BIRD IS THE WORD

At the Parrot Sanctuary in Cabbagetown, Marie-Élisabeth Gagnon helps dozens of feathered friends take flight. Tracey Tong joins the flock

Parrots are a flock species and need to have companions to feel safe and secure.

MARIE-ÉLISABETH GAGNON

Sammy wasn’t the colourful, cheerful bird most people imagine when they think of a parrot.

The white-capped pionus trembled. He couldn’t fly, owing to the absence of feathers on his wings. He had ripped most of them out, leaving wounds on his chest. Inappropriately housed with a large macaw, the medium-sized parrot could have been killed by the other bird, or from a fall. Marie-Élisabeth Gagnon immediately knew she had to take him home.

“I had never seen a bird — or any animal — in such a terrible state,” remembers the Toronto resident, who was looking to adopt a companion for her parakeet, Oscar, in 2004. “He should never have been left so vulnerable.”

A student at the time, Gagnon worried that Sammy would harm himself while she was away from home. “Sometimes I came home to many droplets of blood and would race to see an avian veterinarian,” she says.

Through research, she learned that self-injury was the result of multiple needs not being met. “I wanted to use my experience to help other parrots before they resorted to self-harm,” she says, “and to learn how to help them once this terrible cycle started.”

So, that same year she founded Sammy and Oscar’s Parrot Sanctuary (registering it as a not-for-profit organization in 2010).

Now simply known as the Parrot Sanctuary, the brightly lit Cabbagetown facility is home to 25 birds.

During the day, parrots are out of their cages, exploring and interacting with other similar-sized birds with compatible personalities, says Gagnon, a certified parrot behaviour consultant and professional animal trainer.

There is a medium room for smaller birds, a small room for oneon-one interaction and a large shower that the birds can enjoy. The space is dynamic and can change day to day to keep things interesting for the inhabitants.

The sanctuary accepts parrots (tropical birds with curved beaks, a quality unique to their species) and parakeets (a species of small-tomedium parrots native to Australia) from anywhere in Canada, although most of its intakes are from Toronto.

The mission of the volunteerbased organization is to improve the well-being of companion parrots, for the benefit of both the birds and their humans. “Parrots are a flock species and need to have companions to feel safe and secure,” Gagnon says. The sanctuary works with people to keep the birds in their homes whenever possible.

Prepandemic, the sanctuary had a few surrender requests per week. “Once COVID-19 was in full force, we received requests to relinquish almost daily,” says Gagnon, who attributes this to owners adapting to working from home. “When caregivers tried to cope with hearing a parrot pining for attention, many found it unbearable.”

Parrots are frequently brought in because they have been misunderstood. There is, Gagnon says, “literally a sea of outdated practices and false notions” regarding the right environment and care. Also, the expectation that a parrot will speak, or be a disappointment if it doesn’t, is truly unfair.”

“Real life with parrots is not what you see on the internet,” says Jean Redmond. The Owen Sound resident adopted Nicky, a 32-year-old Moluccan cockatoo, in March 2020; Sir Stanley, a 40-year-old umbrella cockatoo, joined the family a year later. “They don’t all talk, dance or do tricks.”

Luanne Workman believes some people underestimate the commitment needed to properly care for a parrot. “At times, having a parrot is like caring for a toddler with wings,” says the Oakville resident, who adopted Buddy, a 12-year-old Senegal parrot from the sanctuary in May. “Parrots constantly surprise you with their intelligence, their agility and their ability to learn.”

Gagnon decodes parrot behaviour this way: “Vocalizations are made to share important information, (to show) a need for a stimulating environment, to exercise or to alleviate boredom. Parrots in the wild call back and forth to each other.”

They also need space to roam. “If a parrot is well supervised, then I think it’s fair to leave their cage door open,” she says. “Parrots that choose to come in and out of their cages are birds that show signs of contentment.”

Gagnon recalls an African grey that ended up at the sanctuary after his owner died of COVID-19. “This parrot was adored by his caregiver,” she says. “He was and still is in perfect condition with a giant repertoire of sounds and sayings. Many will say endearing things and you feel like you have a window into their previous life. You know the tone and the voice of someone that you have never met.”

Seventeen years after Gagnon brought Sammy home, he is now 22 and thriving. Oscar is gone, but Sammy has made new friends, and he and Gagnon remain inseparable at the sanctuary he inspired. “Adopting him,” she says, “is one of the best decisions I ever made.”