The PRC Website was originally created to provide a portal of information and resources that parrot owners could easily access. With Grant and Leah Petersen's creative knowledge and website design background and Zarita's research they together where all able to create a website that is full of resourceful and helpful parrot information.

The PRC Website has been successfully running now for 3 years and has hopefully achieved its goal to help parrot owners easily access resourceful and helpful parrot information. We continue to provide more services such as the PRC Bi-monthly Newsletter that provides educational articles written by avian professionals and also keeps parrot owners up dated on new events and products. Another helpful service is the PRC Parrot shop where you can purchase high quality parrot toys and accessories at reasonable prices. The PRC Parrot shop was originally created by Zarita because she felt that Parrot toys and accessories needed to be available to people at low costs to ensure that parrots are receiving the enrichment and entertainment they deserve. She has spent allot of time road testing and assessing appropriate toys and accessories and will only provide high quality, safe and non toxic products in the PRC Parrot Shop. The PRC Parrot Shop will continue to grow with part of the profits going towards its expansion and the other going towards the running of the Parrot Rescue Centre.

The PRC also has been providing a Bird Boarding and Sanctuary facility which directly helps run the PRC. The PRC has up to 100 birds in its care, some of these being in our boarding and sanctuary facility with the remaining staying in permanent care because of disabilities, aggression and behavioural issues.

We feel that we are achieving our goals and with your support we will continue to supply this wonderful service for many many years to come.

Zarita's dream of the PRC touching people around the world has come true because of two wonderful people who helped her set up the PRC website and logo. These two people are Grant and Leah Peterson. Grant and Leah you both have helped touch so many parrot people and all of the PRC members and supporters owe you a very big Thank you again and again!

The story behind the Parrot Rescue Centre Logo continued below by Leah Petersen.............................

We first met Nowra in 2003 during a photo shoot. My husband, Grant needed to take some photos of a Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo for a work project. Grant contacted a known breeder of Yellow tails and organized for us to take the photos he needed. The breeder also mentioned that he had a 12 month old brother and sister pair whom he thought we may be interested in seeing while we were there.

Our first close up encounter with these majestic birds was awesome to say the least. Personally, I was very naive and did not know we even had Black Cockatoo’s in Australia. I have since discovered that I was not alone in this lack of knowledge and it still stuns me that many Australian’s have no idea about the existence of these wonderful parrots.

During our visit, the breeder provided us with a great deal of information and facts about the Yellow-Tail. We were invited into the aviary containing the young cock and hen. They were both stunning. The hen was quite shy and a little apprehensive staying relatively close to the breeder. The cock however, was a different story. He was lively, curious, incredibly cheeky and had taken an instant liking to the silver ring on my husbands finger. Not yet a confident flyer, he would try various methods and avenues of climbing around the aviary to get to that nice shiny object.

To cut a long story short, not only did we leave with some great photos but we also came away with a very special piece of native Australian wildlife. We named him Nowra, since that is where we lived at the time and Nowra is the indigenous word for Black Cockatoo in the local Aboriginal dialect.

Purchasing Nowra, was not a spontaneous gesture. We did our research and believe me, the breeder certainly did his – we were questioned for well over two hours. Of that, I am pleased. It would disturb me if a breeder willingly handed over such a bird to anybody.

So our journey of becoming Parrot owners began. Nowra was our first foray into caring for and handling such audacious birds. We did everything we believed to be the best for him. We provided him with an extra-extra-extra large cage and eventually his own 6 metre aviary. We provided him with a wide variety of food, including lots of fresh fruit and veges, which he loved. He had regular baths and showers. We gave him plenty of time out and loads of love. He inturn provided us with amazement and wonder at his undeniable beauty and intelligence. Naturally he allowed us the pleasure of getting to know that unforgettable, yet ever so distinct and beautiful Yellow-tail call! At only 12 months of age he also vocalized that very loud and annoying, raspy baby call, but that was all part of having a young parrot.

The other aspect we discovered was his ability to chew through hard wood perches in hours!! We knew cockatoo’s were naturally destructive, but we did not realise (until then) that the Yellow-tail’s tensile strength was atleast double that of your average Sulfur crested! No sooner had I placed a nice new natural perch in his aviary or cage, then a few hours later I would hear a large crash and thud. Out I would go to redecorate again.

