October 13, 2012 Dear Mom;

Yesterday, when I went to the Refuge, it was with the intention of coming home early. I have recovered from that cold I had but it left me without my usual stamina. So,  when I arrived, I just dumped my bag of survival gear in the kitchen and went outside to sort a few more bags of recyclables. I've set up my own little sorting "depot", out by a shed and next to what looked to be a doghouse which actually housed a cat that I disturbed. I'll have to take along some cat treats next week. I think this black cat is female, although I've not been inclined to check. And she was anxious for some lovin', rubbing against my legs. But she was very wary of my hands and when I reached out to pet her, she hissed and swatted my hand. I think she's been learning from the parrots. Sigh. Anyway, I managed to get four more bags sorted and ready to drop off at the Recycling Depot...and promptly ran out of steam.

So, it was off to do my visiting with the girls and my new little man. Of course, as soon as I stuck my head out of the kitchen door Mango was on my shoulder with his little, "c'mere, c'mere". I visited with him all the way to the medical room and decided to leave him on my shoulder in there too. I couldn't see Bertie anywhere. But Chris was in a small cage on the counter. She didn't respond to my voice and her behaviour told me something was wrong and I determined to talk with staff about her. Then I was off to find Bertie. I looked high and low for her and finally found her in the Special Needs enclosure #1. It's the largest enclosure she's been in yet. And again, there was a cage in the enclosure with the door open. And there was Bertie in the cage with an Umbrella Cockatoo. The Umbrella was flipping newspapers up over himself and looked to be trying to coax Bertie into being a bit more cooperative. She was having nothing to do with that and bounced up and down the perch like she does when she wants to come to me. But she wouldn't go past the Umbrella to get out the door. And I wasn't going into that enclosure without permission. And of course noone was around who could give me that. So, I talked to Bertie for awhile and moved on to Babe's enclosure. Babe saw me coming and moved close to the door. But I could see that the staff were right in the middle of cleaning her enclosure. Not wanting to get in the way, I did my visiting with Babe through the door. By that time I was getting really impatient and frustrated...and tired. So, I left for the van.

I did manage to catch a manager on the way to the van. And I talked with her about Chris. They believe that Chris is going blind. Actually, they believe that Chris is already blind in one eye and rapidly losing sight in the other. I felt as though I'd been kicked in the stomach. But it also made perfect sense of the way that Chris has responded, or not responded, to me since we've been here. Now I wished I had pushed a bit and I feel guilty for not doing so. I'm trying to not overreact. I want to go back to actually visit with Chris. I want to get her out of that cage to have a good look at her myself. If she is indeed going blind or nearly blind already, I'm going to want to bring her home to care for. I know she's not my bird anymore, but my heart doesn't know that. And I think/hope that management will let me "foster" her. I'll let you know how this situation progresses.

 

 

Love,

Pat