TACO'S STORY

By Deborah Sturgeon

It all began six years ago when I visited a breeder to purchase a Cockatiel. We wanted a talker. While the gal was getting the 'Tiel babies for us to see, she plopped this four-month old green baby  with teal blue on his wings, in the middle of my lap. Not used to being around birds, I was a bit leery until he looked into my eyes and made a very slight sound. I was hooked -- that is, until I heard the price!

I chose my 'Tiel with promises of returning in a month when he would be old enough to come home. When I returned, I was amazed at how the little green cutie had grown. For five years I enjoyed my 'Tiel but kept dreaming of someday having a little green snuggle bunny.

When my youngest daughter's canaries died in her hands, we decided to get another bird -- one that would live longer than her previous birds. I finally contacted our Cockatiel's breeder who lived in Oregon (we live in Colorado). YES!!!!! she did have a little green baby that would be ready in two months. Immediately we said "HE'S OURS"! Finally our dreams were to come true.

The weekend that "Taco" was ready to come home, I flew on three planes in a 14 hour span to retrieve the love of our hearts. He was so cute. My first meeting, however, wasn't what I expected. He chomped on my ear and drew blood from my finger and I had second thoughts the entire weekend that I was there. I finally had to be brave and fly on three more planes and 12 hours to get this "dream boat" home.

It didn't take long for him to work his way into our hearts and all fears were gone. He answered to his name; he called us; and he learned to talk quickly. Wherever we went, Taco was sure to be with us. He loved his flight suit and all the time he spent with us.

Taco became a little monkey and a jailbird. He always found a way of escaping from his cage. Just at the time when we were enjoying every minute of his companionship and unconditional love, IT HAPPENED.

Somehow, Taco began acting strangely and vomiting. At 11 months of age, I knew it was not due to hormones. We took him to an avian vet and discovered that he had swallowed a washer. The X-rays clearly showed it was in the gizzard. We immediately took blood tests to determine if there was any zinc poisoning. To be safe, we began to give Taco injections. The dreaded news came 48 hours later saying his zinc levels were outrageously high. Forty eight hours later we took Taco to the vet to do an endoscopy thru the crop. We waited and paced for two and a half hours before the news came. The washer was still in. It kept escaping the clamp.

Our next option was to bring Taco, four days later, to a veterinary school. We drove up the night before and stayed in a hotel where he wooed all the hotel employees. He was so sweet and cuddly. The next morning, Taco couldn't stay away from me while I was fixing my hair. He kept looking and gave me his loving little coos. I just knew that all would be well after this procedure.

We waited almost three hours and were told that the procedures not only were unsuccessful, but that our little Taco died coming out of the anesthesia. We never had a chance to say good-bye -- nor to tell him that we loved him.

Everyone on The Eclectus Connection list followed the story closely throughout the entire ordeal. Returning home with a broken heart only made it more difficult for me to let everyone know the horrible events. Carolyn and others were so supportive during this ordeal.

However, the X-rays of Taco with the washer were  put on TEC as an education to others. We received over 100 world-wide responses to Taco's death. This was an eye opener for many people. Each time someone thought their house was bird-proofed, something dangerous was found. A member found washers in bird toys, someone else found zinc plated items in and on cages, etc. A family cancelled their weekend activities in honor of Taco and searched their house from top to bottom to make sure their ekkie didn't have the same story.

Our little Taco is on the rainbow bridge, telling us not to mourn. It's still a difficult thing to cope with -- what if I had done things differently? We love him and miss him terribly.

Because so many people became educated about the dangers of bird toys, cages, environments, etc. our little Taco became the Little Green Hero -- he's till saving lives of other fids.