Charlie

I've been waiting on this post for a few reasons:

1. I wanted to have pictures of this bird.

2. There's too much to talk about.

3. I wanted a happier ending.

Taking Charlie on is one of the bigger responsibilities I've opted for since I started doing rescue for exotics. This species of animal is incredibly smart and needy with some very specific requirements to be healthy and happy. In the two weeks between the initial phone call from his owners and my picking him up, I did extensive research and made tons of notes on things that were going to have to be considered, done and continued if we expected to keep him.

And I do.


Charlie is a Congo African Grey parrot. He's approximately 15 years old with a possible lifespan of 50 years. He has only had two owners - his breeder and then the couple that I collected him from last week.

The people that surrendered him to me are in their sixties. The man, who we'll call Rob, is 65, has had 47 angioplasty surgeries, 19 stints, 2 open-heart surgeries and has another scheduled for later this month. (all according to him. I didn't ask for his medical records.)

He told me he expects to die soon.

His wife, the lovely Callie, is about the same age and works as a nurse in the VA hospital. A few months ago, she tried to catch a patient as he was falling and tore both rotator cuffs. After the repairing surgery, she was still having trouble and they discovered that her osteoporosis was preventing the healing of her shoulders, so she's going to have to undergo another series of surgical repairs so that she has some mobility.

These people were not going to be able to care for Charlie anymore. This was not, as is so common in my world, a case of "I'm tired of this animal" or "it's too big" or "it's dying". It was, quite honestly good people realizing the situation they were in and making a hard decision on behalf of the animal. For the last five years or so, Charlie has had limited interaction and has spent a great deal of time in his cage because of the limitations of his owners. They understood this, but did not want to part with him.

They love this bird.

When the time came to get Charlie loaded in the truck, there were tears all around. Callie and Rob were both crying, and before I left, I was, too. I love my animals. All of them, and if I had to give Noodle or Tinydog away, I'd be devastated. I can't even imagine.

I sat in these people's kitchen for two hours and had coffee with them. I heard stories about the bird, their kids, grandkids, friends and neighbors. I took massive amounts of notes regarding his diet, his habits, quirks, likes, dislikes, health history and behavior. They would still be talking, I imagine if I hadn't eventually had to get home.

The drive home was long, and the poor parrot was in complete terror the whole time. For one, he hates his travel cage. The only time he was ever bundled into it was for trips to the vet, so he equates it with some kind of suffering or torment.

When I got home, OldMan helped me unload the big cage and get it into the house and situated before we got Charlie in. He has a fairly large cage and this took some maneuvering. (At one point, one of our neighbors pulled up and wanted to know what we'd taken in this time. I've actually become quite popular on the street since folks found out about the menagerie over here.) I had already cleared a spot in my office for him to take up residence and feel close to his people. He's just to the right of my desk. (right now, he's watching me with great interest and having his breakfast...) I had to clean it again and remove some old/destroyed/slightly dangerous toys and make some minor repairs so that his regular cage was habitable.

We got him in the house and gave him a once-over to make sure there were not deformities or injuries, wing or nail trims that needed to be addressed. He was in good shape aside from tattered feathers from the melee of being bundled into his travel cage by Callie. After much effort and bloodshed (on my part, not his) we got him into his regular cage.

Where he sat and glowered at us.

For hours.

This is not even the serious stink-eye. This is general curiosity.

Finally, we settled in for the afternoon to watch a movie before we had to go get LovelyGirl from school. (please note: I sent her updating texts all day. She was tickled about having a Grey and had asked if she could skip school to go pick him up with me. I actually considered it, but I knew this surrender was going to be rough, and I thought it might be best if I went alone.)

While we were watching the movie, noises started emanating from my office.

There was a cat.

R2-D2.

A scream.

Someone calling for 'booger'.

Miscellaneous clicks and whistles and then, my favorite,

something that sounds like "robble-robble-robble" in a very low register.

Charlie just wanted us to know he was in here.

We had to pause the movie and just listen. He was cracking us up.

I came into the room, and he immediately shut up and just glared at me. I took that as my notice to get the fuck out, and obliged accordingly.

Over the next few days, as I spent my time in the office working on some different projects and doing continual research on what poor Charlie needs, he sat there just looking at me. I finally decided to just leave his cage door open and let him come and go as he pleases while I'm in here.

Charlie cruising around on his play stand that OldMan built just for him.

I picked up a bag of mixed nuts still in the shell and discovered that my boy has a weakness for almonds.
And that's where we are right now.

All attempts at contact have been met with resistance. And some blood loss. Below is a phone shot I sent to a friend when they asked how it was going with the bird. It doesn't look serious, but every one of those marks was extremely painful. Don't judge.

Yeah, a few bites, but the real tragedy is the condition of my cuticles.

However, I'm hopeful. Charlie needs to get used to us and we need to learn to understand him a little better. At some point, we're going to get there. It just may take awhile.

It's not a happy ending, it's a happy pending...