Dear Parrots magazine,
A changed husband
I thought your readers might like to hear how my husband was converted. It was during the summer of 2020 when what turned out to be a Senegal parrot appeared in our garden and was trying to eat from one of our bird feeders. Neither I nor my husband had any knowledge of parrots so asked the RSPB what sort of bird it was. This was when we understood it was a Senegal parrot.
It seemed quite tame so thought it must be someone’s pet, so made every effort to find its owner. We contacted the police, local vets, and my daughter posted on Facebook and Instagram, but nobody came forward. We live in Lincoln and know quite a lot of people in the area in which we live and had everyone passing on messages, but just drawing blanks.
Our search for this bird’s owner went on for over a year with no luck at all and as we are staunch animal lovers, we know how heart-breaking it is to lose a cherished pet. We had bought it a cage and started to find out how to care for this parrot and the pet shop owners were very helpful and went out of their way to give us advice.
My husband has never been a fan of birds and at the beginning of this ‘adventure’ suggested to pass it on to a rescue centre. I could not go along with that and he reluctantly agreed to keep it in the hope or trying to find its owner.
Well, now just over two years on, we have given up trying to find the owner and my husband has astonished our family by being so protective of this little bird we have called Pedro. And from being totally against keeping him, he is Pedro’s biggest fan!
It was only a few months ago that we came across Parrots magazine on the internet, so have a concern if Pedro’s owner may also be reading this letter and would want him back. But we will have to cross that bridge if we ever come to it. We would like people to know that despite a family member being initially against such a pet, time can turn the situation on its head. My husband is now an ardent pet parrot lover!
Elizabeth Betterman, by email