Ming of the Moon

Here she is! This cute little bird has taken up residence in my home office. So far, so good. She seems to like it here.

So, here’s the story I wrote to my bird club members when asking for their help to retrieve her from the facility.

Ming is a white-capped Pionus. The bird was donated to the facility by a doctor who used to be affiliated with the home.

The bird was taken to the vet once. Though she is supposedly cared for based on instructions from the vet, the standard of care is pretty poor and the enviroment is horrible. The cage (a round, ornamental, brass-type deal) is pretty dirty at times, water is slimy on occasion, etc.

Despite the fact that the bird was supposed to be “stimulous” for the residents, the cage has been located in various out-of-the-way places; drafty hallways, dark corners, etc. Oh, and of course the bird is never allowed out of the cage. (Despite this, and people sticking their fingers in the cage, she’s very friendly to Mel and the physical therapist. Mel scratches her head and the bird stepped up for the PT lady today when she opened the cage door.)

None of the people charged with caring for her want to be bothered and they’re sick of the mess and noise.

Mel has tried at various times to get someone in a position of authority to either enforce a better standard of care or to outright give the bird to her, but because the place is pretty political they don’t want to listen to “a worker bee.” Mel has been campaigning as much as possible for this bird for over a year now.

Finally, it looks like something is gonna happen. The facility’s physical therapist agreed with Mel about the bird’s situation, and went to the administrator. It turns out this guy doesn’t want the bird in the facility either, mostly because she is noisy! Her cage is located right outside his office. She’s only noisy because it’s springtime and she’s hormonal, but he should remain uninformed. (Wink, wink.) So, he has gotten permission from the corporate office to donate her.

Finally, they called for us to come get the bird!

Mel went and got her a new cage while the bird club folks and I went to “rescue” the bird. As soon as she got home and the bird heard Mel’s voice she got excited and started squawking for her. Once the new cage was ready, Mel opened the carrier Ming was in and the bird happily stepped right up for her.

Since then, she’s eaten fruits and veggies (something they couldn’t be bothered with feeding her at the nursing home) been out of the new cage a few times, is stepping up, making noise and acting pretty happy. Mel is estatic to finally have her here. I’m happy for everyone.

6 comments

Comments are closed.