By Teresa (Terry) Whatley | Founder / Director
Farewell 2023! You were a difficult year for us and for many nonprofits! 2023 saw the end of Amazon Smile as well as major changes in how donations are processed and disbursed on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Add to those woes the fact that supporters are dealing with increased costs of living and finding that they simply cannot afford to donate as much as they would like. Like our donors, we are also impacted by the increased costs of items that we simply have to have in order to care for our feathered friends. Food, supplies, and veterinary care have all increased in cost over the past couple of years. So, donations are down and expenses are up, but we are looking forward to a better year in 2024! We’re very grateful to be able to participate in GlobalGiving fundraising campaigns. GlobalGiving has stayed the course and leveled the playing field by finding a fair and equitable way to allocate matching funds in their campaigns. We’re looking forward to the GlobalGiving Little By Little campaign which will occur April 8 – April 12, 2024. We hope you will be able to donate and help us earn some matching funds. Not much beats free money!
Moving into 2024, we are getting ready for the upcoming baby bird season which is due to start any day now. Our inclement weather in Southern California has delayed the onset this year, but it won’t be long. Your generous support helps us assure that we have appropriate housing and food for the tiny babies that will soon be coming our way.
We have had an unusually high number of medical birds coming in for months now, and our veterinary expense war chest is nearly empty. In addition to new incoming birds we have a couple of longer term residents who require ongoing veterinary care. Let’s meet these birds now.
You’ve seen and met Simba, our Miligold Macaw, here before. Simba is a chronically ill bird that has required thousands of dollars in veterinary care over the past two years. At the present time, Simba is undergoing a course of Celebrex that is costing around $220 per month. Simba has already been through lengthy treatments of Meloxicam and then Onsior, but they were not effective in mitigating his symptoms. Simba has Avian Bornaviral Ganglioneuritis. There is currently no cure for this. The best we can do is supportive care. Simba is a beautiful, loving bird that deserves every medical option we can provide for him. Simba came to us in February of 2022. He is now 12 or 13 years old. We cannot continue to do this without your financial assistance. Please continue to help us help Simba.
Tiki is an approximately 15 year old Green Cheeked Conure. While Tiki was well loved by his former owner, who sadly passed away, he did not have a healthy diet and has a number of health issues due to his diet. Tiki also has a sizeable tumor on his belly that we are keeping a close watch on. Tiki’s beak and nails grow at an abnormally fast rate so he requires frequent grooming. We have this done at the vet so the tumor can be checked at the same time. At some point it will be necessary to have a biopsy of the tumor done and then possibly surgical removal of the tumor. While not hugely expensive at the current moment, Tiki’s veterinary expenses will increase as time goes on. Please help us help Tiki.
Next up, we have Socks. Socks is a 2 month old pigeon who came in with a right leg fractured in 4 places! The right leg was already healing but not in a position that would allow Socks to have normal use of the leg. Surgery was done to re-break the leg and place pins to allow the leg to heal in a normal and functional position. The cost for this surgery was $800. Socks is still under veterinary care and will hopefully be able to have his surgical pins removed in about two weeks. A successful outcome is expected.
Little Biscuit is 13 months old and came to us at about 2 weeks of age in January of 2023. His right wing was only partially developed and was missing a significant portion of the wing. Biscuit was adopted in February 2023 but returned to us this month because his adoptive family no longer had time for him. After seeing his right wing for the first time in a year, we knew that Biscuit needed some veterinary care to make his wing less cumbersome. Biscuit had surgery for a wing amputation last week, is recovering well, and is happy to no longer have a deformed wing hindering his movement. Biscuit’s surgery was $500.
Our veterinary expenses in 2023 were $29,830. Including 2023, our veterinary expenses for the last 5 years have been $158,025.00. That’s a really formidable number for the small rescue that we are. We could have never done it without you all. Thank you!
Lastly, our intake numbers are in another photo .. 723 birds in 2023. Not our biggest year but not our smallest either. See 7 years’ worth of intakes in the last photo. 5,763 birds! That’s a lot of feathered friends that we have helped!
Thank you for helping us help them. We’re looking forward to a better 2024 for all birds, animals, and humans.
By Teresa (Terry) Whatley | Founder / Director
By Teresa (Terry) Whatley | Founder / Director
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