July 2020

July was a particularly busy month for Cheeky Beaks Parrot Rescue.

Firstly, we welcomed Bianca Pretorius, Lauren Allan, Inge Hauptfleisch, Candice Friedman and Marianka Meiring to the team. They have been working behind the scenes with us for a while and it was time they joined in an official capacity. We also became official partners with Centre for Avian, Reptiles and Exotics (CARE). Dr De Beer and his team have been a huge part of our rescue (as you will read below) and we are so proud to be partnering with this highly respected veterinary centre. We would also like to thank Nature’s Nest for sponsoring the food for all our birds while they are in recovery and board at CARE.

July 2020 saw our first ever raffle to raise funds for our rescue. We had first, second and third place prizes. The first-place prize was valued over R1000, the second valued over R400 and the third place prize valued over R200. Tickets were sold at R30 and general donations to our rescue (above R30) was also converted into tickets purchased. We sold over 200 tickets! We are blown away by the popularity of the raffle and plan to make it an annual project. Congratulations to the winners: Sonja Heath, Jaco Pretorius and Daniel/Ansie Meiring. Daniel/Ansie Meiring decided to donate their prize to birds in foster care with Cheeky Beaks volunteers.

As South Africa started to move into a phase of renewed economic activity after lockdown, we have seen an increased number of stray parrots that find their way to foster families within our wonderful network. The lockdown has also been very hard on so many of us, and the sad reality is that many families have been forced to surrender their birds due to the financial constraints of the pandemic. Cheeky Beaks ensures that all stray and surrendered parrots we assist with receive health checks at a registered avian veterinarian and have access to medical treatment if necessary. We would not be able to help as many birds as we have so far without the outstanding support and kindness shown to our rescue by our trusted avian vets in Cape Town at CARE. However, on the 6 July we found ourselves at financial rock bottom with a total of R1 in our fund. Luckily, we have such amazing supporters who truly believe in the work we do and in a matter of 24 hours we had over R5000 in our account!

During July we also saw our large rescue operation in Cape Town commence. This rescue has been in the pipeline since January. After the owner passed away, a large collection of birds were surrendered to us by his family. This rescue was executed in multiple stages. On the 27th of June, Nicola Roos, Marianka Meiring and a Cheeky Beaks volunteer collected 26 birds – 3 sun conures (a breeding pair with a juvenile chick) and 23 Indian Ringnecks. Unfortunately, 15 of the Indian Ringnecks were injured in an unfortunate accident before the Cheeky Beaks team arrived and these birds had to be hospitalized. They remain in boarding at CARE in Cape Town until they will be travelling to the Garden Route to join their flock mates at Birds of Eden at the end of August when they have all fully recovered.

The sun conures and remaining Indian Ringnecks were sent to Birds of Eden to enjoy the rest of their lives flying free in their spacious, forested aviary – the largest on the continent and definitely the closest they would be able to get to their natural habitat in “captivity”. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Dr De Beer for accommodating these wild ex-breeding birds for so long and going the extra mile on more than one occasion during the course of this endeavour to save their lives and get them healthy enough again to make the journey to Birds of Eden.

Dr De Beer has been so kind to us – his actions speak for themselves – he has a true passion and unwavering commitment to the birds, and we couldn’t have done this without his support.

This rescue operation required two more trips by our Cape Town Team (Nicola Roos, Bianca Pretorius and Lauren Allen) to collect the 12 remaining birds. We had some fan favourites including Spangles (blue and gold macaw), Poppet (African Grey) and Marcel (umbrella cockatoo). A few more birds remain with their current owners and will hopefully be surrendered to Cheeky Beaks sometime in August.

On the 17th, we announced that Wieghert Pet Products graciously offered to donate 10% of each order to our rescue until the 30th. We are so thankful for their support and are always looking for opportunities to collaborate with small business.

Towards the end of the month, we received two female Double Yellow-headed Amazon with the help of a friend in the Cape Town parrot rescue community (thank you, Kyle and family). One is severely plucked – unfortunately done by herself as well as her previous mate. They were surrendered by a breeder in the Cape Town area – apparently, they were unsuccessful at breeding (turns out that they are both females) and were taking up “valuable space in the aviaries”. Both required medical attention for obesity and the plucked female had a respiratory illness. The other one – a disabled girl with no front toes on either of her feet – had a bacterial infection in her crop. These two birds alone cost us over R3500 in vet bills and are still receiving medication and rehabilitation in foster care.

During June and July we spent R21,974.00 on veterinary bills alone.

Overall, July was far busier than we ever would have guessed it would be. We had 35 birds enter our system. We wouldn’t have survived this month without our loyal supporters who continue to believe in the work we do. Thank you to every single person who has volunteered, shared our posts, donated, fostered, transported birds or even just referred someone to us… You guys are the foundations upon which a network like ours can be built.

From the Cheeky Beaks directors: Danielle Haupt, Anya Marais and Nicola Roos