We Bought A Bird

My best friend and I had been saving for quite a while for a trip to Central America a place called Belize. We were both very intrigued with it’s rich and exotic inhabitants and lush rain forests which still remained perfect and pristine. One of life’s most well preserved lands. The articles we had read showed breath taking views and we had heard of it’s extraordinary wild life and incredably diverse settings. The trip of a lifetime something we had been planning for quite some time. This was more like an adventure not a vacation as some might believe.

The day had come and we were finally on our month long journey. We were excited as the plane landed. Like 2 kids on an amazing adventure out into the unknown and we had finally arrived. We were walking through a village and there were out door stands filled with everything of exotic fruits and vegetables, pottery and man made jewelry items. We stopped to take it all in. An exquisite place that hardly seemed real. We were pleasantly thrilled as you could probably imagine, it wasn’t a very prosperous area and people were poverished with limited resources. We walked along buying various fruits and other edibles for us to sample. Things we hadn’t eaten before and were very delighted to try. I saw in the very back end of the small market there was a makeshift tent with a man which stood outside as though guarding it . We approached the tent as curiosity had gotten the best of us. We paid to go and have a look inside and to our surprise it was filled with various animals of many different species . Our eyes lit up as we couldn’t believe how easy it was to see such a wide erray of exotic animals on display. That excitement quickly changed to sadness when we saw the questionable conditions even more shocking was the state of some of the animals were in. One animal stood out in particular, it was a parrot and certainly was in the worst of condition compared to the others. The cage was small far to small for a bird of this stature. This is only one of the things I noticed as we continued to gaze at this poor parrot. It had lost allot of it’s feathers and there were only small hints and pieces of coloring. It’s eyes were yellow this was a bird we hadn’t seen before. It had the look of certain demise . It was nervously pacing and pecking at itself and the cage with its bill . It’s high pitched squeaking sounds reminded me of violent screams. My heart sank looking at this poor pitiful creature which was obviously extremely stressed out and could barely move in this tiny cage. I just couldn’t help but to keep gazing at it as though I could almost feel it’s anguish and wished I could help if only in some way. This was all we could bare of this gruesome display. We had seen enough and wanted to move on to something a little more mentally satisfying, after all we’re simply tourists what help could we possibly provide .

We went on with our day thankfully the rest was much more pleasant. Later that night I couldn’t sleep. I just kept thinking of that poor parrot trapped in that ridiculous cage with high pitched shrieks that sounded like screams just begging for help. I decided to do research to gain some useful knowledge about this bird I simply couldn’t forget and it was haunting my mind. I thought to myself, maybe the parrot was old and just in poor health perhaps I’m just over thinking maybe it was something I shouldn’t even be wondering at all. I saw pictures that shocked me. This was a beautiful and endangered Scarlet Macaw and how it should look . Unfortunately, the bird we saw was rather a very unpleasant version of itself. Naturally it tore at my heart as now I realized my first suspicions were very accurate. I read on about what types of food they ate, their habitats, lengths of their wing spans, life spans , colors of their plumages, it’s sizes and weight . Just gathering up as much information as I possibly could. Now I’m really getting upset that cage was indeed far to small for a bird of this stature. It was also in very poor health and very stressed out. I had also remembered noticing it couldn’t even reach the pellets of food and appeared under weight remembering the pellets of food at the bottom of the cage covered in it’s feces it could barely reach . Clearly this parrot was in serious trouble. I was sad thinking of the condition of such an exquisite and remarkably beautiful bird. My mind instantly raced with what can we possibly do? We are not experts and this isn’t our country, who would even listen to us if we wanted to help ? There aren’t any vetrinary clinics around and certainly no ornithologists or experts to offer proper care.

