Bud came to me from a dear friend in Ohio, and he has lived quite a life in his 26 years. He is jokingly refered to the "illegal alien" here at home as he was wild caught at an unkn own age, and smuggled in to the country. 1 in 20 smuggled birds survive, and Bud was one of the lucky ones.
I love Bud to pieces, and unfortuenately he hates me. He knows that I am the bringer of treats and the food person, and if he wants a taste of hand feeding formula, he needs to be nice to me, BUT............
Bud is totaly in love with my B&G who does not reciprocate those feelings, and Bud will attack my feet if he can get to the floor when he is out of his cage for his daily out time.
I have learned to wear my cowboy boots around the house when Bud is out, sigh..................
Here's Bud's story, or at least as much of it as we know.
This is from Jann, the friend that I got Bud from.
"He was a nutritional ( on sunflower seeds only) rescue I bought, and he has now gained weight and looks great compared to when I first got him.
He is 26 years old and previously owned by an older lady, she no longer could care for him and gave him to her grand-daughter 2 years ago. Long story- short, at only 18 now, the girl hates birds, knew nothing about their care and he was offered to me as a cockatoo, lol. Once she brought him over I decided to purchase him just to get him into shape again.
According to my vet and 2 others and a well experienced breeder of Zons, I was told he should be considered for breeding now as he is very hormonal and agressive. He does talk, will step up and down and loves to eat with you but he cannot be handled alot yet. I believe with someone who would put time into him he could be re-established as a pet, he would also make a great breeder as he is now.
He bonded to my QP who is now half bald plucking as she was in season when he located her cage. Seperation took me nearly 6 hours and a few bites to do. I am not experienced with Zons but needed to help treat him better than he was being. I've learned alot and wanted to continue working with him as a pet. But.... 3 weeks ago I was put on blood thinners for CAD and am scared to death now of being biten again. Didn't bother me prior but now it could be life and death with me. I also have a small home where even seperating him from my other birds my QP can still hear him and begins plucking again. He's smart and knows also I have reservations now about handling him so he has gotten the upper hand with me now.
He was brought to me in a canary cage so he doesn't have one of those either. Currently he is in one of my flight cages but I need to keep that for my young tiels."
From a later email.................. "I recieved 3 different stories on Bud. Mainly the reason I contacted the humane agent concerning him.
The girls mother, who is a sister of my very best school friend, first called me about him. She told me her daughter was keeping this cockatoo at her house and she wanted him out as all he did was scream and bite. She also said she was scared to death of any bird and couldn't take it any more. Would I want to adopt him.
She and her daughter brought him down the next day, needless to say, he was an Amazon. The daughter, an 18 year old, wanted me to board him till she got settled ????? She currently was living with her boyfriend and they were planning on getting married and moving to a house instead of an apt.
I told her I didn't board birds and would only do it temp. if she signed 2 separate agreement contracts. I have copies if you'd like those as well.
One was for boarding @ 20.00 per month plus she paid all vet bills & medications if he needed to be seen as well as she would pay for a well bird exam right off with my avian vet. I didn't want to take any chances with my own birds once seeing him and not knowing them.
The 2nd contract was a back-up for in case they did not pay the boarding fees and/or the vet amounts the bird would be released to my ownership w/o further contact from them.
They both agreed, they both read and signed my contracts, all 3 of us did and I read and explained them as we went as well and ask if either had questions. There were no questions, except they had no money for the boarding. I waived the boarding fee in lieu of the contracts and agreements of the vet visit for 2 months only. It would have to be paid at the time of picking up the bird or he would be considered mine.
Okay, story # 1 from the mother in phone call :
First she said the bird was a too, that he had belonged to a former boyfriend of her daughters who up and left and left the bird with the daughter. The ex was a drug addict, couldn't pay the rent, etc and left the bird to her as payment for what he owed her ???? She also told me that Buddy had a foul mouth, smoked pot with the guy, cussed out police, and had been abused by this guy as a living football, being smashed off of walls etc.
2nd story from daughter when here alone :
Buddy had been her grandmothers bird and she had just dumped the bird on her 2 years ago and she hated birds but felt she had to keep him as it had been grandma's bird. The bird had been badly abused by her former boyfriend but now she is marrying this wonderful guy etc. and she wants to get the bird back.
3rd story from my best friend :
She doesn't know the truth about the bird except he did not belong to the grandmother that she knew of and wondered if he had been part of a drug deal with this guy ? They are not close and she felt bad I got in the middle of this all.
Ok, I put in a call to the humane society explaining the whole story here, had the pics of his then condition, vs, his now condition, and told them also that the girl had gotten po'd after coming down to pick up the bird and my refusing as she did not have the boarding fee and I had a signed contract. The girl claimed she had no clue as to what she had signed and said a whole lot of other choice words about me, lol.
All of this transpired within 2-3 weeks tops. The humane agent agreed I should not turn the bird over and he would arrange to come down and then talk with the girl. Well meanwhile she called me cussing me out, her boyfriend called doing the same and she said they were coming down to get the bird. Funny thing was, they planned on coming down the same day the agent was. Plus she told me she was reporting me to the humane soc. as she had worked there and I would be in big trouble.
I made a few calls, and yes she had worked there but had gotten fired and had not been on good terms when she was there.
She and her boyfriend showed up and were busily cussing me out when the agen showed up as well. She demanded 500.00 for Bud and I'd never have to see her again. I bargained her down to 350.00 in the agents presence. He read both contracts, said legally I was within my rights to claim Bud but she would have to take me to court to prove she was fit to have him back. Meanwhile cussing him and I both out. She wanted the money and made alot of threats right here in my kitchen. I decided to protect Bud and paid the 350.00 for him.
Meanwhile the agent just shook his head. I haven't been bothered since but it sure made me reluctent to attempt to rescue another. I could have won but my panis attacks couldn't go through more I don't think.
It was later said by the mother that Bud had been abused physically, was only fed sunflower seed as long as she'd known of him and had never been out of the cage more than maybe a half hour a week if the girl came to visit. I was never really told who the bird belonged to for the years prior to his 24 years.
I do know the girl could handle him as when here the first couple times, he would lay on his back in her arms, he would talk with her and preen her. That I saw in person.
But after the 1st week here once he found Tiki and began feeding her he hated any and every human since. That's when I consulted 3 avian vets and they said my mating tiels and babies brought out his normal mating drives and he would be best placed as a breeder than a pet.
I have to admit he really loved Tiki (QP), he fed her, preened her and peeped at her even when she nailed his toes thru the cage, he's cry then feed her again. He protected her with his life but it also overwhelmed her and she began plucking bad. She was down to bloody tissue on the entire left side of her body when Rus took him. I really thought she would die.
I began having angina pain again after all this flairup with the girl and my doc then put me on blood thinners.
By this time I had been attacked numerous times and was scared as well and yes he knew it.
That about brings you up to date here.
So honestly I don't know if he really just needs to breed or he does hate people due to abuse or a whole combination added together.
I really wish I knew more to help you. Kinda strange though but as she was leaving that last day she told me she hoped Buddy would tear me to shreds and scream 24/7. Ya know he did, lol!
Jann"
The Way Out
