The Parrot Posse

The Parrot Posse helps parrot shelters and sanctuaries in the United States by easing some of the financial burden with our donations of supplies. We also hope to see more law enforcement agencies realize that when they find parrots and other animals in dire circumstances, they should not remove the dogs and cats and leave the parrots behind because they don't have supplies on hand to hold these birds while the legal process plays out in the courts. We have provided caging, food, toys, and when requested, parrot care advice for many agencies across the United States, from Maine to Florida, and New Jersey to Oregon with literally tons of food, nuts, and other necessities. Most recently (September, 2017,) we partnered with Lafeber Company to ship over five thousand pounds of high quality parrot food to birds left in need after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in Texas and Florida.

In 2019, we worked with 19 separate animal control agencies in 16 states, by providing cages, food, toys, vet care and other necessities for almost 900 parrots. While seizures usually make up about 10% of our budget, in 2019, they cost us almost a third!

We hope to gain more members through our presence on Facebook and our ongoing missions, and to continue to fundraise so we can provide more help. We also will be seeking additional relationships with parrot supply companies, and manufacturers, so we can stretch our donated dollars by buying at wholesale prices, as we already do with several companies. We hope to partner when we can with companies, which is how during the hurricanes of September 2017, we were able to partner with a parrot food manufacturer to deliver 5,000 pounds of food to hungry parrots in TX and FL. We have asked those law enforcement and animal control agencies we assist with seized parrots to let others in their field know about us, and our willingness to provide the often expensive and sometimes hard to find supplies these birds require, as well as expert advice on their care if requested.

We have increased our donations steadily for the past five years and as a (501)(c)(3), and eligible for matching donations from employers as well as, obviously, being tax-deductible. We continue to have successful fundraisers and both regular and new donors. Each new and successful '"mission" raises our profile in the parrot welfare community as more people see that their donations to our group are used wisely, and all income and expenses are documented regularly, not just annually, and proven with receipts and invoices. We are also operating with virtually no overhead, no expenses, no administrative fees, no salaries, only a few filing fees required by the state, and some shipping costs for our raffle and auction items. This way, virtually every donated dollar is used for mission purposes. In order to be able to respond instantly in emergencies, especially law enforcement seizures, we always keep some funds in reserve.

We are also now searching for grant sources, though most are geared towards dogs and cats, not parrots.

We have grown from six friends chipping in to buy a blind bird out of a bad situation to a group of over four thousand people that raised over fifty thousand dollars in 2017, and used those funds to buy twice that value of supplies that we sent to bird groups and law enforcement agencies from ME to FL, to CA and OR and points in between. We have helped provide food, toys, and caging for 1000s of birds seized by law enforcement as their cases worked their way through the courts, and we have helped 1000s more in parrot re-homing groups and sanctuaries. We have also helped some individuals dealing with unexpected hard times, so they could keep their birds rather than surrender them to an already crowded parrot welfare facility. We are also all advocates for more education about living with parrots and working to reduce the numbers of parrots needing help, but since parrots are so long-lived, our aging population will keep parrot welfare organizations full for the foreseeable future.