I couldn’t sleep at all that night just laid there thinking and wondering, thinking and wondering my mind raced that night with many things. There must be something that can be done. The morning came and my friend and I woke. We were having breakfast discussing the previous days sightings and our previous encounters. We began discussing the tent with the animals and I told her I couldn’t sleep thinking of that poor pitiful and pathetic parrot. First she laughed your being dramatic and overly emotional. I’m sure they are doing their best to care for it. I’m sure they realize people aren’t going to pay to see broken down animals and that people are outraged at these sort of things. I showed her a picture of that very same parrot and how it was supposed to look . She was shocked and couldn’t believe it was even the very same bird. She apologized immediately for doubting my judgement and concern. We were both unfamiliar with birds especially ones like this. What can we possibly do ? We both pondered for a while. We didn’t bring a whole lot of money but perhaps we could put our money together and make the gentleman an offer. This was the only thing I could think of at that particular moment. We went back and forth discussing what if this? what if that? We were quite upset and couldn’t think of any answers other than perhaps to just try and buy it, so we could try to get it the help it so desperately needed. Clearly it was going to need some rehabilitation that only a professional can provide. We’re tourists and not experts after all. We need to go down there again and try to make a deal with the man. We have to do this cautiously and disguise our intentions. We don’t want a confrontation and are certainly not trying to be offensive . This sort of thing is sensitive and people don’t like being informed their not properly caring for their animals. We were careful not to seem judge-mental after all this was a poor village with limited resources, hardly the well civilized city life like we were accustomed to. I only hoped the poor parrot was still there and hadn’t gotten worse as I was worried about its state, just hoping it hadn’t worsened. One thing I do know, it doesn’t take long for any animal in horrible circumstances to perish and this had clearly gone on long enough.

We set off again back to the tent where the man was and paid to see the animals again . We were relieved to see the parrot was still there and hadn’t perished or worsened. We approached the man pretending to be ignorant about our discovery of the endangered parrot and cleverly disguised our true intentions. I told the man “my friend and I really love parrots and would really like to have that bird” . He laughed and said “yes yes they are lovely birds”. We made a point to flash the stack of cash we had to hopefully inspire him to offer us a deal . We thought being an under privileged area who would turn down money here. We kept an open mind and tried to seem rational this is a small village one can truly understand without many resources and certainly no vetrinary care for animals of any kind. We went to turn around and leave, let him think about the cash for a bit, perhaps come back later see if he’d decided to sell us the parrot. We were surprised it didn’t take long at all. Before we were leaving the tent the man graciously offered to barter a deal. I was relieved , people in these circumstances can hardly afford to turn down a cash deal like this. I was even more surprised at how little he asked for us to purchase it. It wasn’t really allot of money if you think about how much it really was worth to its country . To me there’s some things you can’t put price tags on and certainly getting this parrot help and improving it’s life would be definitely worth it. Dire situations worked to our gain and I wasn’t going to argue it not even for a second. We even gave him a considerable tip hoping it would go to the rest of the animals care there. Right then and there we had purchased an endangered parrot and it was as simple as that. We didn’t really have a well thought out plan, we were just taking each step one by one. First things first I thought. We need to buy it some proper food and get rid of this hideously small confinement. I had read their diet consists of nuts, seeds and fruits. Its strictly a vegetarian bird. It’s bill was slightly damaged. Most likely from constantly pecking at the cage and being so stressed. The parrot really was oddly calm as I’m sure it was probably now wondering trying to imagine it’s fate . Or perhaps it was just to broken down and sickly to even care at all. It certainly didn’t disapprove of the bigger cage and more suitable food as it was very quickly eating and it spread itself out. I remember thinking, I bet that’s the first time it was able to move and fluff itself out in quite a long time. We just sat and admired the parrot for a while letting it enjoy the comfort and food in a calmer setting. It was quiet and stopped pacing and pecking at itself which was clearly a sign it wasn’t as stressed out as before . Birds get highly stressed which causes allot of havoc to them. We just wanted it to calm down for a bit and relax as much as possible during these new and unfamiliar circumstances which were difficult enough.

