From Hoarding Seizure to a New Life at the Zoo By Kate Stewart On Thursday 15 th September 2017, a walker reported to the Weston (Connecticut, USA) police that they could smell something that they thought may have been a body in the woods. The dire smell turned out to be hundreds of dead animals, with a few still clinging onto life, in dire conditions. Authorities shown wearing hazardous materials suits during the seizure. (Photo credit: Fox 61.com) The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) were called out to the property to handle the situation, due to being trained in cases involving the illegal keeping of exotic animals. Inside the building, numerous animals, both dead and alive, were found including exotic birds, reptiles and snakes. Many at the scene reported the area to be literally hell on earth. In total, around 100 birds and around the same number of reptiles were seized, due to the conditions of severe hoarding and animal cruelty. 28. The house where some of the birds were kept, however the majority were kept in a drafty barn. (Photo Credit: G. Menti/Weston Forum)
Authorities needed to put the hundreds of surviving animals into temporary housing, so they started making calls to rescue centres. Rainforest Reptile Shows took in over 100 reptiles, some were still in unopened plastic bags from when they had been shipped earlier that month, as well as ten birds. Rhode Island Parrot Rescue (RIPR), a purely voluntary organisation dedicated to the rehabilitation of unwanted, abused or abandoned parrots in Rhode Island, USA was around the third parrot rescue centre called to rehouse the birds found on site. Originally, it was planned that 20-40 birds would be taken to RIPR, but when the RIPR facility manager and executive director arrived on scene, they felt they could not leave any bird in those conditions. Around 12 birds were taken directly to veterinarians, whilst the call was made for RIPR volunteers to start preparing the rescue centre. As volunteers at RIPR, we were dressed up in disposable overalls with masks and boots, with the back half of the rescue sealed off to form a quarantine area for around 130 birds. All the birds were loaded in carriers and taken by horse trailer to the RIPR facility. I spent 36 hours in total at RIPR following the rescue, from preparing the centre until most of the birds were out of carriers. Every bird was given fresh water and food upon arriving at the centre. Myself and some of my fellow volunteers bringing the birds into RIPR. A wide variety of birds arrived, but what caught my attention the most were a pair of White-crested Turacos Tauraco leucolophus and a Guinea Turaco Tauraco persa. There is a well-publicised photo of the former owner, who runs an exotic animal pet shop in New York City, with a pair of Guinea Turacos. The vet said the turacos had liver damage consistent with repeated prolonged exposure to no food, as determined by blood testing. 29.
I immediately started to bite off small pieces of apple, because I did not have a knife since the main rescue was outside the quarantine area, and fed these pieces to the starving turacos. I will never forget one of the DEEP officers watching me curiously whilst I did it. I explained that I have a Violet Turaco Musophaga violacea at home (which featured in an article in Issue 46) and as there was no low iron pellet food at this rescue for these birds (which I brought in the next morning), they needed specific fruit immediately. He seemed relieved as he commented looks like these birds are in good hands. At the time, I was too focused on the birds to respond, but if I ever see him again I The pair of White-Crested Turacos Tauraco leucolophus in cramped conditions before rescue would say that these birds were in the best place possible to be healed and then re-homed to their new homes. I have many heart-warming stories of the individual birds, but sadly many sorrowful stories as not all of them survived, even after proper vet care and the appropriate reintroduction to a steady diet. We also went to tremendous lengths to quarantine birds. Our executive director contacted other rescue centres who had dealt with similar The Rhode Island Parrot Rescue (RIPR) centre overflowing with birds. cases previously and Photo Credit: The Associated Press implemented their suggestions on how to handle the situation 30. in the best possible manner.
Because of the ongoing court case against the owner, the birds were prevented from being adopted or being moved on to other homes for months after the seizure, putting great pressure on RIPA. The birds were eventually allowed to be moved on to new homes nine months later, and I now own the single Guinea Turaco Tauraco persa from the seizure. Sadly, during the court case, a lack of consideration was given to the rescue centres involved, and nothing has been done to reduce the huge financial burden RIPR and other centres experienced to manage the situation. Despite this, I would do it all again, even knowing I wouldn't be reimbursed. However, I would do more to make the media aware that RIPR and similar facilities could benefit from financial support, so the volunteers are not dwindling their savings accounts. The pair of White-crested Turacos Tauraco leucolophus however should be seen as one of the success stories of the entire rescue process. We organised for the pair to be rehomed at Houston Zoo, Texas, and the rest of this article details the trip to the Houston Zoo where the White-crested Turacos found their forever home. Trip to Houston At around 6:30pm on a Thursday I put the turacos into a carrier and we left for the Houston Zoo. We drove straight through till we arrived in Beaumont, Texas at about 11pm the following Friday. The total journey was around 1,800 miles each way. Huge shout out to Howard Johnson hotel chain for being one of the only hotels that let us have pets, and did not want to charge us an arm and a leg for the animals to stay with us. Turacos looking comfortable in the hotel. 31.
A fellow hotel guest s cackling laugh outside our hotel room set the turacos off and they started to make their alert sound; the first time they sounded in the entire trip! We met Hannah Bailey, Curator of Natural Encounters and Birds at Houston Zoo, at the back of the zoo s vet clinic on the Saturday morning we had made it! Once inside the clinic, Hannah and the other keepers commented about what good condition the birds were in and I did what I was trained to do exchange all the information about these turacos I had, to the receiving collection. Image right: Here is the final photo of the turacos at the vet clinic about to go into quarantine. If you look closely you can see that the turaco s crest is slightly back which means he knows something is up... I felt bad for leaving them, since they came off the horse trailer and I bit off pieces of apple for them to eat, I have watched over them. We then had a guided tour by Hannah of the turacos kept at Houston Zoo. I was delighted when one of the first places we went to was to see the offspring of their 25 year-old male White-crested Turaco Tauraco leucolophus, which had passed away the previous autumn. 32.
Hannah reflected that he had had a good life at the zoo and how 25 years is a good life span for a turaco. We perused the bird exhibits and got to see very healthy birds in wonderful enclosures. These turacos are lucky to be at the Houston Zoo. The zoo has a large bird collection in some of the best enclosures I have ever seen. The bird collection also features Great Blue Turaco Corythaeola cristata, with the hen sitting on a half-finished nest during our visit. I cannot wait to see which one of the many habitats these Whitecrested Turacos will choose, but they will never go hungry and will always have lots of space. Images left and above left: A number of the lusciously planted and well-kept aviaries at Houston Zoo. 33.