Lola's Legbreak

In the March/April 2009 edition of Australian Birdkeeper Magazine I wrote about the process of making a decision to acquire another parrot as part of my educational workshop, training and vet clinic consultancy `crew’. If you didn’t get the chance to read the article you can grab a copy of the back issue via the new ABK website at http://www.birdkeeper.com.au.  I will be updating readers on how things have turned out since acquiring `Lola’ our Yellow-crowned Amazon as the learning journey has certainly continued. Unfortunately, that journey hasn’t exactly taken the road I thought we prepared and planned so well for.  Whilst parrots with behavioural issues seem to gravitate my way like a dung beetle to a cow pat, I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had to rarely deal with any serious injuries or major health complications in my birds over the past 15 years. I’ll save the elaborations, dramas and hard lessons learned for the ABK follow-up article (should appear in the Oct/Nov edition), but just wanted to share a quick insight here. As you can see – with the wonders of modern technology, advancements in avian veterinary care, and an absolutely awesome team of professionals at Brisbane Bird & Exotics Veterinary Service, when your Amazon busts its leg it gets a pretty darn neat looking pin, cast and best of all you get to take home the x-ray images on CD! Lola is back flying around in her aviary just fine and despite some major withdrawals from her `trust account' during the rehabilitation period is impressing me with her resilience and increasing confidence. Hopefully it’s a good story for everyone to learn from when it’s published later this year.