We decided to let the parrot be and go off to do some more sight seeing. We spent a good portion of our money so we had to budget what was left to make it last. We now have this feathered companion we need to think about. We managed to find some old wild life magazines, hoping to gather some more information and perhaps find a way to get in touch with a rescue group or wild life organization that could help us with our newly acquired feathered friend. As I was reading one article I found a website for a wild life organization that specifically dealt with these types of birds. I immediately wrote an email to them and sent pictures of the parrot along with as much information providing the circumstances to which we acquired it. We knew we couldn’t keep this parrot this was it’s home and its species was becoming scarce. People don’t understand how vital such animals are to their environment they help in maintaining ecosystems which are vital to their areas. It needed proper care and we felt a sense of duty to do what we could to try to help it as best we could. These people are the best hope for it, if there is any at all. The woman was very polite and commended us on what we did . She was mortified at the pictures we sent and said “it’s a very good thing we didn’t waste time and intervened when we did. Nest poaching and illegal trade has left these birds in a most unsettling way”. She informed us it wouldn’t of lived much longer in her professional opinion judging by the condition it was in. I asked if they would help us, she was quick with responding and offered us their assistance. We were relieved she genuinely seemed to have concern and cared for it’s well being just as we did. Just a parrot to some, but to us it’s still an endangered bird and needed some assistance. We all must do our parts to preserve each of their existence.

We gave the lady our information along with our location and set a time to meet. She responded again and asked that we give her a few days she needed to arrange for transportation to us. She needs to assess the birds overall health to decide the appropriate steps that can be taken. I asked her if there was hope for it, she got quiet for a moment and said “we’ll just have to see and couldn’t make any guarantees “. She wasn’t being negative, we both understood the reality is, that it may have just been through entirely too much as even wild birds can be very delicate in situations as this. She assured me either way she wasn’t going to give up and they always give their best efforts to help rehabilitate these birds to the best of their abilities. This was enough for my friend and I . We knew we had made the right decision these people were our best option and can help it far better than we ever could.

A couple days past and we got the call, she and her colleague were on there way to meet us. At last, we were extatic this was music to both of our ears. Help was coming for our feathered friend. This was quite an ordeal, but was now turning into a pleasant one . She arrived with her comrads we shook hands and all introduced ourselves. We brought them to see the bird. After carefully examining it for a bit she got pretty quiet. She said he was very underweight he had lost allot of his plumage and some flight feathers were damaged. Mostly from stress and being confined in such a small space and unable to reach its food source. She didn’t know if he would fly again but could still possibly preserve him and give him much needed care. Only real tests would confirm the true extent of his health and if he could totally be restored. He needed to go immediately back to their reserve for further testing. She kept saying he and him. I chuckled, “it’s a boy”. She said “oh yes and I’m sure he was absolutely magnificent before humans had gotten ahold of him”. He is an older bird but from basic observation wasn’t in any clear and present danger of dying so she confirmed there is allot of hope for him that he could at the very least still be somewhat brought to better health and be given a much better quality of life. She showed pictures of the other Scarlet Macaw’s at the reserve and have been very dillegrntly rehabilitating for many years. We knew with certainty he was in the best hands and we handed him off with best wishes for a much better life with these genuine people. This was there passion and life’s mission restoring and preserving these endangered birds. Finally he would be getting the treatment and care he so desperately deserved .

Our trip had ended and we had to leave. We never forgot our feathered friend and kept in contact with the conservationist at the reserve that had agreed to take him. Time went on and periodically she gave us updates and sent us photos of his progress. He had made such an incredible recovery we were all astonished at his impeccable transformation. He was almost fully restored and absolutely beautiful. Now you can see all of his true coloring bright red, vivid yellow, a marvelous blue. There were even small traces of green embedded in his pattern that weren’t previously present . Before he was run down and ragged with only hints and bits of coloring here and there. She was quite impressed his wings and flight feathers which had mended quite well. Most of his plumage had grown back he was almost pristine, which was far more than we could of ever imagined. They named him Jazzy to describe his resilient demeanor and wonderful transformation with brilliant coloring. She said he had done so well they were even going to be releasing him and his partner back into the wild. Partner we thought, could this possibly of been any better of an update. Now we are satisfied. A job well done, they had truly out done themselves. Imagine that we thought, he even found himself a partner, and as long as Jazzy showed he could sustain himself he and his mate Pizazz could be released back into the wild. This was far more than what we could of even imagined or had hoped for with our feathery friend. No one thought it would be possible but he proved us all wrong in the end. What a glorious sight it was in the video she provided which allowed us to witness Jazzy and Pizazz as they flew off into the distance as if nothing had happened and was meant to be from the start. The amazing Jazzy and his journey from raged and withered to the magnificent Scarlet Macaw now living his best life and finally free .