Your actions may be small
but they are significant

It was a little over 5 years ago when I personally came across my first neglected bird. He was an African Grey Timneh. He had spent 16 years in a cage that was not suitable for even a canary. His feathers had been plucked all out. He was stuck in one spot. The reason he was stuck in one spot is because due to the lack of space in his cage, lack of toys and lack of perches he spent most of his day in one spot. His toe nails actually grew around the perch immobilizing him. He was forced to stretch to do even the simplest of things including eating and drinking. He was a "craigslist" bird. After reaching the gentlemen who owned him, getting to his home and explaining how bad the situation actually was for his bird, he surrendered him to me. I come from a background of birds, having grown up with a large macaw and cockatoo. I knew two things leaving this man's house. First and foremost, this was going to be a long process. Second, this was not going to be cheap. After getting him to my avian vet, cutting the cage literally in half and helping the vet anesthetize our little Timneh, we were able to slide the perch out from in between his feet. He required 6 different surgeries to make it so he could perch properly. It was a long battle, to say the least, but our Mr. Iggy Bird has made a complete and full recovery. He is now fully feathered, able to perch and has become quite the sweet little character. It was after realizing that Iggy was not the only bird in this situation, that I reached out to the New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife and started Lonely Grey Rescue. Every time our name is said, it should serve as a reminder of our little Lonely Timneh African Grey who needed rescuing. As such we consider Mr. Iggy Bird to be the patriarch of our rescue.