A study of animal behaviour often helps in solving problems with captive and rescue animals. It is important to stimulate a behaviour pattern rather than to try to directly cure a symptom. Such an example was that of a sick Macaw.
Cherry and I have never kept anything but the smallest of parrot type birds, namely Love Birds and Karakiki, both types were rescues.
Cherry tends to dislike the rather coarse raucous calls of the whole family. I tease her that maybe it reminds her of her own style, but I cannot argue with her. Parrots are not among my favourites in captivity, although nothing beats seeing a mixed group if Macaws and small parrots and parakeets descending in a cliff in the Amazon Valley, eating clay to salve their stomachs after devouring too many poisonous and indigestible nuts and berries, much as we take “kaolin and morphine” to sort out stomach aches and indigestion pains.
Cherry and I were lucky enough to witness this scene early one morning on one of the tributaries of the Amazon, high up in the equator.
Our local Veterinary Surgeon phoned one morning saying that she had been treating a large Macaw, which was not very friendly but very beautiful, for asthmatic spasms brought on by a nasty respiratory infection. Apparently, she had finally managed to overcome the infection but the bird was not eating. In fact it had refused every tempting morsel its owner had offered and, the owner was now very worried indeed. Seemingly, the Macaw was determined to die, if not from a respiratory infection, then by starvation!
The vet was upset by this further complication and asked if we had any ideas.
I phoned a friend who keeps parrots and he suggested offering Pomegranate fruits and Walnuts or Brazil nuts, which could help induce a feeding pattern; indeed, he thought any exotic fruit may help, but under no conditions, feed Avocado Pear as it is poisonous to parrots. I phoned the vet and recited what my friend had suggested, but I also added a couple of thoughts based on the destructive nature of parrots. I suggested that the owner should collect several twigs of Hazel or Willow and tie them together to form a small head similar to that used for old-fashioned garden brooms. The idea was that this might stimulate the destructive behaviour, which could lead to “chewing” the bark and therefore induce a feeding pattern. The vet promised to relay this to her client.
The next morning, we received a very pleasant phone call saying the Macaw had first chewed up Hazel twigs and afterwards started on the Walnuts. All around the floor below his cage were broken shells of walnuts and twiggy pieces of bark and chewed wood. At the time the client phoned the vet, the Macaw was stealing pieces of Cornish Pasty crust from his master’s plate.
It worked and we were very pleased.
- A collection of short stories -
Tony is a passionate writer as well as an active conservationist. He is currently working on a number of books and we are delighted to be able to share a few stories from them.