'Urgent' move underway to get last parrots out of B.C. refuge

Rescuers are scrambling to move dozens of birds out of the now-closed World Parrot Refuge on Vancouver Island today.

"Unfortunately it's become an urgent thing because the landowner decided to lock us out last night, and then let us in this morning," said John Creviston, a former zookeeper who has helped organize the rescue project of at least 500 birds over the past few weeks.

"So we're doing an emergency project as we speak."

Last month, Vancouver's Greyhaven Bird Sanctuary stepped in to try and raise money and find homes for the exotic birds at the refuge in the small community of Coombs, near Parksville.

It's believed to be the largest rescue of its kind in Canada. 

The refuge was shut down after the owner, Wendy Huntbatch, died in February without a succession plan for the facility or leaving enough money to keep it operating.

Creviston called the situation at the refuge a 'parrot disaster,' with hundreds of abandoned or surrendered birds suddenly in need of somewhere to live.

The landlord, who is Huntbatch's widower, originally gave the facility until August 1 to wind up operations and find new homes for the birds, many who have issues with stress and self-mutilation.

But Creviston says last night, the landlord became concerned rescuers were removing infrastructure from the facility and locked them out.

Creviston says he assured him it wasn't true, and the landlord allowed them back in this morning to remove the 38 birds that were still living there. 

"Today will be our last day on that site," said Creviston.

Birds headed to Nanaimo and Vancouver

The remaining birds are being taken to the group's rented facilities in Nanaimo and Metro Vancouver, where hundreds of other animals from the refuge have already been moved over the past month.

"It's more a matter of fitting them in somewhere because all our facilities in Nanaimo and Vancouver are already more than bursting at the seams," Creviston said.

Last month, Nanaimo city council voted unanimously to turn over an empty SPCA facility — for one dollar — so it can be used as a staging area while new homes are found for the birds. The lease will terminate in December 2016.

Creviston says despite that help, the rescue project is costing Greyhaven up to $2,000 a day for food, rent and utilities. 

"We're fast draining our savings," he said.

Creviston says his group is desperately short of volunteers to help deal with the hundreds of birds until they can find adoptive homes for them.

He says it is especially looking for people in the Maple Ridge and Aldergrove areas who want to help with food preparation and cleaning.

Interested volunteers are asked to email: [email protected] 

Adoptions still pending

Meanwhile, the rescue group is preparing to sift through thousands of emails from people hoping to adopt birds.

Last month, there was a huge public response to the story, with thousands of emails from people around the world flooding its inbox, and volunteers too busy with the rescue efforts to respond to all of them.

The group has been waiting to get all of the birds out of the facility in Coombs and bring them back to health before starting the adoption process in earnest.

Creviston says it will now have to screen all of the applicants to make sure they are suitable adopters and aren't people "who have no idea what they're getting into."

He says some applicants could even be trying to resell the birds. 

But Creviston says a few birds have been able to find permanent homes with people who have "a long relationship" with them.

One of those birds is a cockatoo named Bobby who has found a new home with Beverley Wall.

Wall was a former member of the World Parrot Refuge and says she bonded with Bobby during her time volunteering there.

"He now resides with us on beautiful Quadra Island in his own room with a big enclosure on the oldest farmstead north of Nanaimo," Wall said in an email to CBC.

"With the size of our extended, blended family, he will not be lonely ever again."