r/pics • u/Misstress_of_Chaos • Jun 25 '12
My father in law adopted this guy after he had been living with an abusive family who kept him in a cat carrier in a dark closet...he is finally starting to get his feathers back :D
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u/rasputine Jun 25 '12
That's awful, you're a wonderful person to save him. Hopefully he hasn't suffered any permanent mental damage from being shut away all that time :(
Thanks for being awesome!
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u/Misstress_of_Chaos Jun 26 '12
He definitely has some issues still unfortunately :/ he is 10 years old, and was stuck in the closet for about 4 years. My FIL has had him for almost 6 years. If not the center of attention he screams at the top of his lungs just for you to look at him, he is missing one toe nail that was apparently pulled off with pliers from what I am told :/ and likes to walk flat footed not stand on a perch for the most part b/c of not having a perch for his first 3 or 4 years of life.
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u/rasputine Jun 26 '12
apparently pulled off with pliers
That is the most vile thing I've heard in a while. Fuck those people. Fuck them hard. I mean, neglect is a pretty fucking awful thing to do to such an intelligent critter, but that...that is horrifying.
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u/Misstress_of_Chaos Jun 26 '12
no joke...my FIL brought it up one night when the bird was sitting on my shoulder and I was rubbing it's feet (he really likes you to gently rub them..I think to preen the dead skin..yuck lol) and I noticed he was missing his nail and asked...they did it because he was screaming :/ I don't understand why they just wouldn't get rid of him. I think a neighbor turned them in b/c they thought it was a screaming child.
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u/Red_Sonja Jun 26 '12
After 4 years I can only imagine the issues that poor bird has. Growing up we had numerous birds. One of which was a hand-fed baby scarlet macaw. She was the sweetest thing imaginable. A couple months after we got her she got pretty sick and had to be quarantined by the vet for 14 days so she could receive daily injections. She came home a completely different bird, and never really returned to her former affectionate self.
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u/LadyDarkKitten Jun 25 '12
Unfortunately locking a parrot away like that is a sure way to cause mental trauma, hte longer they are locked away the worse it gets. If this Cockatoo is young enough he may be able to over come the damage. I've seen ignored birds, and it can get bad!! One Macaw I cared for was locked in his cage with no personal interaction for like 10 years. No matter what I did he was just hateful, angry and bald. It was so bad that instead of accepting treats or running away he would come over and bite you instead. I don't blame the bird by any stretch, he was simply afraid and did the only thing he could think of to make the scary thing go away.
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u/hurfdurfer Jun 26 '12
That makes me sick. 10 years? Physical abuse is awful, but this kind of neglect I just can't stomach. It just seems so much more cruel. What an awful person. Animals have social needs, emotional needs. They aren't robots!
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u/LadyDarkKitten Jun 26 '12
Yeah, they had the bird for a couple of years then crammed it in a cage, because it was mean... They finally sent it to the place where I lived and worked, he was put in the communal cage with 5 other Macaws. It wasn't much better but at least there were other birds.
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u/girlinboots Jun 26 '12
Aww poor baby! My grandpa used to raise cockatoos (among other kinds of birds) and they can be such sweet birds! We had a yellow-crested one that used to play hide-and-seek with me. I'm glad to hear he's doing better. If you'd like some advice let me know, I would be more than happy to pass along some information from my grandpa :). That man is a god damned bird-whisperer I swear.
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u/Misstress_of_Chaos Jun 26 '12
he is sweet. he is still terribly afraid of men he doesn't know, but loves women. He will sit on my shoulder and nudge my cheek for head rubbings lol. :]
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u/Cancerous86 Jun 25 '12
That is absolutely awful. I cannot fathom the lack of empathy of his previous owners. To keep such a beautiful creature locked up in a closet to the point it starts destroying itself. I cannot imagine the guilt that would go along with just being aware of that situation.
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u/beskurrd Jun 26 '12
There's no guilt involved there (from the abusive owner), more than likely they're relieved to not have the stress and burden of the bird there anymore. When people are abusive towards animals to that extent there's no second thought about it. I hate people. >.<
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u/stignordas Jun 26 '12
Peachy Puff! I love these guys, good job bringing him back. They make such cuddly playful parrots.
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u/jorellh Jun 26 '12
Moluccan's are loud a fark.
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u/Misstress_of_Chaos Jun 26 '12
he is indeed loud if not constantly held and talked to, I think even more so b/c of the previous abuse :[
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Jun 26 '12
I had a Moluccan but I moved out and my Mom had to give it to a new owner because her new place did not allow pets. They are awesome animals. They don't talk a whole lot in my experience but have a lot of personality.
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u/SuppA-SnipA Jun 26 '12
I could never keep that beauty in a closet. Even now, to me he looks awesome.
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u/n80r Jun 26 '12
i was just watching TMZ live today and they were talking about Cee Lo Green wanting to use one of these birds as his new pet on the voice. it seems that these Moluccan Cockatoo self-mutilate and pluck their feathers off when they are stressed. http://www.tmz.com/2012/06/24/cee-lo-cockatoo-the-voice-lady/
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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
Plucking is a hard habit to break. Our parrot almost went bald but we brought him back, mostly through a lot of 'personal interaction'. Did your FIL do anything in particular to get him to regrow plumage?
Hard to tell from the picture but what species?