Co-Written by Karen Windsor and Matt Smith from Project Perry
When Matt Smith walked out into the muddy field on the afternoon of May 12th, the scene was worse than he had imagined. Possibly worse than anything he had seen before. It had been cold and raining all day and the air was damp and raw. Matt, accompanied by Project Perry volunteer Bobbie DeBenedetto, Dr. Hillary Cook and Animal Control Officer Patricia Dahl approached the collection of 31 macaws, stuffed into cages that were stacked beneath two open-sided carport frames. Only one frame had a roof. The other was merely draped with a length of plastic tarp that had been blown askew, leaving the birds vulnerable to the elements. The bird cages had been equipped with automatic feeders holding moldy seed and water dispensers half full with green, dirty water. Most had steel breeder boxes attached to the sides. The birds had been provided with “perches” made of 2X6 lumber. Many of these perches had fallen to the cage floors or had been chewed through, leaving the birds to cling to the mesh walls. The cages were rusted and decrepit, and droppings clung to the wire bottoms and collected in thick piles below the birds. Droppings were as much as 12 inches deep in some places. Many latches, quick-links and even a wrench used as door fasteners were completely rusted, necessitating the use of bolt cutters in the removal of the birds from the old cages, suggesting that these cages had not provided temporary accommodations but had, in fact, been a long-time housing arrangement. The birds looked rough. They were dirty and nervous. Having been provided with absolutely no toys or enrichments in their small spaces, many of the macaws were plucked, having turned their beaks on themselves or on each other. Skin lesions and nodules were apparent on a number of them. They were understandably fearful and either cowered inside their cages or displayed aggressively when approached by the strangers…
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Feathered Angels 