Innovative Surprise firefighters revive heat-stricken exotic bird

Rusty the cockatoo was unresponsive after he was accidentally locked in his owner's pickup truck, but quick-thinking Surprise firefighters were able to revive him and save his life. (Source: Surprise Fire Department)SURPRISE, AZ (CBS5) - There was nothing in the fire department manual to cover something like this, so firefighters in Surprise had to wing it to save an unresponsive exotic bird after it was mistakenly locked in a pickup truck last week.

A woman had locked her keys in the truck while it was in her driveway about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday and called the fire department for help.

Firefighters found the cockatoo, named Rusty, lying flat on the bottom of its cage and breathing erratically.

The distraught bird's owner called an emergency veterinarian, and firefighters decided they had to do something on the fly in the meantime.

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Veterinarian rescues parrots from deplorable conditions

A Moluccan Cockatoo was one of the birds rescued. Image by Susan Pfannmuller

As a veterinarian, Julie Burge has rescued and cared for domestic birds and family pets abandoned in communities ravaged by hurricanes and tornadoes.

The deplorable conditions from which she rescued six parrots last week from a vacant Pleasant Valley house were just as bad, if not worse, she said.

The two cockatoos and four macaws were unhealthy with tattered and discolored feathers. Several birds had large bare patches where feathers had been plucked out or chewed off, said Burge, who operates a veterinarian practice and bird rescue operation in Grandview. She previously rescued pets after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Joplin tornado.

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Agriculture: friend or foe of the Moluccan cockatoo?

Can the cockatoo survive bans on agriculture? Kai BansnerBOGOR, Indonesia. Efforts to prevent agricultural activity inside an Indonesian national park that is a stronghold for the endangered Moluccan cockatoo could backfire, negatively affecting the very species the park was created to protect, ongoing research by CIFOR indicates.

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Parrot biting, body language and preventing the bite

Ouch? Christine with her Blue and Gold free flighted macaws.The parrot beak; formidable, powerful, dangerous, wondrous. And it hurts like crazy when it pierces our skin. Just why do parrots bite?  In the words of Susan Friedman, Ph.D, “Most biting, regardless of situation, is to remove intruding hands that cannot be removed any other way. Birds learn to bite to communicate 'no' because we don’t listen to lesser communications of 'no'.” I try to explain to people that every animal has a right to say 'no', so, if you don’t want them saying 'no' with a bite, what behavior are you willing to take?” 

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Friends of a feather: Blairstown couple devote their lives to parrot rescue

Jeanne Gilligan, who runs Helping Wing Parrot Rescue, with a Mullican Cockatoo named Boomer (left) and a blue front Amazon parrot named Rocky. Photo: Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerBLAIRSTOWN — To Jeanne Gilligan, there’s no such thing as an ordinary parrot. Each of her feathered friends — and she has more than 150 of them — has its own distinctive attributes: Some are big talkers while others tend to keep to themselves; some are sexist, they prefer being in the company of men rather than women or vice versa; and still others just like to be left alone.

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