Raising the roofPosted: Sunday, November 15, 2009 12:55 am | Updated: 1:29 am, Sun Nov 15, 2009.
By LESLIE ROVETTI / Sun Staff Writer
HOPKINTON - As heavy rains soaked the grounds of the New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary on Woodville Alton Road Saturday, the volunteers inside all paid tribute to Lightning.
Lightning is a blue and gold macaw that once had his face ripped open by a dachshund. After his former owner relinquished the mangled bird to Ocean State Veterinary Specialists in East Greenwich, avian veterinarian Cyndi Brown reassembled his face and left him as good as new. Veterinarian Gary Block, who owns the emergency veterinary clinic along with wife Justine Johnson, grew attached to Lightning and tried to keep him as a company mascot.
"Lightning and I got along wonderfully," Block said. "The problem was, he didn't like anyone else."
After the macaw nipped at staff members and bit a surgeon in the foot, Block decided to take Lightning home. But when Lightning bit Johnson, also a veterinarian, in a somewhat private area, Johnson told Block it was her or the bird.
Block consulted a friend, avian veterinarian Hank Wietsma, who told him about Foster Parrots, the organization located on the grounds of the sanctuary. After he went there and spoke with owners Marc Johnston and Karen Windsor, Block said he not only felt comfortable leaving Lightning there, but also pledged to help.
"I was blown away," he said. "It's quite amazing to see these birds."
On Saturday, Block made good on his pledge. Armed with a $15,000 donation and construction equipment, Block and several volunteers from Ocean State Veterinary Specialists spent their Saturday morning assembling a ceiling in the sanctuary's south wing. Once the ceiling and walls are put up in the converted chicken coop, Windsor said the aviaries can be built. She expected the entire process to take two to three months.
Foster Parrots houses over 500 birds in a long, narrow building, Windsor said, some in large flight cages and others in smaller cages while they await the new enclosures to be built in the south wing. Although its Web site (
www.fosterparrots.com) details adoption procedures with stringent requirements, Windsor said Foster Parrots no longer looks to adopt out the birds.
"Our focus has shifted to permanent care for unadoptable birds," she said. That means the facility is dedicated to allowing birds to behave as they would in the wild, or as Windsor explained it, allowing them to be birds again.
Windsor said many of the birds were purchased as pets when they were little and cute, but were no longer wanted after they matured. She pointed to a cage of cockatoos, which she said are often destructive, aggressive, and have voices loud enough to travel miles in the rain forest.
The birds are "one of the most inappropriate birds for the pet trade ever," she said. "They are 100 percent wild animals."
Other birds found their way there after an owner developed allergies, had a baby, married, divorced, or moved. Still others were kept in inappropriate settings and began pulling out feathers and mutilating themselves.
An entire room of free-flying lovebirds came to Foster Parrots because the flock had gotten out of hand. The previous owner began with four lovebirds, allowed them to love unabated, and wound up with 172. By leaving nests out of the cage, Windsor said they will no longer breed, a goal they support.
Other exotic animals are housed at the sanctuary as well. There are African crested porcupines and two rescued Patagonian cavies, as well as an indoor pond with red-ear slider turtles. There is also a pen of good-sized sulcata tortoises, which Windsor said can grow to 200 pounds in 20 years.
"What kind of insanity is it that these are available in the pet trade?" she said.
For the future, Windsor said plans include not only completing the south wing of the building but also adding outdoor aviaries so the birds can safely fly in and out. She said she also wants to add a humane education center and see an old concrete swimming pool converted to a dig-proof porcupine enclosure.
Windsor said she hopes that just as Lightning inspired Block to help, other corporate sponsors will come forward as well.
Block noted that he and his friends will continue to help "as much as we can."
"We may try to organize another construction day in the future," he said.
lrovetti@thewesterlysun.com
