Bird Experts Help Flock Of Macaws Taken From Home

[BuffaloParrot]

Bird Experts Help Flock Of Macaws Taken From Home

Colorado & Denver News
Jan 22, 2010 10:22 am US/Mountain

ELIZABETH, Colo. (CBS4) ― Dozens of malnourished macaw parrots are being nursed back to health at a bird welfare organization.

The Gabriel Foundation in Elizabeth took 43 birds from the home of an elderly man in Pueblo on Tuesday night. The state health department had condemned the home, which had no heat or water.

Nancy Herron, the 85-year-old man's daughter, said he has been raising birds all his life, many of them from birth, but caring for them may have been too much for him to handle.

"We've had all kinds of animals and he's never neglected them," Herron said. "It's because he's getting older."

Three of the birds died after being taken from the home. The shelter expects a few more will not make it due to respiratory problems and infection.

On the Gabriel Foundation's Web site, the organization describes the rescue of the birds "one of the worst days in TGF's history."

"All of these birds must have a great strength of spirit to have survived this horrific ordeal," wrote *bleep*e Thomasson, a volunteer with the foundation, in a Web posting.

The elderly man is not expected to face charges.