Feathered friends — Group cares for displaced birds and educates public about avian issues

When Gayle Chellis of Salt Lake City went to a party at a friend's home four years ago, she was not expecting to find herself a new feathered friend.

Chellis, who already had two parrots, was struck by the pitiful looking bird, an African gray that her friends were fostering. The bird looked so bad because he was a feather abuser and had plucked the feathers from the front of his body. Chellis fell in love with the bird, named Tov, and ended up adopting him. In the process she got involved with the organization that had rescued the bird and placed it in foster care — the Wasatch Avian Education Society.

The Wasatch Avian Education Society, or WAES, is a nonprofit organization that seeks to educate the public about bird care with an emphasis on keeping birds as pets. They offer rescue and adoption services, adopting out birds displaced for one reason or another, such as Tov. Foster families, like Chellis' friends, keep the bird in between the time when it is put into rescue and when it finds a permanent home. Membership in WAES also gives new bird owners access to club members who may be able to offer advice or help.

Chase Kimball, WAES publicity director, said being in the organization is nice because it gives bird owners a place to be with other bird owners and tell cute stories about things their birds have done. Kimball has a bird of his own, a bare-eyed cockatoo named Curly, as well as a foster bird, a medium sulfur-crested cockatoo named Monroe.

Valerie Crain, WAES president, found the club on the Internet two years ago when she was looking to foster or adopt another bird, as she already had two at the time.

"I was sure there were people who had birds who no longer wanted them, and (WAES) has birds that need help with fostering or adopting so I contacted them," she said.

Chellis, Kimball and Crain all said the thing they enjoyed the most about WAES was seeing rescued birds go to a good home. All three told adoption stories especially significant to them. Chellis remembers a bird that had been kept in an outdoor cage even in the winter and had a wing that had been ripped off by a raccoon. He was still a sweet bird and eventually went to a home in Wyoming.

In another instance, there was a conure that was just a nightmare and would bite anybody who touched him, so those handling him had to wear leather gloves. One day a 10-year-old boy came in, and the bird took one look at the boy, and it was love, Chellis said. Everybody cringed when the boy picked up the bird, but it was as sweet as could be with him. That was a few years ago, and the two are still best friends.