What would happen to your birds if something happened to you?

This article made me cry.

It graphically illustrates the need for a plan of care in the event you don't show up one day to feed your birds. I wont belabor the point with my words when Mr. Voren says it much better.

Howard Voren wrote:

The Loxahatchee Horror - Could It Happen to Your Aviary? © Howard Voren.
If everyone in your household should suddenly disappear, would anyone notice? If they did notice, would they have the initiative or the authority to break into your house to rescue your birds from starvation? In the case of Moses Lall, the well-known bird importer, the answer was no–at least not in time to save the lives of most of the approximately 1,000 birds whose cages lined the open field behind his rented house. On June 15, l994, after the continued urging of several concerned parties, local authorities entered the property. The gruesome sight that they beheld was something that should appear only in ones’ worst nightmare.

Read the whole story here.

Howard Voren is a Psittacultural Scientist specializing in the maintenance and reproduction of Central & South American Psittacine birds. Information about Howard Voren can be found on his website at http://www.voren.com.

Yeah, I've read that article before. My collection's not as extensive as that one. I have a couple of friends that would break in and take care of everything. We kinda have that reciprocal agreement going on.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said it made me cry, I had to get tissue.
I'm devising a plan in my head right now...

It's part of the reason I'm opposed to not providing ANY food for a pet bird during the day if all members of the household are away during the day. I know that one from experience too. And it's not true that their crops hold enough food for 2 days.

ADDING: If you don't want to break into someone's house, you call the police and say you are concerned for the safety of the PERSON, not the animals. Generally, at least in Calif, the police are then authorized to break in for a safety check of the person. That's what we did when we didn't see our neighbor around and we didn't see the horses fed. The sheriff came and went into his house to check. Turns out bozo was about, but just wasn't feeding the horses. That turns into another story.

I read about this years ago,a very sad story to be sure.

patdbunny wrote:

It's part of the reason I'm opposed to not providing ANY food for a pet bird during the day if all members of the household are away during the day. I know that one from experience too. And it's not true that their crops hold enough food for 2 days.

ADDING: If you don't want to break into someone's house, you call the police and say you are concerned for the safety of the PERSON, not the animals. Generally, at least in Calif, the police are then authorized to break in for a safety check of the person. That's what we did when we didn't see our neighbor around and we didn't see the horses fed. The sheriff came and went into his house to check. Turns out bozo was about, but just wasn't feeding the horses. That turns into another story.

Yes, the police really don't care about the safety of the animals. You can, however, mention human welfare and use the animals as evidence that the person may be in jeopardy. For example: "My neighbor loves her little dog. I see her walking it every day and brushing it in the backyard after it eats every day at 2:00. For the last two days I've seen neither one of them, but I hear the dog barking when I go to my car. She's never left the pup alone, always boards him or takes him with her when she takes a trip. I'm really worried about HER." The police will usually be all OVER that one. The more details you can provide to back-up your suspicions, the faster you're likely to get a response.

That made my stomach churn. However, that kind of thing isn't uncommon (maybe not on that scale). My cousin cleans houses for a living. One of her customers was an old man with a cat. He died in his home, and the body had sat there for several weeks. The cat started to feed on the body. She was the one who found the body. The entire situation was awful.

I think in the case that something were to happen to me, my parents would keep my birds. THAT scares me. They'd probably just get locked up, and fed a diet of wal-mart seed.

I was looking at different sanctuaries here in Canada. I'd want my guys to be kept together. Einstein and the budgies aren't the best of friends, but they are still a flock. Having me gone would be hard enough on Einstein, I wouldn't want to take away the only other birds in his life.

Now I'm sad

VickiNumbers wrote:

patdbunny wrote:

It's part of the reason I'm opposed to not providing ANY food for a pet bird during the day if all members of the household are away during the day. I know that one from experience too. And it's not true that their crops hold enough food for 2 days.

ADDING: If you don't want to break into someone's house, you call the police and say you are concerned for the safety of the PERSON, not the animals. Generally, at least in Calif, the police are then authorized to break in for a safety check of the person. That's what we did when we didn't see our neighbor around and we didn't see the horses fed. The sheriff came and went into his house to check. Turns out bozo was about, but just wasn't feeding the horses. That turns into another story.

Yes, the police really don't care about the safety of the animals. You can, however, mention human welfare and use the animals as evidence that the person may be in jeopardy. For example: "My neighbor loves her little dog. I see her walking it every day and brushing it in the backyard after it eats every day at 2:00. For the last two days I've seen neither one of them, but I hear the dog barking when I go to my car. She's never left the pup alone, always boards him or takes him with her when she takes a trip. I'm really worried about HER." The police will usually be all OVER that one. The more details you can provide to back-up your suspicions, the faster you're likely to get a response.

Yep. We had the sheriff out within 30 minutes and he went inside and looked around. The guy wasn't around, but now the authorities were also on the look out for him on a "welfare" check.

zazanomore wrote:

Now I'm sad

I didn't intend to make you sad.
Not to make it worse, but the question isn't who would take care of them in the long term, but who do you have that would quickly notice you weren't following your usual routine, AND connect all the dots to ensure Einstein and the B's received care?

In my case, I live with a husband and adult child who could care for Bucky and Jay, but the situation would be different if I were living alone.

This does remind me that we need to write wills and specify what happens to the birds and cats. However, I don't believe the horrifying scenario described could happen to us. Someone would notice we were gone sooner, even if we managed to both become grease spots when not on vacation (on vacation we have a pet sitter and she insists on an arrival home call). And pretty much everyone who knows us, knows we have pets. So starvation is not likely, but what isn't so clear is who would actually take care of them in the long run -- they could all wind up at the ASPCA. So we need to document some wishes.

Any of you younger folks want to inherit a Cape and a GCC? My niece might grow into wanting them, but she's too young at this point, and the rest of the family would not know what to do with them. We have no local in-person bird friends, and my horse friends mostly wouldn't know what to do with them either! Barring disaster, Scooter probably won't outlive us, but Scotty could.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Any of you younger folks want to inherit a Cape and a GCC?

I'd take the cape, but you'd need to understand that I believe in trying to breed the more "rare" avicultural gems. I don't think the males get "too old" to breed. Completely understand if you wouldn't want your pet to go into a breeding situation.

patdbunny wrote:

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Any of you younger folks want to inherit a Cape and a GCC?

I'd take the cape, but you'd need to understand that I believe in trying to breed the more "rare" avicultural gems. I don't think the males get "too old" to breed. Completely understand if you wouldn't want your pet to go into a breeding situation.

I'LL take Scotty

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Any of you younger folks want to inherit a Cape and a GCC? My niece might grow into wanting them, but she's too young at this point, and the rest of the family would not know what to do with them. We have no local in-person bird friends, and my horse friends mostly wouldn't know what to do with them either! Barring disaster, Scooter probably won't outlive us, but Scotty could.

I wouldn't say no to another gcc. A cape though... probably not. How old is Scotty?


I always have more food in rainbow's cage then she will eat in a day and her water bottle, just in case something were to happen. This isn't really an issue for me at the moment, I've got parents and neighbors who know us and the really close set of neighbors know where the spare key is(I know where theirs is hidden, too, since I catsit for them frequently so it works both ways) I'm not really stressing. When I move out into an apartment in a year or two away from home, then I won't have that safety net. Hearing about all those birds starving to death made me shudder. Especially how the ones who survived ended up...