Wow! This is crazy and really gets our feathers riled up!
The World Parrot Refuge in Canada cares for over 800 rescued birds, all with their own story, but none so heart breaking as the birds that are recovering not only from abuse at the hands of their former drug addict owners, but drug addiction themselves!
Wendy Huntbatch, president of the parrot refuge located in Vancouver, says there are parrots withdrawing from drugs, recovering from exposure to smoke, or healing after mistreatment by drug users and dealers.
"We have birds that were used as toys by drug addicts. Watching them go through withdrawal is dreadful," Huntbatch said.
Ugh! So sad! Luckily, there is still hope.
In one success story, a derbyan parakeet came in with all colour sucked out of its feathers, a broken tail and a bad case of the shakes, but luckily was able to overcome the abuse after three weeks of car.
Huntbatch shares their success, saying:
"We have given him vitamin shots and he has done remarkably well. It took about three weeks before his colour started coming back."
In one not-so-lucky case, a macaw came in that had completely lost its feathers and even after the facility worked with the bird everyday to get it back to a healthy weight, he passed away.
However, Huntbatch did let the macaw die in vain and now uses his tragic tale as a means of keeping kids away from drugs. She says:
"We have school trips coming in and I would show the kids another bird of the same species and then show them this bird and say, 'This is what drugs do to you.'"
That's definitely a great idea and we hope it works!
It's so sad to hear about this kind of abuse in the world, but we're glad organizations like the World Parrot Refuge are taking time to turn tragedy into triumph.
[Image via AP Images.]
Tags: crazy, drug abuse, drug dealers, drugs, health, rescued, sad, tragedy, treatment, triumph
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