Meet Mary from A Little Budgie Told Me Rescue
I am very excited to formally introduce you to a newer local rescue, A Little Budgie Told Me, owned and operated by our very own Mary Hilton. Mary has been a volunteer, now employee, with us for nearly five years and she has grown so much in such a short time! She is one of the most motivated and down to earth people I have had the pleasure of working with in the bird world. She is knowledge-hungry and always open to hearing both sides of the story and working through a problem—something that I think is rare and needed in the rescue world. She is non-judgmental, always willing to help a bird in need, and to educate the owner in their future endeavors.
When I first met Mary she had just five budgies at home and I knew immediately by how passionately she spoke of them, that that is where her heart was. Budgies are the most common pet species in aviculture and also the one most often needing re-homed or rescued. I can’t tell you the amount of times we have heard horrible things about budgies just because of their size, their price point, etc. as if they were a disposable item, not a living creature. The need is great and yet most rescues don’t accept budgies. Here at SBF we stopped breeding budgies and accepting budgies as relinquishes about 8 years ago due to some potential health hazards to our nursery. It was a relief to hear that Mary was officially starting a rescue for them because I couldn’t imagine them being in better hands. “A Little Budgie Told Me”officially began last summer with the tag line “that even the smallest birds deserve a chance”. Since then Mary has rescued over 147 budgies and adopted out 43. What an amazing beginning! One of my favorite aspects of Mary’s rescues is her devotion to the “special ones”. I’ve seen and advised her on several rescues already this year with birds that have had splayed legs, beak issues, vision impairments, and even leg paralysis. It’s pretty incredible that she is able to do so much when considering the amount of time it takes to care for these special needs birds, as well as her own flock, work, school, and her personal and family life.
One of the most important things Mary does besides providing excellent care for her flock, is her devout focus on education. She has an amazing following on Instagram and Facebook, which is a reflection on how she provides valuable information in an easy to access, non-judgmental delivery. Her posts vary from overall care, husbandry and health issues to enrichment such as aviary set ups, DIY toys and perches, and more. She even has her own Etsy store where she sells her natural-themed toys and perches.
We are very proud to support Mary and the rescue and now have some options for donations in our store. While still supporting our friends at The Charlie Brown Bird Rescue (more coming about them in December), we have a “Donation Center” in our store with a bin for each rescue. Mary only works with smaller species, specifically budgies, so if you can donate physical items such as food, toys, perches, etc. please be mindful of what she can use. If you have medium to larger items, CBBR would be more beneficial. We hope to help both rescues equally in their humble work. We do take monetary donations for both rescues as well so they can use those donations as needed.
Check out A Little Budgie Told Me:
-Bernie
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