Naturally, we also gave him enrichment and mental stimulus. Now, at this early stage most of our education came from Parrot Owner Guidebooks that our friends from America had sent us. Simply because we could not find any local information produced in Australia on how to care for, train and raise Australian Cockatoo’s!! So, yes his cage and aviary did have an assortment of rope toys, wooden blocks and rope ladders plus some of those “Bullet Proof” birdie toys.

Our first scary incident occurred one morning. I had my back turned away from Nowra as I was washing some dishes, my husband was in the shower and I noticed it was oddly quiet. I realised that Nowra had unusually stopped “that annoying, raspy baby call”. As I looked over at his cage, I was horrified to see him hanging by his tongue. A metal split ring on a toy had closed and pinched his tongue. Fortunately we were there and able to release him. First lesson!!! Remove all metal split rings!!! It was at that precise moment I learn’t how important those loud, continuous baby calls must be in the wild. It was the absence of that call which alerted me to his danger.

The second scary incident happened in his aviary. One day I noticed that Nowra had been hanging onto the side of his aviary (at the very top) in the one spot for a little bit too long a period. As I ventured out to investigate, I again went into panic mode. Nowra had once again gotten his tongue jammed – this time in between the joining bars of the aviary panels. He had unscrewed some bolts and was some how able to wiggle the bars apart. Something, I wouldn’t be able to do with a tool, let alone just beak and tongue. Second lesson…do a “nuts and bolts” check two or three times a day!!

By August of the following year we had made the decision to move north to QLD. We chose not to put Nowra on a plane on his own, so there we all were; two humans, two dogs and one Yellow-tail black cockatoo all heading to a new home in sunny QLD!

Unfortunately, the move did place some stress our Nowra or “Chookie” as we tended to call him more often than not. Once again, we did not know that you could (should) transport birds in dog/cat carriers, so we had him all set up in his large carry cage. He was so good on the trip, but we now realise how awfully stressful and exhausting it must have been for him. Another lesson learnt the hard way – “transport birds in a covered carrier”. The trip and the fact that he was once again back in his large cage as opposed to his aviary did affect him. He started to chew at his wings. I believe he was saying, “well if I can’t use them – I’ll chew them”!! We always gave him plenty of fly time inside the house, but it just wasn’t the same as flying outdoors in your own aviary. We bought in indoor playgym which allowed him time to fly around and just hang out and play with his toys.

Scary incident number 3. Nowra had once again unscrewed a nut and bolt, this time from the playgym. But this time he tried to stick his tongue down the now empty bolt hole. Luckily, it was only momentarily stuck…but it was long enough to frighten all of us. Another lesson, close up all exposed holes!

Shortly after arriving on the Gold Coast we took a shopping trip to the Pet Barn. We wanted to arm ourselves with plenty of birdie stimulation and toys. Since we had moved, we did not know where to go to get perches and supplies, so resorted to the expensive plastic toys. The ones that you pay hundreds of dollars for and your black cockatoo destroys before you have even finished installing them!!!

Whilst we were at the pet store, we were given a brochure for Verna Shannon’s Pet Parrot Pre-school. We immediately enrolled…we were desperate to learn more about how to handle and care for our special boy! We were thirsty for any knowledge and especially for an opportunity to speak to someone who specialises in our type of bird.

The Parrot Pre-School was held on the premises of the (now) PRC where we were introduced to Zarita and some of the very special PRC residents. It truly felt fantastic to meet other people just like us!

Then, a number of weeks after the Parrot Pre-school we had the final and fatal scary incident number 4!

Each day we would move Nowra’s cage onto the back verandah. It was an awkward job because the cage was so big, but he loved being outside. On this morning, I remember looking into his cage and noticing one of his “bullet proof” toys. It was a plastic dumbbell that had a something inside that rattled. Now, even though the toys were “bullet proof” I would wrap the plastic toy in a fabric bandana. That way if Nowra should happen to crack the toy, he wouldn’t get cut by the sharp plastic and plus he loved the texture of the fabric and…it didn’t fray and nor did it get long stringy pieces of cotton.
That morning, I looked at the toy and saw a hint of the plastic showing. I thought to myself “I should take that toy out”….then I had heard another little voice say “No, Nowra is having fun playing with it” So, I left it in there. Big lesson learnt….always, always follow your first instincts!

