Bird lover shares her home with dozens of discarded pets

Go ahead. Use this article to line your bird's cage. Nothing would make Nancy Tims happier.

Tims, who operates Maine's only state-licensed pet bird shelter from her home, wants nothing more than good care for her feathered friends. And for those who can't be cared for, Tims and her shelter, Seymour Bird Refuge, are there.

"They are truly amazing, brilliant things that belong in the wild," she said. "But I can't put them back there. So I'm just trying to take care of the ones who need a good home."

It's a big job. Right now there are more than 40 birds at her house, from huge macaws to tiny parakeets. She spends nearly five hours a day cleaning their cages, feeding them and keeping up with the mess they make throughout the day.

People interested in birds say it is no surprise Tims has a full house.

Combine the overbreeding of tropical, hookbill birds -- especially cockatiels -- with the difficulty of keeping a bird as a pet, and it is easy to understand why, in the five years since Seymour Bird Refuge opened, there have been more than 150 birds in Tims' home.

"People go out and buy them without educating themselves and within the year they are looking for new homes," said Sherri Killen, a member of the National Avian Welfare Coalition.

"Unfortunately the breeders keep breeding them and the pet stores keep selling them without giving (the buyer) any knowledge whatsoever about how to take care of them. I mean, first off (some) birds have the intelligence level of a 5-year-old child. So for the rest of your life you are going to be living with a 5-year-old."

A loud, messy 5-year-old who can live for 30 or more years, needs constant attention and often misbehaves.

At Tims' house there are many birds who fit that profile. There is Maggie, the bald cockatoo, who was so socially neglected before she came to Tims that she pulled all her feathers out. There is Pepper, the military macaw (Tims' first rescue five years ago) who takes up the whole dining room, throws his food and screams like a banshee until he gets attention. And there is Peach, the Moluccan cockatoo who lives in the den and daily covers the room with white dust naturally produced from his feathers.

There is no quiet time in Tims' house when the birds are in a vocal mood. Playgrounds at recess are more peaceful. And if you are a stranger, they bite. Some are big enough to break bones.

So why are birds so popular? For their beauty, Tims said. They are exotic, and some learn to talk. They are loyal and loving to their owners. In the right situations they make great pets. But only in the right situations.

It's why she is very selective about who adopts her birds. They must fill out an application and go through a screening process. She discourages people who have small children from adopting. And she absolutely will not let people adopt if they just want "something pretty for the house" or "something that talks" -- real requests she's had.

Which is why nearly half the birds she has sheltered, whether beautiful or bald, are there to stay.

"If I can't find a place for them that's as good as or better than what I'm offering, they're not going anywhere," Tims said.

Reference: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com

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