Foster Parrots, Ltd.

In a small pottery studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts worked a potter. Spending many hours alone the proprietor felt that a companion animal would bring something that only another living being could add. Having spent countless hours in pet shops, after considering the different options available and being somewhat over-enamored with tropical and exotic animals, I, Marc Johnson, decided that a parrot would be the perfect choice. I did my research, read everything available, visited many different stores, asked questions and played with all the cute, cuddly babies. I then picked up a copy of the classified ads and, without too much trouble, found what I was looking for.

Blue and Gold Macaw
Must sell due to divorce.
$500.00


I rolled the coins in my spare change jar and headed out to find Wally. Kept in a cage only 3 feet tall by two feet wide, I was sure I could do better for this bird, and so I put a down payment on Wally and went home to renovate a small room into a habitat for him.

It was not to be long before I was to experience a pivotal moment in my enlightenment to the difficulties parrots face in captivity. Later that week when I went to pick up Wally, I would make my first rescue when a friend of the woman selling Wally asked me if I would take her Mitred Conure, Bill. I did not understand the impact this first rescue would have on me, but it was to be the first of many such experiences and would lead me to develop the philosophy that I now have, one small step at a time.

I had not only fallen victim to human nature by being ignorant of the true nature of parrots, but I had also been hoodwinked by the pet trade into believing that these creatures made good pets, were easy to care for and that the keeping of the very symbol of freedom as a pet was cool.

Over the next few years I would grow to feel increasingly guilty about the wholly inadequate life I was giving my dear bird friends, and it only got worse as I realized that I could never do enough to give them the life they were born to. The one single difference between myself and the thousands of others I would meet who bought a bird on impulse was that I would not abandon the responsibility I had taken on and I would strive to address the issue in a public forum to inform and educate. My fate was sealed, I could not turn my back on this issue.

As a business open to the public I soon began to have customers come into the shop and tell me of "a friend" who has "one of those," pointing to Wally and Bill, and that their friend doesn't want "it" any more or that "it" was kept in the basement or back room. "Would you take it?" As the months went by, more and more people began to come in with unwanted birds. The first few years saw only a few dozen birds, and it was fairly easy to find homes for them, but as time went by and I started to understand the complexities of parrot care, I began to develop the protocols that would define Foster Parrots' adoption policy.

As a business open to the public I soon began to have customers come into the shop and tell me of "a friend" who has "one of those," pointing to Wally and Bill, and that their friend doesn't want "it" any more or that "it" was kept in the basement or back room. "Would you take it?" As the months went by, more and more people began to come in with unwanted birds. The first few years saw only a few dozen birds, and it was fairly easy to find homes for them, but as time went by and I started to understand the complexities of parrot care, I began to develop the protocols that would define Foster Parrots' adoption policy.

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