Placing your Bird

Part of the goal of our organization is to provide a safe haven for birds to stay until they can be adopted into new homes. The owners of these birds relinquish them to our organization for a variety of reasons and entrust us with their care and to find them new, qualified homes or other appropriate placement.

"Rescue" is not an adequate word to describe what we do. Although it is part of our organization name, few of our birds are actually "rescued", but instead are voluntarily relinquished to us by their owners. They have often been well-cared for and loved or at the very least, the owners had the best of intentions.

Exotic Bird Rescue does not "buy" or "ransom" birds. Instead the birds are considered a charitable donation to our 501(c )(3) organization. Any cages and supplies donated are also considered a charitable donation. There are placement fees associated with placing a bird with our organization. Fees are $5 for small birds, $10 for amazons and up. All birds are seen by an avian vet after intake, which is why we suggest that the ex-owner make a donation to at least cover the initial cost of a vet visit.

The majority of the birds placed with Exotic Bird Rescue have been tame companion birds kept as pets in someone's home. Therefore, it is our philosophy that these bird's best interests are served by continuing that relationship by treating them as a member of the family in a home environment rather than in a big concrete facility somewhere.

Our organization consists of all volunteers working out of their homes in some capacity- as foster homes or performing other organizational functions. In addition, this keeps our overhead costs low so that we can put more of our money into directly caring for the birds rather than rental and electricity costs.

When placing a bird with our organization you can expect to follow these steps:

1. Contact us by phone. The purpose of this phone call is to first establish whether you just need some behavioral help or to learn more about how to care for your bird, or whether you really are looking for alternate placement.

2. If it is determined that you need help on how to care for your bird or deal with behavioral issues, Exotic Bird Rescue will make arrangements to get you the help you need.

3. If it is determined that you would like to place your bird with our organization, we will ask some questions to get some basic information about your bird. We take all exotic birds regardless of size, medical or behavioral issues. Then we will set a date for intake. In most cases we require that the owner be able to bring the bird to us. If you are not able to bring the bird to us we do offer pick- up services for a fee of 20 cents per mile. We may not be able to take your bird right away. Occasionally we do not have room or funds to care for additional birds. If we cannot take your bird right now, we will put you on our waiting list and will contact you when an opening is available.

4. On the date of intake the owner will need to bring the bird and any caging and supplies to the agreed drop off point. We will have a release form for the owner to sign that relinquishes custody of the bird to Exotic Bird Rescue. You will also need to bring your intake fee(s) at that time. You will be provided with a receipt detailing the bird and items donated for tax purposes. We do not set a donation value for you. Please discuss the value with your tax advisor. The intake process concerning the owner is complete.

After your bird is left with the rescue:

1. The relinquished bird typically spends 2-7 days with the initial drop person so that he/she can get a preliminary idea of the behavioral/medical health of the bird and select a foster home that is appropriately trained to handle a bird with those specific issues and of that specific species. Often the we will schedule the vet visit for the bird and transport the bird to and from the vet. However, occasionally, this responsibility is passed on to the foster home to facilitate. All birds receive a basic physical exam and fecal gramstain and any further treatment deemed necessary by the avian veterinarian at that time.

2. Once a foster home is selected, the bird is transferred with all necessary supplies. The foster home will enforce our necessary quarantine procedures for 30 days during which time the bird will be unavailable for adoption (see the Quarantine guidelines below). The foster home will also work on issues the bird has that require rehabilitation to make it better suited as a companion animal.

3. At the end of the quarantine period the bird will be listed as available for adoption and interested adopters can begin the adoption process. See our adoption page for information about what steps a potential adopter must complete to adopt a bird from our organization.

We often get requests from persons who would like us to find homes for their birds but allow them to keep them in the meantime. This situation poses a number of difficulties for us:

1. First of all, we don't know your bird. It is hard for us to get a sense of who would be a good match for your bird's personality when we don't know what your bird's personality is. And getting to know your bird in its home environment does not usually provide a good representation of the bird the adopter will come to know in an unfamiliar environment. Just because the adopter knows how to care for birds in general does not mean that they should adopt just any bird. In most cases, the bird chooses the person; their personalities mesh. Combine this with the know-how and other factors such as financial ability to care for the bird and you have a good match.

2. If your bird has behavioral issues, a change of environment often gives us a good chance of correcting some of those issues. For example, if your bird is territorial, changing its territory will help considerably. Oftentimes the majority of behavioral problems in birds are human caused and, sorry, but removing you from the situation, often corrects the problem.

3. When we allow the owners to be part of the adoption process in this way, the potential adopters are held to two different sets of standards that can confuse the adoption process.

4. Having potential adopters view the birds in a trained foster home gives them a good representation of what standards we expect in bird care.

5. Potential adopters have more success in handling a bird when the intense bond with its owner is not present.

6. Having the owner relinquish the bird rather than serve as the foster home prevents disappointment if an adopter qualifies but then the owner backs out.

An ongoing relationship by the previous owner with a relinquished bird occurs:

1. Only if the foster home is willing to facilitate such a relationship.

2. Only if the adopter is willing to facilitate such a relationship.

It is not part of our policies and generally not in the best interest of the bird or the previous owner to continue the relationship. Once that bond is broken, the bird typically forms a new bond (a survival strategy) with a new person. The previous owner is generally viewed then as the intruder on the new relationship and this can be a very hard thing for the previous owner to experience and can be very confusing for the bird. We are generally willing however to provide updates as to how the bird is doing with our organization.

If you have further questions about our intake policies and procedures please contact us from the Contact Us page. Click on the link below to connect to that page.