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WATCH: Feathered friends - Joburger rescues 200 parrots

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The parrot named Brandy. (Screengrab)
The parrot named Brandy. (Screengrab)

Meet Brandy, a 20-year-old blue and gold macaw.

Brainy Birds in Edenvale, east of Johannesburg, rescued him two years ago.

"He was a brandy and coke addict. He ate fish and chips and rusks and everything a parrot should not be eating," Brainy Birds Rescue founder Dee Hendrickx said.

"All of this made him very aggressive.

"This bird was addicted to Coca-Cola. If you bring a glass with ice or coke, it will rip you to pieces to get to that," she told News24 at the non-profit bird sanctuary. 

Twenty-year-old Brandy, a blue and gold macaw. (Sc

Brandy is one of the 200 parrots Brainy Birds takes care of that have been mistreated and abused. 

The 12 different species they house come from a range of backgrounds. The majority are African greys.

"They have been abused, abandoned and neglected. Some come from breeding situations," she said.

"We try to give them a life of freedom once they have been rehabilitated. We try to put them into big aviaries. We give them free flight."

Hendrickx said there were a lot of misconceptions about what the birds needed.

She said they ended up with many birds that were pets, but people "do not understand the psychology behind these birds". They require a lot of attention and human contact.

Bad diet

Hendrickx said most of the birds plucked their feathers because of a bad diet. They plucked in the vicinity of the damage. For example, if the birds diet affects its liver, it will pluck in the vicinity of where the liver is situated.

Most people feed their birds sunflower seeds but they actually need a mixed diet.

At Brainy Birds, not all parrots are on the same diet, said Amanda Guest, a volunteer who helps prepare the birds' food.

"Some birds either get a cooked or freshly chopped meal, while others eat pellets.

"If we don't give them a meal like that… well this is what they look like because of the wrong food they've been getting for years," she said.

Amanda Guest pats one of the birds in the sanctuar

200 more birds

Food, veterinarian bills and maintenance take up most of the sanctuary's budget, which comes from donations.

"Vet bills for one bird could add up to R15 000," Hendrickx said.

She raises funds by hosting educational workshops at schools and grooming lessons for the public. The sanctuary is also a beneficiary of a local charity shop.

Hendrickx hopes that she can one day raise enough money to buy the property the sanctuary rents and build bigger aviaries to help more birds.

"If I could own this property, I could fill this place up in two months with another 200 birds. Unfortunately, I can't  because funds are a big problem," she said.

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