Good Day ,

Joey has been with me for 11 years and he is a "wild-caught" bird. I suspect one of the last ones to be imported into the US. I figured out his age by calculating that it had been 11 years since the government made it illegal to import birds at the time I adopted him. We figured that he was a young bird when he was captured. So, adding all that together, that would make him about 25 or 26 years old and not less than 23.

I understand that his kind are netted by the thousands and killed in his native country. The farmers consider these birds pests. So, I think that I might have helped in some small way. FACT:  The United States had a native parrot until our farmers killed them to extinction.

My boy arrived into the United States in a shoebox sized cage, living on sunflower seeds. Kind of like eating french fries for days. He was then sold to a breeder where he was married up with a girl cockatoo among many others of his kind. Some time passed, and his "mate" began to pluck her feathers and Joey was sold. He went from place to place until he was entered into an adoption program.

I became friends with Mattie Sue Athan (She is a bird behaviorist and wrote "Guide to a Well Behaved Parrot") and after some time, she heard about Joey and began talking to me about being a bird owner. She helped me to prepare for his adoption and even told me that he was an aggressive male bird that had been emotionally abused over the years. It would take time and patience for us to become friends and then companions.

She took me to the house where Joey was living. Joey was in a cage surrounded by other parrots in their cages and I thought to myself...he needs me. It took some time to coax him into a carrier, but we managed it and took him to my home. I agreed to never sell him and if it didn't work out, I would adopt him out.

When Mattie left us, I remember standing there and telling this bird "You are afraid of me and I am afraid of you, but we will learn together." All attempts to pet him met with him trying to bite me. I just waited him out because I knew he was afraid.

Finally, one day he lauched himself at my chest. I allowed him to hit me and drop to the floor. Our love for eachother began that moment. I had to remember to keep eye-to-eye contact with him at all times, no matter what we were doing.  After all, he is a wild creature. The times that I didn't adhere to that rule, was/is when he would bite me to remind me.

So, that is how I came to be with Joey.