THE STORY OF RUBY

By Rhonda Treptow

It is a sad story that I would like to share with you, but an important story because it could save other Eclectus babies from the heartbreaking fate that befell a beautiful baby bird named "Ruby"....

This story revolves around five main characters: 
The villain, an unscrupulous breeder who sells unweaned Eclectus babies...
The accomplice, an innocent girl unaware of the dangers of buying unweaned babies...
The heroine, a kindhearted lady who tried to rescue an innocent baby...
The victim, Ruby, a beautiful female Eclectus baby...
The brokenhearted lady who wanted to adopt Ruby...

THE STORY

Once upon a time, there was a villain who apparently bred birds solely for her own monetary gain with no love for the unfortunate creatures whose lives she trades upon.  She took a baby Eclectus at the vulnerable age of three weeks and entrusted her care to a young and inexperienced girl who had raised only baby Budgies and Lovebirds, and had no experience with large birds. When Ruby was about six weeks old, the inexperienced girl decided that the baby was ready to wean and stopped giving her the formula that she needed for another month or more for her continued growth and well being. Because the baby was always hungry and lunged desperately toward the young girl's hands in hopes of finding food, the young girl decided that the baby bird was mean and trying to bite her.

A kindhearted bird lady heard that there was a baby bird in need of help and although she knew nothing about Eclectus babies, she thought that she could feed big birds because she had raised African Greys. She got the money together to buy the unfortunate baby bird and took her home. The kindhearted lady went online to learn about Eclectus, so she could do the best for the baby bird. The baby bird was STARVING!!! She ate and ate and ate. She was not a bad bird who bit; she had only  tried to tell the accomplice that she was hungry. She was actually a sweet bird who liked people and learned that not everyone would starve her. She liked to play with her soft foods, but she was still a baby and needed her formula. Now the kindhearted bird lady knew she could not keep Ruby, so she  found a classified ad from a heartbroken lady who had lost her first Eclectus love, also named Ruby. The kindhearted lady and the heartbroken lady got together and knew that the heartbroken lady and Baby Ruby were meant to be together. Arrangements were made so that when Ruby was weaned,  she would go to her 'forever home' with the heartbroken lady, hereafter known as joyful lady.

After about a month and a half, Ruby still was not weaning in spite of all the nurturing care that the kindhearted lady was giving her. The kindhearted lady tried and tried to locate the breeder and posted Ruby's leg band number on the Internet. Finally, a lady got hold of her, and gave her the breeders email address. After learning from a letter returned from the email address that Ruby was a pure Red sided Eclectus hatched June 5, 2000 and named Summer, the kindhearted lady never heard back from the breeder. After numerous futile attempts to get more information, the email address was cancelled.

The joyful lady made many preparations to give Ruby the best possible home while happily telling all her friends about the new baby to be adopted soon. The adoption was to be a joyous occasion! The joyful lady's husband designed a special cage, and the joyful lady lovingly made toys for the new baby's much-anticipated arrival. Letters were exchanged along with a picture of Ruby who was the most beautiful baby in the world in the joyful lady's eyes. The joyful lady was worried that Ruby was not weaning, but hopeful that she just needed more time since her early care had been far from ideal.

The kindhearted lady took Ruby to the vet once more and learned that she had sustained liver damage from the improper care she received as a baby. Ruby would pay a high price for the villain's negligence. One fateful Sunday, the kindhearted lady noticed that Ruby's droppings did not look normal. Her vet was out of town, and she tried to find another vet to treat this poor baby but no help was available. The kindhearted lady kept Ruby warm, and tried to keep her full of food and water. Despite her best efforts, the baby's future looked grim. The next morning, the kindhearted lady found Ruby on the floor of her cage, wings outspread. She gently gathered Ruby up and looked into her little sad eyes as she closed them for the last time...... Ruby was at peace.

The kindhearted lady now had to tell the joyful lady that her new baby had paid the ultimate price for the greedy breeder's mistake. Both ladies were heartbroken. Their continued attempts to locate the breeder have not been successful, but they felt it was important to share Ruby's story so that others do not fall victim to the same tragic situation.  The moral of the story is to carefully choose the breeder of your precious new baby bird and to NEVER, EVER buy any unweaned baby parrot.

The brokenhearted lady is still grieving but hoping for a new love someday. This story is true... I know because it is my heart that was broken by an unscrupulous breeder. Please do not let it happen to you.