Finnegan is a male, Blue-fronted Amazon, supposedly about 3-4 years old, which we received from the local pet store, North Star Pets in late May/2004.  We temporarily adopted him at first at the pet store manager's request - he was biting people and having seizures, and they were extremely worried the bird was getting either very ill, or possibly close to death.  Eventually, the pet store and I came to an agreement, and we decided to keep the little guy because we knew he could never go back to the pet store, and we named him Finnegan (as a side-kick to our Blue-and-gold Macaw, Casey!), and we have him still.

The pet store had purchased Finnegan from a local pet owner, the owner was reportedly having issues with the bird making noise in his place (gee, do birds make noise?), he had to choose between the Amazon and an African Grey he also owned - he decided to keep the Grey and sell the Amazon.  Well, the pet store are good people, but don't really have a suitable place for big birds, and the staff do their best but they aren't very experienced with the larger birds, so, the poor bird wasn't doing too well.  They had him living in the small bird room for about two and a half weeks before we wandered in one day.  He was kind of front and centre for all the customers to poke and prod at, his cage wasn't big enough for him to really get away from fingers in, and so he started to chomp at the fingers that kept 'attacking' him.  Also, small birds tend to be noisy, and active, and one or the other of the many in the small bird room is pretty much always on the go.  Larger birds, including parrots such as Finnegan, require 10-12 hours of dark, uninterrupted sleep each night, much like a 3-5 year-old human child.  As the poor bird wasn't getting the sleep he needed, his body started to express the issue, and this is what caused the seizures - when you get exhausted, your body shuts down.

We took Finnegan away with us, to try to get him settled down - stop the biting and the seizures, and see if he could be a happy bird.  The first day was not good for any of us, as we had to give him a wing trim to avoid having him fly out an open door or something, but after that, Finnegan settled down in his cage, and basically slept for 5 days, waking only to eat, drink, poop and maybe look around for a few minutes before nodding off again.  We had him close to our other 2 parrots, so he could see us interacting with them, and in a location where he could see people coming and going, but where the people couldn't get at him to bother him, and after the big sleep, he gradually started to fit into our lives.

We determined that Finnegan had possibly been abused in a former home, as well as having lived in a heavy cigarette-smokers' household.  He was extremely frightened of peoples' hands, but would happily interact with me if I kept my hands behind my back, leading us to believe he had actually been struck by someone.  Finnegan was also decidedly freaked out by large men - Gord is 6'4" and the poor bird would beat his wings so hard to get away from Gord inside the cage that he broke feathers right off.  It was sad, knowing that someone big had hurt this poor little bird.  Lots of our friends and customers would come in and hear the story, and ask how anyone could hit a bird - my response is still - how could anyone hit a child? or a spouse? or a dog? What's the difference, they're all defenseless, and its ALL wrong.

Needless to say, we've now had Finnegan for over six months.  There hasn't been a single seizure since we got him, the regular rest seems to have resolved that issue.  The nicotine poisoning - well, we're still working on that, but after a month or so of having a spray shower every second day or so and all the fresh food, he finally started to groom his feathers.  He still carries a musty odour sometimes, but we think he's better than he was.  We know his life-span has been shortened by the heavy exposure to cigarettes, much the same as a human's life would be, and taking into account that Finnegan is a lot smaller than a human.

As for being hand-tamed again, and friendly, well, we're getting there.  Finnegan especially likes women or smaller men, but he is now displaying to Gord as well, and will go to him without much of a fuss.  With me, he calls and displays, and kisses, and struts, and wants very much to be the centre of my world, which is a trick with all our other birds and our 2 cats also vying for my attention.  We do know that Finnegan is a good bird, and getting friendlier all the time.  He can speak, although he mainly just says "oh-oh" in a sing-song voice that sounds suspiciously like ICQ.  We have to keep his wing-feathers trimmed, as he really likes to fly all over, and we don't want an accident, it would be heartwrenching if he flew out the door by mistake!

So, the problem bird, who was so ill, is now a healthy little guy.  It takes a lot of love to reverse the affects of abuse, but it can be done.  Yes, we bled a little (ok, Gord mostly did the bleeding), but Finnegan never bit out of anger, only in fear.  He can be handled, and actually wants to be stroked and petted now, his trust builds daily and he seems to be much more content - all in all, a happy Blue-fronted Amazon who has made a mark in the lives of all of us who know him!

Check for more pictures of Finnegan in our Gallery.