Neglected elderly cockatoo is so happy now
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00:00 Fred is about 61 years old.
00:01 His previous guardian passed away.
00:03 - You're such a sweet boy.
00:05 - And he was very quiet.
00:07 - I'm so sorry.
00:09 - I'm Ash Shore with the Shore Sanctuary,
00:11 and this is Fred's story for GeoGeeks.
00:13 Fred was found in less than ideal conditions.
00:16 There was raccoons living inside the house.
00:18 There was a lot of feral cats.
00:20 There was skunks.
00:22 He was in a cage, completely missing one of his wings.
00:25 You could tell the cages had not been cleaned
00:26 in a really long time.
00:27 - Hi, Fred.
00:28 - He immediately responded and went ahead
00:31 and took him into the sanctuary.
00:33 - Come here, Fred.
00:34 Come here.
00:35 - Where he has been receiving medical attention
00:37 and a lot of rehabilitation and love.
00:40 (Fred laughing)
00:41 As he gets comfortable, his voice starts to come out.
00:44 (Fred laughing)
00:46 (Fred laughing)
00:47 - Hi, handsome.
00:48 - He was quiet when he first arrived to the sanctuary.
00:51 We see that a lot in cockatoos that had previous neglect.
00:54 A lot of times people will want them to be quiet.
00:56 (Fred squealing)
00:59 Here we let Fred be who he wants to be.
01:02 When he hears the dogs barking,
01:03 he starts barking along with them.
01:05 (Fred barking)
01:08 We love his voice and he's starting to get more vocal
01:11 and say more things and sing and dance.
01:14 (Fred laughing)
01:15 - Hi, Fred.
01:16 (Fred laughing)
01:17 - He's a marshmallow.
01:18 - Oh, sweet boy.
01:19 - All he wants is to be snuggled and loved
01:22 and to feel protection.
01:24 - You're such a sweet boy.
01:25 - The first week that he was here,
01:27 anytime he would see a travel carrier,
01:29 he would get a little stressed out
01:30 because he would think, "Oh no,
01:31 "they're taking me away from this environment
01:33 "that he had just felt safety in."
01:35 Now that several months have gone by,
01:37 Fred is really starting to come out of his shell.
01:40 Fred is missing a wing.
01:41 It does cause him to be a little off balance.
01:43 He's also got a heart murmur.
01:46 Fred is going to be undergoing an EKG in the future
01:49 to find out exactly to what degree his heart is failing him.
01:53 - Hi, Fred.
01:54 (Fred laughing)
01:55 - And he also is needing ongoing nasal flushes
01:59 because of the environment he was in.
02:01 Are you protecting him while he's sleeping?
02:03 He's starting to regain a lot of strength.
02:05 And I think that he is excited to use his new abilities
02:09 that his body is allowing him to have.
02:10 He loves to jump from one lap to the other lap.
02:13 - Fred.
02:14 Aw, he wants love.
02:16 - He also loves to jump around on the floor
02:18 and sprint from one side of the room
02:21 to the other side of the room and back and hop.
02:23 It's very obvious that he's happy.
02:25 (Fred whistling)
02:26 (Fred clapping)
02:28 You can really see it from his body language.
02:30 (woman laughing)
02:31 It's such a joy to watch him in his transformation.
02:34 (woman cheering)
02:37 It's absolutely heartbreaking what he went through.
02:40 It makes me want to be able to give him
02:45 the best retirement he can ever have.
02:47 Fred.
02:48 (man laughing)
02:50 Is he taking a nap?
02:52 They can live into their 90s.
02:54 Our goal is to make sure that he is on a very colorful,
02:58 fresh diet along with healthy pellets.
03:01 Come see me.
03:02 So we can have as much time as we possibly can with him.
03:05 He's like a puppy.
03:06 He just really wants to have interaction with his people
03:10 and he really just wants to be cuddled and scratched
03:13 and told that he's a good boy.
03:14 (gentle music)
03:17 (gentle music)
03:20 (gentle music)
03:22 (gentle music)
03:25 you