prisoners want to be in the general housing compared to solitary confinement.
Many rescues will tell your that it is wrong to breed, and that because of the pet market they are trapping birds in the wild and that's why many species are going extinct. To those that don't know the truth it sounds so politically correct. But the reality is that the importation of wild parrots has been banned in the US for over a decade. Yet, our international airports serve as layover or pit stop for all the other countries that don't have a ban on imports. Miami international gets almost daily layover shipments of birds and other exotics from central and south America. Yet, we can't legally get them shipped to us. We have the best results globally in breeding and yet we are not allowed importation of exotics with few exceptions. Yes many of these species get trapped and sold to the pet trade. But specially the African species, get an even worse destiny. They often end up as bush meat. There is so much poverty and hunger in most of the African countries that a Senegal is easily considered a good meal if they can manage to kill it. Due to the overwhelming amount of war between some of those countries and their supply of guns and ammo, the killing of such snacks has become a lot easier. Its a reality that no one mentions because few people have witnessed it.
To top it off, you as a donor of a bird have no choice as to where the bird goes. You give him or her to the parrot rescue and then they choose for you the so called appropriate home based on their already bios judgment. They all promise not to give the bird to a breeder like if we were all so bad. Many people associate breeders with puppy mills,. It is not the same thing, so please don't make that mistake. Uninformed buyers are the ones that cause the demand for cute puppies and in return help to push idiots into making a few bucks and becoming what you see as a puppy mill. Serious breeders never fell for the quick buck temptations and they are still around making beautiful quality babies in much limited quantities. If the general public would have been smart enough to buy from a breeder instead of a pet shop where they could see how the dogs were raised and taken care of, puppy mills would have never taken off like they did. The same people that bought the puppy from the store with no idea on the background or pedigree of the pup, are the ones now condemning all breeders.
In my opinion, a bird does his or her best with their own species. Whether they mate or not. Birds that end up mating are only proof that they are happy with their environment, housing, and feed. I can name plenty of species that would be extinct if not for us breeders. So please leave it to the professionals or at least people that do their research and have birds as their true hobby. Not everyone can be a breeder and those that try it just for the money easily fail.
Here's an example of good breeders. The Spix's macaw, famously portrayed in the cartoon movie "Rio" was donated by a breeder and got released into the wild in Brazil just like the movie portrayed to hopefully pair up with the last remaining wild Spix's macaw. Back then that bird was valued at over twenty thousand dollars and was breeding well in captivity. A few parrot conservationist donated their time, money, and knowledge to make it happen. Unfortunately it was believed that the female Spix's fell victim to the Harpey eagle that also lives in Brazil. The birds in captivity are still living and reproducing and are now considered the rarest of the macaw species. They are doing great and the species is no longer in eminent danger of extinction thanks to a breeding program between dedicated aviculturist that care about mostly the birds and not their value.
In all my years, I've only seen one advertisement for a pair of these rare gems. It was right at the beginning of the internet and the pair was valued at forty thousand dollars. To spend that kind of money, you have to be really serious and really want that bird to be happy enough to be able to multiply.
Every other parrot deserves the same chance. Specially those that are threatened and persecuted as food. The reality is that due to Africa's overpopulation of humans and lack of resources, their parrots regularly get eaten and they are considered bush meat. After all, parrots are a lot easier to kill than a gorilla. And those get eaten too. Preservation and educational efforts are being established all over the world but its a work in progress.
Bottom line, if you have one of these birds in healthy condition that you can no longer keep, give the bird the chance to bond, be happy, and possible produce babies. It is their natural instinct.
Its your bird, you are free to do what you please. I just wanted you to see a realistic perspective of what's going on with these so called rescues. Feel free to ask any questions. Or even debate me if you think that I am in the wrong. If you need input or help rehoming your pet poisephalus, feel free to email me any questions. Whatever you do, don't let the parrot fly free. First of all it would be illegal, and most birds die of starvation or fall prey to other animals.
I hope my input has been helpful to you.