Later that afternoon we were just about to bring Nowra in for the night, when two things happened…..1. We saw one of our dogs running around with one of Chookie’s flight feathers and 2. We heard the most unforgettable, ear piercing scream – our Nowra was in trouble. It took Grant only seconds to reach him. But, it was too late.

Nowra had been playing with the bandana-covered toy. He managed to get to the plastic. He split the toy at the seem, trying to get the thing out that was making it rattle and the toy snapped back closed – severing his tongue. Our beautiful black cockatoo was left hanging by the bone in his tongue. And he was screaming!!! Out of shock, he starting dropping feathers, this is how one of our dogs got the feather.

While Grant was removing Nowra and the toy, I was desperately trying to find a vet who would help us! It was 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon. Finally, we found someone who had been referred to us as a “bird” vet…and he was only 5 minutes drive away.

We arrived at the vet with Nowra and the toy (with his tongue still inside the toy). We kept it in a sterilised bag hoping that it could be re-attached.

The vet looked at Chookie though his carry cage (did not remove him to examine him) and said there was no way it could be reattached. The very first question that flew out of my mouth was “Can he live without a tongue?” the vet confidently & quickly replied…”Yes, of course!” He advised us to leave Nowra with him so he could close up the wound and that he would call us in a hour or two.

So, believing we left our boy in the hands of the specialist vet we left him there and went home in a daze!!!

We sat at home in complete shock. Then within an hour, the vet nurse called to say we could come and pick Nowra up. When we arrived at the surgery, the vet nursed carried Nowra out in his carry cage and presented us with our bird who now had a gaping big hole where his tongue should have been. As we were paying the large bill, I began to ask about after surgery care. The nurse couldn’t answer our questions, so she had the vet come and speak with us. I wanted to know how to feed Nowra and how he would drink. The vet quickly responded by saying that Nowra could “scoop” food and water into his top beak, flip his head back and swallow. He also said that Nowra would “learn” how to manipulate food without a tongue. Grant and I were still completely dazed, in shock and really not thinking or comprehending everything that was going on. Then, as we were leaving…the vet nurse came rushing out with something in her hand. She promptly offered us the blood soaked toy, with Nowra’s tongue still inside and asked us if we wanted it back!!!!! Yes, she really did that, while the vet was standing there and he didn’t even say a word. I guess he was more concerned about his upcoming weekend trip!

All we wanted to do was take our bird away from there. The next 12 hours were the longest hours ever. We had little sleep and worried about our beautiful boy the entire night! I openly admit, that part of me prayed he would pass away during the night so that he did not have to deal with his injury. But, the next morning I was faced with not knowing how to provide him with water and nutrients.

As we all know, birds are specialists at hiding injuries and continuing on regardless of their pain or sickness. So, sure enough Nowra did his best to try and eat. He picked up pellets and pieces of vegetables with the tips of his beak…but had no possible way of getting it any further into his mouth. He just looked at us and basically said “what is going on….” Our hearts were getting heavier with sadness, anger and frustration. He gave up trying to eat and decided to try and drink. This was also not possible, the water went into the beak, but he had no way of controlling the fluid or swallowing. He decided to try and play. Once again, he grabbed a toy (not plastic!!!!) and found that once again he could not do anything with it as he didn’t have a tongue with which he would manipulate the object. Again he, looked at us, gave up and then just sat……and sat….and went to sleep.

I sat with him for half and hour trying to think of what to do for him, surely he must be in pain, thirsty and hungry. The vet had not given him any pain medication.

With fury, I proceeded to blend his food and pellets into mush, I then made a watery soup, I tried spoon feeding and also attempted an eye dropper. I tried wetting the edge of his mouth with water. I even wet his feet as he was constantly trying to find his tongue with his claws, I thought that perhaps some moisture would drop off his feet into his mouth. Signs of desperation from my part!!!! Obviously the stitches were also annoying him because he was repeatedly opening his mouth as wide as possible and shaking his head from side to side. We were lost and desperate to do anything for him. I had never crop fed a bird and would not have attempted even if I did because his mouth was full of red, inflamed flesh and stitching.

