Second Chances for Parrots (part 1)
Debbie Huckaby was the invited guest speaker at the June 20th Long Island Parrot Society (LIPS) monthly meeting and she moved the crowd of 70+ with her heart-felt second chances talk.
Before jumping into a recap of Debbie's talk, I would like to shout out to LIPS, a long-standing and truly progressive organization dedicated to responsible bird ownership through education and example—and thank them for the opportunity to allow Debbie to tell a part of the Birds of Paradise Sanctuary story.
Debbie started her talk by sharing a poignant moment when she stated, "Passion roots in the oddest places. My journey began decades ago when my love of parrots morphed into a consuming hunger to give these captive exotic birds the love, dignity, and respect that they deserve. I started asking myself what if? What if we could create an ecosystem where captive parrots thrive in an environment tailored just to them? What if we could create a world where second chances for these birds was the norm?"
Another memorable moment was when Debbie talked about BOPS celebrating the number eight in 2018. 8 years of parrot rescues… 8 years of accepting relinquished parrots… 8 years of hard work… but most importantly, 8 years of second chances.
As Debbie spoke about second chances for parrots, she told the audience, "I know from years of experience that second chances for captive parrots do not happen by chance—there’s a lot of hard work invested before a second chance can occur—and after it has."
She continued by introducing the BOPS Second Chance Formula, and how it is built on 3 intertwined pillars of "Parrots", "People" and "Programs" which are covered in the other parts of this blog.
CONTINUE READING: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
OTHER RESOURCES
- Learn more about BOPS Membership
- If you would like to make a donation, you can do so here
- If you would like to become a parrot sponsor, you can do so here
- Learn more about Corporate sponsorship
- Learn more about Foundation partnership
- If you would like to make an in-kind donation, you can do so here
- If you would like Debbie to speak at your school, organization, company or for an event, you can make a request here