The nomination "Responsible for those...": Evgenia Olkhova buys birds and dreams of building a rehabilitation center for them.
Evgenia says this about herself: I am a child photographer by profession, and a lifesaver by the call of my soul. Since childhood, our heroine has been saving puppies and kittens on the street all the time, bringing them home. The love for parrots began quite recently. Evgenia first saw Aru on vacation in Gelendzhik. It was then that she and her husband decided that when they built their house, they would definitely take such a pet.
"Behind the outward beauty of large parrots, there is a very intelligent, emotional and social creature. The intelligence of a parrot can be compared to that of a 2–3-year-old child. Since parrots are social animals, we bought a second macaw for the company. For their comfort, they have a separate room in the house and a huge aviary for walking outside," says Evgenia Olkhova.
Then Evgenia accidentally saw a post on social media that a cockatoo named Boris was looking for a family in another city. From this moment, the story of a child photographer who saves parrots began, writes Dobro Media.
"We went to Moscow to pick up Boris and took him to our place. Using Boris's example, I saw what life in a cage leads to. He couldn't fly, and he was very anxious and timid. I have 7 parrots now. Everyone has their own character and their own destiny. And almost all of them are victims of human cruelty," says the zoo volunteer.
Archie the macaw was chained up for 22 years so as not to interfere and spoil the apartment. Snowball the cockatoo got to relatives at the age of 28 after the death of the owner, but they did not need him. Cockatoo Petrushka was sold from an animal show when she pinched herself from stress and became unattractive.
"Living with parrots, you have to adapt to everyone. Everyone has their own food preferences, but everyone loves attention and activities. With two parrots, I do free flights, as long as the weather allows, we fly with them outside. Some parrots could not fly after poor conditions of detention, and classes are held with them every day to restore their flying skills," Evgenia shares her experience.
According to the volunteers, large parrots are very difficult to care for and maintain. They scream loudly, they can ruin furniture, objects in the house, birds leave behind a lot of garbage. Moreover, they need a varied diet. And, practice shows that most owners of beautiful birds are not ready for this.
"At best, parrots are resold. And at worst, the owners cannot admit to themselves that they have failed and the birds become hostages of the human ego," the volunteer continues.
Evgenia is not going to stop in her mission: She plans to study to become a veterinarian in order to better understand her charges. And most importantly, her family is now collecting documents to open its own rehabilitation center for parrots and is independently building a room for a new home for birds.
Photos from Evgenia Olkhova's personal archive.