I called my friends in the US (they have Australian parrots) and asked if their Avian vet new of anything I could do for Nowra. I called the University of NSW to see if they could help. No-one new of a bird surviving without a tongue. It wasn’t as if Nowra had lost a small section or even half of his tongue. The whole lot was missing right back to his throat!

Finally, I found Zarita’s phone number from the Parrot Pre-school information booklet and after a number of long and very helpful phone calls with Zarita, we were directed to Avian Veterinarian, Peter Wilson in Currumbin. Within an hour we had dropped our boy off at Peter’s and awaited to find out was to come of our Yellow-tail.

Peter and Penny Wilson, were a god send. They were compassionate, tactful, efficient, incredibly knowledgeable, highly skilled and obviously Avian professionals. Peter spent a number of hours with us, discussing Nowra’s injury, the initial treatment (or lack of) he received from the first vet who as it turns out was not a qualified Avian Vet, the options and quality of life Nowra would have if he were to live without a tongue.

The next time we saw our Nowra, was to lay him to rest. Sadly, we buried Nowra the following day, November 20th 2004.

It was through our ordeal that we discovered Zarita’s plans for the Parrot Rescue Centre. Our experiences summed up exactly what thousands of parrots and their owners go through all the time. From the very beginning our own journey was tough, tasks such as finding credible information, natural enrichment, food types and qualified Avian vets were exhausting. Like many people, we entered into a parrot-human relationship with the honest intention of providing these creatures with a good quality of life. But, it was like walking blindfolded.

We could not find information, resources, supplies or qualified vets to help us until we met Zarita and the PRC. We saw and experienced the huge gap and lack of Avian references for regular bird owners. We also unfortunately discovered many horrific stories of mistreatment of these intelligent sentient beings, largely as a result of this lack of available knowledge and education.

In honour of our beautiful Yellow-tail Black Cockatoo, we offered Nowra’s image as the face of the Parrot Rescue Centre. The logo is an illustrated image taken from an original photo of Nowra and his feathers.

My husband and I are avid believers in divine synchronicities. I honestly believe that Nowra ultimately played an imperative role in ensuring that we met Zarita to learn of her desire, dream, passion and goals for the Parrot Rescue Centre. Over the months following Nowra’s accident we developed a firm friendship and we soon realised there was more to our paths crossing than meets the eye!
Grant and I have been developing On-line business and websites for over ten years. My husband is a Business Development specialist with extensive experience across many various markets within Australia and Internationally. We don’t just build websites, we build On-Line businesses!

So, there we were, a group of people all needing one another. We required assistance with a Black cockatoo and Zarita required assistance with establishing her Parrot Rescue Centre On-line business. And it was Nowra who brought us all together.

We have a great deal of admiration and respect for what Zarita is achieving with the PRC. Our own experiences have prompted us to become acutely aware of the consequences of parrot ownership and we wanted to assist in helping Zarita’s dream come to fruition – for her, for the parrot owners, for the parrots and for Nowra!

We offered to help build her on-line business by donating a dynamic website with on-line shop and thus, www.parrotrescuecentre.com <http://www.parrotrescuecentre.com> was born!
A gift from Nowra to every parrot and their owner!

My husband spent time with Zarita and together they forged a plan for the on-line presence of the PRC. The website is a collaboration of their skills and passion.

On one hand you have Zarita’s initiative, dream and passionate foresight on creating an educational resource for parrot lovers, a sanctuary for the parrots and a place to purchase good quality avian supplies. On the other hand you have the results of Grants fine business acumen, an outstanding web site and on-line shop that he designed, built and created. And, I had a small part in the artwork and flash department!!

Once the PRC website and shop were complete and fully functional, we handed it over to Zarita who now maintains and manages her own very successful on-line business.

I now realise that the more we think we know about these birds, the less we really know.
Every new discovery simply opens up more questions about behaviour, diet, habitat, mating, seasons, environment, hormones, enrichment, intelligence…..the list is endless.
How can we ever hope to replace what we have taken from them!! The right to fly free, the right to choose their own mates, the right to eat, shower, scream, play when they want to – not when we want them to!!!!

Looking back now, with the knowledge we now have, we realise the mistakes we made with Nowra. However we also know how much we loved him and gave him the best life we could have offered at that time, with clear and honest intentions. We only hope that his image and the PRC logo will inspire parrot owners all over the world to take note, learn about their particular breed of bird and gather as much information, resources, supplies and list of Avian vets as possible.

