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Sydney Rose
Sydney Rose is a Rose Breasted Cockatoo who came to Foster Parrots, Ltd, in October of 2001. Sydney suffers from severe emotional trauma. Afraid of the light, he had been kept in a dark closet by previous owners because that was the only way he could be kept calm. When confronted by humans, he would scream and cry and throw himself about violently. His flight feathers had been broken to the nub and he had often bled from the force of his fits.
When he first arrived he was completely uncontrollable and terrified. However, Marc Johnson, Director, worked with him patiently and, over time, helped calm him considerably. He lived for many months by
Marc's bedside in a 50-gallon aquarium that had been turned on its side. Initially, the interior of the aquarium had been padded all over with blankets and towels so that Sydney would not hurt himself when he went into an uncontrollable fit. He lived most of the time inside a soft-pillow cave Marc made for him in there. Marc would take him out to hold and cuddle him several times a day in an effort to teach him to trust. Sydney only felt secure and safe it he was held close to the body with a hand placed over his head. His incessant cries were consistent with the begging cries of a young chick.
Sydney Rose was the product of a mass-production breeder/retailer. As a product of one of the large pet chain's mass-production breeding programs, Sydney was likely pulled prematurely from his mother, grouped together with multitudes of other hatchlings and gavage fed on a schedule by an impartial lab employee. In the absence of any form of nurturing care or socialization, Sydney's psychological development was gravely impacted. His constant begging and crying behavior was consistent with premature, forced weaning that once again had caused severe insecurity and developmental damage. Sydney spent the first year and a half of his life being shipped from store to store as each location found they were unable to sell this undesirable product. He had been through 3 stores before being purchased by a consumer at a drastically reduced price. When this new family found they were not able to rehabilitate Sydney, they took him to their veterinarian to be euthanized. However, the vet tech felt sorry for Sydney, took him home and ultimately turned him over to Foster Parrots.
Because Sydney Rose's disorders are so severe, he would surely have been euthanized in most any other situation. Yet we refused to give up on him. Through the persistence and patient care of Marc Johnson and the staff at Foster Parrots, Sydney began to respond positively. About a year after his arrival we were able to move him into a larger enclosure with Plexiglas walls. The larger space and clear walls forced Sydney to deal with the world, while a well-placed box inside gave him the security of a hiding place to retreat to when he felt timid or overwhelmed. Surprisingly, Sydney adjusted quickly and seemed quite pleased with his new home, spending a great deal of time at the front of his enclosure observing the hustle and bustle of activity beyond his walls. He appeared to make great strides psychologically as well. Although he would sometimes backslide and recede for several days at a time into a place where he was unreachable and uncontrollable, Sydney very often would be calm and interested in his surroundings. He actually began to solicit contact with people, jumping about and crying to be picked up and held, though he remained nervous and tended to be overly reactive to unanticipated movement. That was a big accomplishment for a troubled little bird.
It was at this time that it became clear to the staff that further progress in Sydney's development would require more intensive one-on-one interaction. Though it was difficult to separate (for us!), we decided in March of 2003 to place Sydney into a fostering situation with a very compassionate and Galah-savvy woman named Lynette Masters. Originally from Australia, Lynette has more than 15 years experience in animal rescue and rehabilitation work. Having spent so many years in the Outback caring for and rehabilitating sick, injured and orphaned marsupials and native Australian birds, Lynette was naturally drawn to our little Galah, Sydney Rose. Her experience in rehabilitative work and in long-term care for special needs animals gave us confidence in her ability to bring Sydney Rose closer to his full potential.
In the time that Sydney Rose has been under Lynette's care, she has been able to report sporadic leaps of remarkable improvement. Sydney now will sometimes leave the safety of his Plexiglas enclosure to explore some areas of Lynette's home in search of Lynette. The fact that he will venture out at all is, in itself, astonishing. Lynette reports that intermittent episodes of uncontrollable fit throwing spring up to thwart his progress at times. Nonetheless, she is committed to guiding this little Cockatoo lovingly through his trials until he can, one day, we all hope, sit brilliantly in the sun without the fear and confusions that have plagued him for so long.
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