Abandoned Exotic Birds: File this under "Unintended Consequences"
From Reuters: Exotic birds fall prey to foreclosure crisis
By Elaine Porterfield
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Real estate agent Jeffrey Dolfinger was making a routine occupancy check on a foreclosed home near Poughkeepsie, New York, when he made a heart-wrenching discovery: two bedraggled cockatiels nearly starved to death.
"We had entered into this wreck of a house, opened the door, where there sat two cockatiels with about a six-inch-high pile of bird feces under them," Dolfinger said. "I'm not a bird person, but I knew a bird is not supposed to look this way."
Despite terrible bird allergies, Dolfinger gathered them up and brought them to a pet store specializing in birds. A woman at the store nursed them back to health.
The pair of cockatiels represents a little-known side of the foreclosure crisis: exotic birds abandoned or dropped at shelters because their owners cannot move into an apartment or a relative's home with the sometimes noisy creatures.
This hits close to home because the dachshunds we adopted came from a breeder who lost her house to foreclosure. At least we managed to adopt them as soon as possible so they could find a new home.
By Elaine Porterfield
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Real estate agent Jeffrey Dolfinger was making a routine occupancy check on a foreclosed home near Poughkeepsie, New York, when he made a heart-wrenching discovery: two bedraggled cockatiels nearly starved to death.
"We had entered into this wreck of a house, opened the door, where there sat two cockatiels with about a six-inch-high pile of bird feces under them," Dolfinger said. "I'm not a bird person, but I knew a bird is not supposed to look this way."
Despite terrible bird allergies, Dolfinger gathered them up and brought them to a pet store specializing in birds. A woman at the store nursed them back to health.
The pair of cockatiels represents a little-known side of the foreclosure crisis: exotic birds abandoned or dropped at shelters because their owners cannot move into an apartment or a relative's home with the sometimes noisy creatures.
This hits close to home because the dachshunds we adopted came from a breeder who lost her house to foreclosure. At least we managed to adopt them as soon as possible so they could find a new home.