June 20, 2008
Grey Bird *Called Home*
Clay, an African Grey parrot, spent two nights stranded in the forest this weekend after flying away from her owner, Roseburg’s Carrie Boothe, during a camping trip Saturday. The 12-year-old bird, the smaller type of Grey known as a Timneh, helped keep Boothe apprised of her location by mimicking a cell phone ring.
Courtesy photo
Posted by sue at 06:38 AM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2008
parrot gets a new leg
( Sue note: Emailed to me by a friend of Natures Corner)
A PARROT who likes to say 'bloody hell' will have more cause to be cheerful now that he's being fitted with a prosthetic device for his missing leg to help him sleep.
The false leg will be fitted by University of Salford experts after George, an African grey parrot, lost his leg when he was attacked in his aviary by a wild animal 18 months ago.
The poorly parrot has been having trouble sleeping ever since as he had to balance on one leg all night.
As a result, his owner Sheila Weare contacted Dr Glyn Heath of the University's School of Health Care Professions who runs Lacerta - a company that specialises in fitting prosthetics to animals.
Glyn has designed a specially moulded slot that will be fitted to George's perch so that he can rest his injured leg in it at night and get some much-needed rest...
Glyn, a former zoologist has successfully manufactured and fitted artificial limbs for animals including dogs and even rats, and hit the headlines last year when he helped a panda by giving her a false leg to help her mate.
Glyn said: "While I've worked on dogs, rats and even a panda, George is my first bird. He's quite a challenge as he'll be more difficult to train than a dog. But with the simple solution of the slot, I'm hopeful that we can give him a little more comfort."
George's owner, Sheila who lives in Onneley near Crewe, is hopeful that George can now have a better quality of life.
She said: "You can tell by the way he fidgets that he's not comfortable and he has to bite the bars of his cage at night to balance. I'm really happy that Glyn has agreed to take him as a patient."
As for George, his vocabulary is limited to 'bloody hell', 'good morning' and 'good night'. But with his new prosthetic giving him a decent night's sleep Glyn hopes, it'll be the last phrase he'll be using most often.
Posted by sue at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2008
1,200 parrots rescued at airport
(The World Parrot Trust has more info and ways for you to help.)
Over 1,200 exotic African Grey Parrots have been seized from traffickers in Cameroon after 2 two shipments were intercepted by the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife in Douala International Airport.
The parrots were being illegally shipped to Bahrain and Mexico for the exotic pet trade, and are now being cared for by the Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC).
“As you can imagine it was pandemonium here when they all arrived, squashed into tiny crates, the live birds standing on top of their dead cage mates. It was a terrible scene” says Felix Lankester, Chief Veterinarian of LWC., that has now received 2 truckloads of the dying parrots.
Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), only limited numbers of parrots can be moved or traded.
please read the full story here!
Posted by sue at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2007
Alex the Grey and Washoe the Chimp
From the NY Times.
There is, no telling what tales they had to tell, the two greatest nonhuman linguists of our day: Washoe, the sign-language-wielding chimpanzee with an intense footwear fetish; and Alex, the wildly outspoken parrot, an African gray known to regularly order about his human researchers and to purposely give them the wrong answers to their questions just to alleviate his boredom. After all, we only ever gave them our own words to work with.
Please read the full story
Posted by sue at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2007
Parrot Returned..there are still angels in the world!
Eighteen year old African Grey Franklin was stolen while boarding at a bird store in New York City. He was then sold to a lady in Queens off of the street, and she learned that he was a stolen bird. She returned Franklin to his grateful pet humans
Read the whole story Here
Posted by sue at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2007
Einstein on Animal Lovers United!
Einstein the Grey is on our Sister site Animal Lovers United! This is a quick tribute to *who let the dogs out*. Einstein has uploaded a bunch of fun video's.. you don't have to be a star to upload pictures or videos of your Companion on the site.. you could be a star too!!
Posted by sue at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2007
Light a Candle in Rememberance of Alex
Today is the one month anniversary of Alex’ death. Thousands of people around the world will light candles at 8:00 PM your time zone.
If you want to take pictures, and send them to Arlene or, they will be placed in the Remembering Alex web page. When you email the put your location and see if we can have candles going around the world. Please make the pics low resolution so we don’t choke the servers :)
Please use unscented candles with a lead free cotton wick for safety of our birds and your self
Mail your Photo's to..(getting an addy, check back later today!!)
Posted by sue at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2007
Alex, Our Prince of Hearts
Over a decade ago, one of my CAG's Merlin and I traveled to Tucson to see Irene and meet Alex. Alex took a special "liking" to me, which was an honor since he usually preferred to court men. My Merle was horrified and put a stop to that... "That's MY human!" But ever since that first meeting, Mr. Alex has always had a special place in my heart.
God bless this little bird-man with an attitude that turned the science community upside down. To science, he will always be remembered as "that damn bird" because he always proved them wrong. To the rest of the world, he will be remembered as the Prince of Hearts, who showed us that animals are smart and they have feelings.
