I would like everyone to meet Sammy. He is a 20 year old mitred conure that came into our home on July 7th, 2012.
We heard about Sam via Facebook. A friend of mine was spreading the word about a conure needing a home, ASAP. When she sent me a message explaining the situation, I was shocked. This poor bird was going to be put down, if a home couldn’t be found for him soon. Here is the story as we know it:
Sammy was owned by a gentlemen the entire 20 years of his life. A year and a half ago, the man married his current wife. Unfortunately their romance was short lived, as Sammy’s owner passed away. He left behind not only his new wife, but three birds. The wife was forced to move into a smaller residence, and decided to only keep one bird, a smaller conure. A new home was immediately found for the other bird, a rosebreasted (galah) cockatoo. Only Sam was left. Sam doesn’t have a tendency to get along with women, and from what the wife said, he would bite unpredictably. He was also plucking, and completely bare chested. If she couldn’t find Sam a home by the weekend, she was going to take him and have him euthanized.
Now, I’m the first to admit I am a bleeding heart, but Sam’s story really touched me. Can you imagine your best friend of 20 years, not only breaking up the ‘bachelor pad’ by bringing a women into the household, but then losing that best friend forever, and being left to the women whom you are jealous of? Poor Sam. So, I offered to take Sam in.
It was about a 16 hour drive roundtrip, as we had to make pit stops along the way. We wound our way through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky before touching down in Ohio. While in Ohio, we stopped by the humane society and dropped off a bag of toys and food dishes for the birds that were seized from a rescue outside of Dayton Ohio two months ago.
Another Facebook friend had graciously agreed to foster Sam until we could come and retrieve him. We arrived at her house and let Sam get acquainted with us before bundling him into the car and driving to our hotel for the night. Thanks to a Facebook angel and another dear friend, Sam was fully vetted a couple days before we picked him up, which allowed us to not worry about introducing him into our flock.
Sam traveled well, and greeted us with a ‘good morning’ as we woke up in our hotel room. From there it was time to make the winding trip back home. It took about 8 hours to get home, and was an extremely pleasant ride. Sam told us he was a ‘good boy’ during the trip, and engaged my husband in whistling matches. As soon as we got him home, he settled right in. So far he has allowed us to pet him, whistles and talks to use, and eats whatever he is given. He doesn’t yet know the ‘step up’ command, but let me towel him to carry him to a playgym in the living room where he can interact with the family.
We will be fostering Sam while we search for that perfect, loving home that this guy truly deserves!
*You can follow Sammy on the Emily’s Birds Facebook Page, where I will be posting updates, pictures, and more.
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what starts the rain