I received a call that there were birds in Southern New Jersey that needed rescue ASAP.  I offered to help out and told her I can accept 4

birds - 2 African Greys and 2 Senegals.  This morning I got up               before the birds were even awakened by the sun to get them

all fed and watered before starting out for NJ.  I arrived around

lunchtime to the following scene.  A woman and a man who work

for Animal Care & Control were both wearing breathing masks and

unloading filthy old cages into their van parked out front.  I

walked into the front door of the house only to be smacked right in

the nose with the awful smell of cat urine.  This smell was soaked

up into everything within the house, even the birds themselves.  In

the front room next to a disabled man with a walker was an Umbrella

Cockatoo in a filthy cage with no more than leftover hulls from a

handful of sunflower seeds thrown into his bowl. I wonder how many

days ago he was even fed.  The woman was helping this bird out giving

him fresh water and a big bowl full of food.  As I walked by him, the Cockatoo bobbed up and down and told me "good bird, good bird".  Poor bird.

I walked into the back room to find the 4 birds I was to take back

with me.  Their cages were filthy as was the room itself.  There

were multiple piles of waste surrounded by multiple cat boxes - all

surrounding the bird cages in this one tiny room.  At this point it

was getting hard to breathe and I began coughing - a cough that did

not go away for another hour or so.  Both bird cages were padlocked

shut.  The cage that the Greys were in - well, that padlock didn't

even have a key.  It was evident that no one had opened the cage

door in a very long time.  There was about 8 inches of waste piled

up evenly throughout the entire bottom of the cage. I'm not even

exaggerating - 8 INCHES.  African Greys growl when the are scared.

They were growling the entire time.  They were also frantically

thrashing around in their small cage, hitting perches and other

hanging objects within their cage as it appears they frequently do.

The scrapes and marks on their heads tell me that.  There were no

toys in any cages.  Nothing but a perch.  If anything, at least they

had a mate to share in their misery and were never alone.  After

getting all birds out of the cages and into carriers with a soft

towel lining the bottom, I also tried to get a history on the

birds.  All are at least 18 years old and have been in this home for

that amount of time.  3 are said to be wild-caught.  Imagine that -

being born with the jungle as your home only to end up in the back

room of someone's house surrounded by filth and smelling like cat

urine.  All were frightened in the truck ride back to Virginia - the

senegals hiding and the Greys growling.  I did, however, at one

point look over and down in the passenger seat to find Grayson (the

Congo Grey) peering up at me with those soft inquisitive eyes as if

to let me know they are scared but also to let me know they still

have a glimmer of trust left in them and the hope that where they

are going they will again be happy.  It is 8:15 now and the Senegals

are in a room with fresh air sleeping.  The 2 greys are eagerly

munching down on good food in my bedroom.  Grayson accepted a peanut from my hand and dove into it like it was the first treat he has

had in a very long time.

One of the Senegals, Jack, upon arriving at the Rescue

Ivan and Grayson's first night at the Rescue

Grayson enjoying his first real toy in ages

Ivan and Grayson now live in the African Grey Aviary

February 2007

Jack was adopted into a great home in 2008