ALICE AND YAGO

A Delightful Observation of a Bird and the Woman Who Loves Him

By Richie Chiger

I have done so many bird adoptions over the years that it is difficult to remember all of them. One of these adoptions stands out in my mind as the perfect connection because this little abused chattering lory needed this wonderful woman as much as this wonderful woman needed him.

Our newsletter readers may remember Yago and Alice's story when it was first told. Matt had gotten a call about a macaw that was no longer wanted. He contacted me and we went to check on the bird. The macaw turned out to be a twenty something year old chattering lory that was in an abusive situation. He was fed potato chips, applesauce and white bread. He was also taunted, teased and poked by a family member. We were able to take him out of that horrible situation and place him with a very nice family where he lived for a year, but alas, they found that they did not have time for him and he, though no longer abused, ended up being caged almost all the time. ENTER ALICE

Alice Chanampa is a sweet, kind, thoughtful and sensitive human being who has done a great deal of animal rescue in her lifetime. Alice's call, looking for a pet bird to adopt, came in at exactly the time that I got the call from Yago's owner telling me that it would be best to find him a new home where someone had more time to give to him. I told Alice about Yago and she was thrilled.

Debbie and Joe Lovett, Jackie and I picked up Yago with his big cage and drove him to his new home in Mt. Kisco where Alice lived. To say that it was love at first sight would be an understatement. Everything seemed to be going fantastically. Alice accepted all of Yago's fears and "eccentricities." She rearranged her life and even ended up sleeping in the living room on the couch so that Yago could sleep with her and stay quiet all night long.

The apartment complex where Alice lived housed an evil neighbor who lived directly above her. This neighbor would bang down with a broom stick on Alice's ceiling every time Yago made a sound. It seemed as if the neighbor had a drinking glass on her floor with her miserable ear attached to it. She wrote to the management company that ran the building and Alice was given a short amount of time to "get rid" of the bird. I don't have to tell you how much grief and fear Alice was experiencing at the thought of losing her beloved bird and how angry I was getting at the thought of this wretched animal losing the wonderful home I had worked so hard to get for him.

I enlisted the services of my cousin Linda Niedweske of Lawyers in Defense of Animals. By the time Linda got through with them, they told the woman who had complained so much to move out if she cannot deal with the "melodious renderings" of the chattering lory. Alice was left alone and Yago was safe and completely loved. All this happened about a year and a half ago.

Last Friday Matt and I decided to pay a visit to Alice and Yago. When we got there Yago was on the floor playing with his favorite toy, a blue Fantastic bottle. Alice told us that he plays with that bottle all day long. Yago ignores the two parakeets that Alice subsequently inherited from a neighbor who had to go to hospital and whose family never came back to claim them. They are two beautiful green parakeets, one a normal green the other an opaline, who .had never been out of their cage. Now, with Alice, they are free to fly all the time. They even land on her shoulders. Their names are Romeo and Juliet, but Juliet is actually a Julio.

Alice informed us that Yago loves to eat watermelon, pizza, meatballs, egg-drop soup, eggs, chicken, spare ribs, and soda as well as his regular lory nectar. I am not so sure that some of those aforementioned victuals are what we would call Lory food, but he really enjoys them and they sure beat living on the potato chips, applesauce and white bread of his original home.

He still sleeps with Alice and loves her black slippers, her hands and her feet. Not only does he sleep with her, but he decides where they will sleep and it is not in her new craft-matic bed, but in the living room on the couch because that is where Yago likes it.

Yago had many fears that he has been able to overcome. These included pencils, telephones, plastic bags, spray bottles and several other objects. It is possible that he was hit or frightened with these things because he reacted by attacking them or hiding from them. Now, most of his fears have dissipated and, like I said before, the bottle that he was so afraid of is now his very favorite plaything. Actually, the only way to get Yago into his cage is to throw the bottle in first.

He wants attention from Alice constantly, which she gladly gives. He does not like when she reads and he will go after the book. He also goes after the telephone which caused her to have to change her telephone hookup to her bedroom so as not to make Yago unhappy or upset. If she wishes to read, she has to read in there as well.

Yago loves his bath! That will be clearly seen in several of the pictures Matt took of him playing in it. He also chases the parakeets away when they dare come near him during his bath time.

Yago is one lucky and happy little bird. Would that all pet birds end up like that. Sometimes the human-bird connection really clicks. Sometimes I find the perfect person for a bird. I wish I could do that all the time. May Alice and Yago have many, many more happy years together. It was an absolute pleasure visiting with them and sharing a very happy afternoon.