My husband and I continue to support Zarita and the Parrot Rescue Centre. Through her efforts hopefully more and more parrots will be spared from having to go through such horrific experiences as a result of human error!

We are so privileged to have these animals in our lives, by supporting the PRC you are ensuring that the generations after us will also have that privilege.

My husband and I now live in an area where the Yellow-Tail Black Cockatoo’s nest and breed. We are blessed to have the opportunity to see them in the wild as they were meant to be. Just the other day we saw a flock of eight fly over our house! Our ears are finely tuned to the slightest audible sound of the Yellow-tail call. Our hearts leap out of our chest every time we hear them. And no matter what we happen to be doing, we will always run outside to hopefully capture a glimpse of these magnificent creatures.

Leah Petersen is a well respected Animal Intuitive with a client base from around the world. She has successfully facilitated Animal Communication readings for many pets and their people. Her unique gift provides you with a glimpse into the sacred innermost thoughts and feelings of your beloved animal companions.

Consultations are conducted in person or via telephone.
Phone: (07) 5556-0335 or Mobile: 0427-157-156

If you believe your parrot has a physical ailment or illness please see a qualified Avian Veterinarian before seeking an Animal Communication session.
Investigate the physical, then explore the spiritual!
For On-Line bookings & further information please visit my web site at;

www.animalinstincts.com.au

Please Click here for our full product range.

• This toy comes in Large and Medium size.
• Heavy duty Acrylic box filled with LEATHER STRIPS inside, there are also rope dangles threaded with acrylic shapes hanging from the sides of the box.
• This can be refilled with treats.
• This toy will keep your parrot foraging for hours!
• Sizes are Large:15cm x 16cm x 9cm - this is a very large toy and suits Cockatoos, Macaws, Galahs, Greys, Amazons etc
• Medium: 12.5cm x 11cm x 6cm - this toy suits Medium to Large Parrots but if you small parrot likes big things they will enjoy this toy also!
  

• The Brainiac Block is a stimulating and challenging toy that is designed with a bird's physical and mental health in mind.
• Made of untreated pine with a stainless steel eye hook and quick link, the block is a great way to provide hours of entertainment for your feathery companion.
• The layers of the Brainiac Block will entice your companion to chew when you insert slices of nut or pumpkin seeds, twine, ribbons, corn husks or other small and safe intriguing bits.
• Size: 10cm long x 6.5cm wide

All of their products expand to more than twice their normal weight during cooking. Depending on the number of birds you are feeding, you can cook a batch once a week, and then freeze or refrigerate small portions for use on a daily basis. All of their recipes cook in relatively short time and are easy to prepare, and they all smell great while cooking!

We’ve covered some really interesting behavioural stuff over the past few years with the PRC Newsletter. When I look back on some of the topics that have been worked through, the first thing that springs to mind is just how important it is for all parrot owners to continue the lifelong educational journey that comes with keeping a parrot as a pet. With that in mind, I would like to take this issue’s FAQ as an opportunity to hopefully motivate all of the PRC supporters to join us in what will undoubtedly be the most in-depth and brilliant opportunity for parrot enthusiasts to engage in new learning for the benefit of their flock – The Parrots 2008 Convention.

Firstly, a little about the Convention from the outstanding Convention website. If you haven’t checked this out then please do – it really is a superb coverage of all the information you need to be inspired to be there! Check it out at http://www.parrotsociety.org.au/Parrots2008/index.html...

Parrots 2008 Convention – July 4th-7th

`Parrots' is the premier international avicultural convention held in Australia for all parrot enthusiasts. It brings together a network of leading aviculturists, animal behaviourists, veterinarians, zookeepers, pet industry personnel and conservationists all linked by a common interest in avicultural education.
Its scope covers everything from species-specific content, avian management practices, health and nutritional care, breeding techniques, animal behaviour and training, junior aviculturist workshops, global parrot conservation projects to current industry product awareness. Parrots 2008 will be the ‘must attend' educational convention for any serious aviculturist in the coming year.
An exciting program of keynote and guest speakers, commercial displays, practical workshops, tours and conservation fundraising dinner will be offered to delegates. A choice of concurrent presentations will allow delegates to choose a program that best suits their educational needs and avicultural interests.

