Post by siobhan on Jul 13, 2018 12:28:00 GMT -5
When we got Rocky in April 2015, the people told us a variety of different things and it turned out, they didn't actually know anything at all. First he was "10 or 12." Then he was "about 15." It was a bad situation and we just wanted to get him OUT.
Hubby and friends are replacing our roof this week (literally, tore it off down to the ceilings and are rebuilding) and Hubby takes Rocky outside to sit with them on breaks, and one of the friends recognized him, asked a lot of questions to be certain it was the same bird, and then told Hubby his history. He knows one of the former families. The family who got him from the breeder didn't keep him very long at all, probably because they didn't really know what they were getting into. Typical "Oh, isn't he pretty" with no notion of how needy and noisy a parrot, particularly a cockatoo, is. No, he won't sit on a perch nicely and just be pretty. You have to interact with him. He's going to scream sometimes.
They, whoever they were, gave or sold him to a friend of our friend's, who had him for a long while before taking sick and facing a long hospital stay. With no one available to help and apparently no certainty of recovery, that man gave or sold him to a couple we know, sort of, who were mean to him and didn't keep him very long before handing off to another couple they know, who were likewise mean and didn't keep him long before we got him. Our friend is still in touch with the man who was sick, and called him to ask questions for us. Turns out Rocky is only 8 years old, making him only 5 when we got him, and we were then his fifth home. In five years.
It explains a lot. We knew at least the last two homes were bad. Probably he was also mourning for his person that had him the longest. He's just a baby, really, in cockatoo terms. He's had all this upheaval and ill-treatment and it's no wonder he's afraid of things. He probably remembers that man still, but we're his family now and even though that man told our friend he would love to have him back, he isn't getting him back. If he got sick and rehomed him without vetting the people once, he might do it again. I wouldn't give a plush toy to that couple he gave Rocky to. They're horrible people.
Hubby and friends are replacing our roof this week (literally, tore it off down to the ceilings and are rebuilding) and Hubby takes Rocky outside to sit with them on breaks, and one of the friends recognized him, asked a lot of questions to be certain it was the same bird, and then told Hubby his history. He knows one of the former families. The family who got him from the breeder didn't keep him very long at all, probably because they didn't really know what they were getting into. Typical "Oh, isn't he pretty" with no notion of how needy and noisy a parrot, particularly a cockatoo, is. No, he won't sit on a perch nicely and just be pretty. You have to interact with him. He's going to scream sometimes.
They, whoever they were, gave or sold him to a friend of our friend's, who had him for a long while before taking sick and facing a long hospital stay. With no one available to help and apparently no certainty of recovery, that man gave or sold him to a couple we know, sort of, who were mean to him and didn't keep him very long before handing off to another couple they know, who were likewise mean and didn't keep him long before we got him. Our friend is still in touch with the man who was sick, and called him to ask questions for us. Turns out Rocky is only 8 years old, making him only 5 when we got him, and we were then his fifth home. In five years.
It explains a lot. We knew at least the last two homes were bad. Probably he was also mourning for his person that had him the longest. He's just a baby, really, in cockatoo terms. He's had all this upheaval and ill-treatment and it's no wonder he's afraid of things. He probably remembers that man still, but we're his family now and even though that man told our friend he would love to have him back, he isn't getting him back. If he got sick and rehomed him without vetting the people once, he might do it again. I wouldn't give a plush toy to that couple he gave Rocky to. They're horrible people.
