By Nikki Buxton | Managing Director
I can’t believe it is September already. Where is this year going?
We are certainly slowing down now as we come out of the main breeding season. Since the last report we have had just 32 intakes including 8 parrots, 4 raptors, 14 garden/forest birds, and 5 water-birds. 9 of those birds were released and 14 are still in care, giving us a total of 168 birds undergoing rehabilitation, the vast majority of which are parrots. BBR travelled 608 miles for rescues, with a further 1076 miles of rescues donated by volunteers.
Speaking of transport, I think we are finally in a position to tell the whole sad story of our new Nissan truck we purchased back in February. You may have read in our last report that another car pulled out on our truck and caused a 3-car collision, thankfully without injury to persons, but the truck was a write-off after only 4 months of use. We were completely devastated, and right back where we started before you all generously donated toward this amazing purchase.
It has taken 3 months of paperwork and negotiation to sort out insurances and Government permits for tax exemptions, but we are finally back on the road. Thanks to some appalling instruction from our own insurance company, this entire fiasco cost us a little over $7,000US to fix. The less I say about the company the better. Needless to say we did not reinsure with them
We are horrified that a portion of your generous donations has been wasted on this accident, but short of taking the other driver or the insurance company to court, there is nothing we can do about it. But, at least we are back on the road.
Your contributions through GlobalGiving enabled us to continue with our enclosure refurbishments, and thanks to one incredibly generous donor we were also able to implement some substantial predator proofing measures to many of them.
Our babies are all weaned and integrated into their respective flocks. We were ecstatic that we had zero clipped-wing babies this year, until last week when two were dropped at our door with horribly hacked feathers and one sporting a broken leg. So begins ‘surrender period’ where people realise that the little cutie-pie they stole from the nest has become a biting, angry juvenile. This is where the newly-built transition enclosures come into force, providing a safe space for these little ones to grow back their plumage without fear of falling, damage, predation or bullying. Our gratitude to you for giving us those options now. Hopefully within 8 or 10 months they will be able to join the rest of the flock, although if previous years are anything to go by, they will be getting some clipped-wing company very soon.
As always, the congratulations are all yours, as you continue to help us to help them to Fly Free. Don’t forget this week is Little-by-Little week where your GlobalGiving donations up to $50 are awarded a 50% match, making your money work even harder for the Birds of Belize.
With our warmest regards and gratitude,
Nikki and the BBR Team
Links:
By Nikki Buxton | Managing Director
By Nikki Buxton | Managing Director
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
