Kermit's Story
Name: Kermit (We gave him the name from the Muppet® frog that sang, "It’s Not Easy Being Green”)
Breed: Yellow Napped Amazon
Age: 3¾ Years (at time of post)
Sex: Male (DNA)
Temperament: Highly Aggressive (with people and will attack) - Super with other parrots!
Intake: 01/15/2008
History:
He started out life with a breeder that pulls all of the eggs then incubates them. The breeder hand feeds all of the babies until twelve weeks old then they go to an exotic bird store in Arizona. (Kermit came with the identifying band as well as some paper work from the store.) That's when things started to go down-hill for this green guy. Kermit was purchased at the age of four months by a woman that told the store manager that she wanted to start breeding Yellow Napes. The buyer had an old parrot cage that was manufactured long before toxic metals was of concern. It had sat out in the back of her large desert property for decades empty until Kermit, who was then named Demon arrived. The only thing holding the cage together was rust. There were no perches. No grate above the rusted tray. The baby was placed in this toxic prison with two medium crocks; one for his 'wild bird seed' and the second for water, the door was padlocked. When he was fed or watered it was poured from above. At some point Kermit forgot that humans could be kind. The combination of, poor diet, toxic metal, constant exposure to the intense sun and other natural elements took its toll on this sad little bird. By the time he was nearing the age of two his calloused owner was getting tired of making the trip to the back of her property several times a week to feed and water so she posted him on an all too familiar "FREE" Advertising Website.
An elderly gentleman that lived in California saw the post and knew he must do something. He has four deeply loved YN Amazons of his own and while he wasn't interested in increasing his feathered family he knew this bird was in trouble and it was up to him to save this guy. He called the woman that reinforced the fact that this was a cash only deal and set an appointment for the following day.
He was shocked when he saw the condition of the bird. There was Kermit (as we named him) with hardly any feathers. His head was misshapen from the infection that was raging in his body. His feet and legs were swollen and covered with open oozing sores. You could see every bone in his body. His head hung down low. It was clear the bird was suffering. He was dying. The man couldn't wait to get the parrot to an avian vet. He handed the woman the $250 in cash and readied himself to load the bird when the owner announced that the price of $250 was wrong. She meant to list it as $350. He told her that was all he had, that he was retired and that the original fee was all he could do. With the mans cash in her pocket she stood her ground and told him, "You ain't gettin' no money back." He made a mad dash for a bank machine to get the additional monies that were need to liberate this poor bird from the heartless owner.
Sick and weak Kermit put up no resistance. The man took him directly to our avian vet. After two days in the hospital he was brought here to Arizona Exotic Bird Rescue. The healthier the bird became the more anger and aggression he displayed. While he totally resented us treating his wounds and administering his medications he was thriving and gaining weight. He ate everything! It was rewarding to see the physical changes. And at the same time disheartening to be confronted with the rage he displayed.
After almost two years of healing, in good health and valiant attempts to calm him, we placed Kermit with one of our board members that has a very spacious beautiful aviary. He did outstandingly well with the other parrots but would attack any human that dared to enter his abode. He'd go directly for the face just as he'd done while here in the rescue. He only lasted a couple of months before being returned. It was understandable but disappointing.
Kermit is currently under the care and supervision of our avian behaviorist (also a board member), a guy that really knows his stuff when it comes to working with troubled birds. He feels this bird would do best in an environment with other parrots and minimal interference of people. Kermit would be a wonderful friend to another anti-human Amazon. He had an equally troubled companion for a time. That bird has responded beautifully to behavior therapy since we separated the two.
It is quite likely Kermit has suffered permanent brain damage; a factor that I feel contributes to his rage and hatred of our kind. The one thing I have noticed is he seems to be attracted to dark haired women and men with a shaved head. He makes a point of coming over to them in his cage while he goes to great lengths to avoid everyone else. When he's out of his cage I suspect he would attack them just as he does others. But we don't know that for a fact since we haven't has anyone meeting that criteria allow us to use them as a test subject.
So... Are you willing to give him a chance? Would you help to financially support Kermit while he awaits adoption?
Winged Blessings,
Jan
Non-Profit Charitable Avian Sanctuary