Parrots For Pets

Center Of Avian Adoptions Helps Adoptees

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Maybe you’re in search a new pet, but not looking for the typical cat or dog.

A little over a year ago, Casey Backhaus was looking for a new pet when the idea came to mind of adopting a parrot.

Parrot Adoptee Casey Backhaus says, “Originally I started looking at birds because I was living in an apartment and I knew that they were a lot more apartment friendly than a cat and a dog.”

She reached out to C.A.A.R.E, the Center of Avian Adoptions, Rescue and Education in West Fargo where she met a 7-year-old bird named Keiko.

Backhaus adds, “I was really attracted to them not only by their color – which isn’t something you should be looking at because it’s their personality.

The center is a non-profit shelter that takes in displaced or unwanted parrots and tries to find them homes.

Vice President Candi Willey says, “A lot of it is life changing events for people. They’ll bring their birds to us to try to find new homes for them. It can be anything from moving a house to an apartment and a lot of these guys can get pretty loud so you can’t have them in an apartment environment. Some of them are just working too much and don’t have the time that they used to have for their birds.”

If you’re interested in adopting a bird like Nikki here the C.A.A.R.E. shelter is here to help.

Willey adds, “It’s just a unique experience. I come home from work at night and my birds are welcoming me home. It’s not like a dog or cat where they’re jumping on you. They’re actually saying “Mom’s Home!” You go around talk to them and they’re saying hi back. It’s just a different world.”

Backhaus says, “Each bird is totally differently. You can train them and you can do so much with them. They’re just so much more different then cats and dogs.”

The adoption process involves going into see the parrots, filling out an application then interview. Once the adoption goes through you have a 30-day trial period.