By Amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor
One-of-a-kind artwork won’t be the only thing on display at Art in the Park this weekend.
In addition to a bee vendor, who will sell local honey, a new group will feature a booth as colorful as as some of the artwork around it. Parrotz-R-Us will be on hand educating attendees on exotic birds with the help of one vibrant and special bird, Halo.
Halo was found by an artist and member of the East Hillsborough Art Guild Betty Jones. In August, Jones heard her dog barking at what she thought was a toy in her Plant City back yard. As the dog got closer to the object, it began hissing. That’s when Jones realized it was a live exotic bird.
After two attempts, Jones caught the bird, set her in a cage and fed her.
“We’re critter people,” Jones says about her and her “fellah,” Bud Caudle, who also have taken in a bull frog, multiple cats, albino king snake and a four-and-one-half-foot red iguana.
But Jones and Caudle had no idea what to do with the exotic bird or how to nurse it back to health.
Two weeks later, the couple discovered Parrotz-R-Us at Lakeland’s First Friday festival. The club invited the couple and their bird to a meeting. There they met Tammy Sly, a licensed bird handler. Sly told the couple the bird was sick and had probably been let go by an owner, who couldn’t afford the veterinarian’s bills.
They also learned she was an African Cape Parrot, a rare parrot valued at around $2,100.
Sly asked if the couple would sign over the bird so she could help find it a home.
“I would rather give her up than bury her,” Caudle says, bringing tears to several members of the club.
“It was very sad; we had become very attached to her, but it was for her best interest,” Jones says.
Sly has been handling parrots since 1978. Her parents were breeders. In the recent economic downturn, Sly has noticed an increase in parrots that need homes. Her passion for parrots has led her to start Parrotz-R-Us and start raising funds for a bird shelter.
“Our parrots are very special to us, and we have to preserve and take care of these endangered species,” Sly says.
Sly currently takes care of special-needs parrots, such as birds without wings or sick birds, out of a section of her home devoted to rehabilitating and rehoming parrots. Members of the club foster other parrots until they can find a home.
Each parrot the club takes in receives medical attention and is microchipped.
Sly fell in love with the African Cape parrot and named her Halo, because she is an angel in Sly’s eyes.
At first, Halo was anxious and didn’t want to be handled. She didn’t know how to perch or eat out of someone’s hand.
“She was just scared and wanted to form a close bond with someone she trusts,” Sly says.
But after weeks of observing the other parrots interacting comfortably with Sly, Halo has come around. Although still a little skittish, she is loving, eating and is starting to talk.
“It’s nice to know that there are people in the community that take the time to find a place for this bird,” Sly says about Jones and Caudle.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
IF YOU GO
Art in the Park
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 6
WHERE: Walden Lake Park
HOST: East Hillsborough Art Guild