In today's modern avicultural world, there is a growing need to develop international networks and establish links with experienced professionals in the field. Parrots 2008 provides a dynamic networking opportunity that will stimulate aviculturists from different locations to cross paths, extend international awareness, learn, share knowledge and exchange ideas on all aspects of parrot keeping, breeding, behaviour and conservation issues. Conventions such as Parrots 2008 provide a platform to renew life-long friendships, establish new connections, discuss personal experiences and access unique information.
As someone who has been intimately involved with the planning, organization and delivery of the `Parrots’ convention concept since it first started eight years ago, I have seen this event evolve into one of, if not the, most comprehensive, progressive and stellar examples of bringing an avicultural community together for the purpose of sharing information held anywhere in the world. If you think that’s a stretch – just check out the Parrots 2008 programme and compare it to any other avicultural or parrot convention being held around the world this year. Ultimately though, the success of Parrots 2008 will be dependent on you – the valued delegate. With your support and attendance we can help to achieve the underlying goal of this event – to keep the ripple effect of enlightenment about parrot behaviour, training, husbandry, breeding, health and conservation that our speakers will present to you over the event flowing out to the greater community.

So, where will you be on Saturday July 5th and Sunday July 6th this year? I’m sincerely hoping that I’ll be looking out at the gathered crowd and seeing you all there – engaging in a rare opportunity to grow as a keen enthusiast of those wonderful birds that inspire us – Parrots!

Kind Regards, Jim McKendry
Parrot Behaviour & Enrichment Consultations

P.S If anyone has a question – no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, please e-mail Zarita and I’ll do what I can to help you out via this newsletter service.

For more information about Jim McKendry please visit:

www.pbec.com.au

The Parrot Rescue Centre spends a lot of time and resources in doing what is best for the parrots in its care by ensuring the birds are regularly vet checked, given fresh food, enrichment, clean aviaries and cages, providing natural habitats and by building larger enclosures.

The PRC is not a large organisation, it is privately owned and managed by Zarita, volunteers and Family. To help fund the PRC Zarita has created the PRC Parrot Shop, Bird Boarding services and the Sanctuary Program and also relies on the generosity of the public. The PRC does not receive any financial assistance from the government or other large organisations.

We need your help and support to continue to provide a high standard of care to the PRC parrots and also to continue to provide the Website, Newsletter and other services such as Sanctuary, Rescue, Rehabilitation, Adoption and Placement programs.

Thankyou for your kindness.

Yours truly,

Zarita Garozzo

Thankyou for your support.

Story of the month- Leah Petersen "Nowra's Story"

Leah Petersen is the winner for the story of the month for February/March.

"Nowra's Story can be found above under Leah Petersen's Monthly Article' Thankyou Leah for taking the time to write this moving piece about Nowra.

How to enter the monthly draw to win a PRC recommended parrot toy and have your birdies picture and story part of the PRC Newsletter.

· Fill out the Parrot Rescue Centre Membership Form
· Write a story about your feathered friends, whether emotional, funny or silly
· Send it to zarita@parrotrescuecentre.com
· Include a photo of your bird as an attachment on the email.

It’s that easy! We look forward to hearing your stories!

Written by Peter Wilson
BVSc MACVSc
Avian and Reptile Practitioner

To contact Peter Wilson Click Here

This article will be published in Paws and Claws Journal

Leave your precious birds with understanding and knowledgeable parrot carers.

We provide quality care for your pet birds including clean housing, healthy diet, enrichment, interaction and training (extra fee).

Your bird will not have time to be bored or sad, so stress and frustration will be less likely.

All funds made from bird boarding are directly used by the Parrot Rescue Centre to help with caring and maintaining the sanctuary birds environment.

• Tested negative to Psittacosis
• Tested negative to PBFD
• Faeces Tested negative for worms and bacteria
• Examination suggests that the bird is clinically free of illness or infection and is considered in sound physical health by the examining veterinarian

For more information please contact:

Zarita Garozzo

Ph: 07 5569 2840

Email: zarita@parrotrescuecentre.com

This advertising section is for Businesses who directly support the PRC in some way, either through free or discounted magazine advertising, services and donations etc.

The PRC is very grateful for your support. THANKYOU

Remove from Mailing List in the subject line, to zarita@parrotrescuecentre.com

You will be excluded from future mailings