Please continue the story, at Maggie Wrights African Greys Site.
Posted by sue at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2007
New York Times on Alex the Grey
Read the New York Times sstory from the Sciene section about Alex.
Posted by sue at 02:31 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2007
remembering Alex....
Maggie Wright, has written this in memory of and in defense of Alex..
you may also read the full press release on the foundations site.
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to add to the discussion here. Irene called me this morning about Alex and was DEVASTATED. We were hoping the news would not seep out until next week so she could go through the grieving process….or at least start it.
The “lab” that is being discussed is a room with cages and with a kitchen area, not much different from some people’s homes. Alex was surrounded by students daily (except some weekends) from 9 to 7, plus an incredible lab manager……very different from most homes where the pet humans go off to work and leave their birds with the radio. Another difference is that the “lab” is very secure and has an incredible ventilation system…..although small.
Of course Alex would get bored at times. He had to repeat the same experiment 500 times (exaggerated estimate) to prove to non-believers that he knew what he was doing. Looking at this from a higher perspective, he dedicated his life to helping Irene educate the world about how smart and emotional BIRDS can be! Oh my! BIRDS…..they used to be seen as stupid…”parrots that ‘parrot’ what you say.” It took a special soul to come into this existence to pull this off. We are all better off because of what Mr. Alex did.
Alex was a sweetheart…..and I guarantee you he would be willing to do it again.
God bless this beautiful little bird-man with an attitude that turned the science community upside down. He’ll always go down in history as “that damn bird” because he always proved them wrong. That was our Alex ……and I love him!!!
God Bless you all. Give your babies an extra hug tonight please.
GREY’T Blessings,
Maggie-
www.AfricanGreys.com
www.AnimalLoversUnited.com
www.NaturesCornerMagazine.com
www.AfricaNature.com
Posted by sue at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2007
Family's pet parrot survives encounter with hawk
From Daytona Beach Paper.. Long Video story HERE:
ORMOND BEACH -- African grey parrot Bogart can talk, but he hasn't yet said a word about an incident most of his kind never live to contemplate.
What happened between the time a hawk ripped him from a screened-in porch and when his human -- the one he calls "Mom" -- Elise Ewaniuk found him lying under a tree in the thick woods probably went beyond words.
On Bogart's seventh visit to the veterinarian in a row Wednesday, the prognosis for survival was good -- even if he might always carry the scars. His veterinarian, Dr. Mark Andersen, isn't sure whether Bogart's neck will ever straighten.
And Ewaniuk hasn't quite recovered herself.
"Four days have been like four months," she said.
It all started in the early afternoon Aug. 2 when Bogart was sitting on a perch on the Ewaniuk family's screened pool deck of their home in north Ormond Beach. Then, Ewaniuk heard screaming -- but she didn't know it was her beloved "little man."
"It sounded like something scared, something being attacked," Ewaniuk said of what brought her from her home office to investigate. "I came walking out because we have a bunch of baby (wild) turkeys back there."
What she saw, though, was beyond her imagination -- and something she still sees when she closes her eyes: her pet in the talons of a hawk.
"He was just heading from the screen into the sky," Ewaniuk said. "I thought, 'He's gone. He's got him.' "
The hawk, it appears, had been able to burst through a small tear about the size of a softball in the screen and grabbed the bird known among the Ewaniuk family's friends for asking, "You talking to me?"
Ewaniuk said she ran back in the house for her shoes, ready to run into the forest behind her house.
"I guess I was going in there to see if I could find him eating him," she said.
She ran 20 feet and saw her feathered child lying under a tree.
"I couldn't believe it. I don't even know what made me run in that direction," she said, explaining that she had seen the bird fly in the opposite direction.
Bogart was rushed to Ravenwood Veterinary Clinic in Port Orange. There, he received oxygen, antibiotics and painkillers. He spent a few nights in an incubator.
"He certainly is lucky," said veterinarian Andersen. "Most attacks like that . . . I've seen birds with the wings torn off, their legs torn off.
"The bird (hawk) was probably startled by screaming and yelling," Andersen said.
He advised people not to leave their exotic birds on a porch or outside unattended.
"If they see a bird in a cage, they will reach right into the cage," Andersen said.
For now, when Bogart's not resting on her chest, Ewaniuk keeps the feathered patient in a makeshift structure formed of blankets and pillows on the sofa. She can't wait until he's back to his old tricks: chasing people out of the kitchen while laughing, attacking her husband even as he mimics Bogart's voice and insisting that Ewaniuk take a shower.
Tuesday she knew he was back on the road to recovery when he took the first sip of his favorite liquid treat: hot coffee with cream and sugar. Hope that he would be back to his old self blossomed moments after Ewaniuk brought Bogart home.
"I put him down and he said, "C'mere."
Posted by sue at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)