My first blog post for my website specialising in photographing dogs will be all about parrots…
After being lured with the promise of a litter of cute Cavalier King Charles Spaniels puppies, it became clear the true motive for getting me to the house with the camera was for the parrots!
This handsome wee soul is Roy.
Best get the tissues ready, Roy has a sad story.
Roy is a Congo African Grey parrot in his late 20s. He had a loving caregiver who he was deeply attached to, but sadly she passed away. Roy continued to call out Sarah’s name, even after Sarah’s husband found a new partner. This resulted in Roy being locked away in the garage for 3 years. With little to no human interaction, with little food and water in an unsuitable cage – a dog crate.
This was a deeply traumatic time for Roy, parrots are sociable animals and when deprived of social interaction it has a deeply profound impact on their well-being. In those 3 years Roy plucked out almost every feather, he was in a really sorry state.
3 years after first being placed in the garage he was given over to a parrot charity for rehoming. This is where Roy’s luck began to change. He was placed in short term foster with Elaine, who just so happens to be the UK’s only registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist specialising in parrots, as well dogs. Elaine runs a successful Elaine Henley Animal Behaviour Clinic, the website was designed by our sister company Mutley’s Marketing – plug plug!
Elaine and her vet took the decision to place Roy on Prozac as his mental state was so poor it called for drastic actions. At this point Roy didn’t trust people any longer and really didn’t want anyone touching him. With great care Elaine began to build a bond with Roy and to repair the damage done to him.
It didn’t take Elaine long to decide that Roy wasn’t leaving her family, although it took her longer to own up to them that she was a failed fosterer. Today Roy’s a much happier wee chap. When taking these photos I was sitting maybe a foot from him on the stairs and he was happy to have a stranger so near him.
You may notice that the banister around Roy has been somewhat destroyed. This is one of Roy’s projects to demolish all the wood in the house. Recently there was a fire in one of the upstairs rooms and all the whole house had to be repainted and lots of wood replaced – all except Roy’s banister! Elaine feels this is part of who Roy is and had it left as it was. As long as he is happy what does it matter if the banister is missing sections.
His feathers haven’t grown back, they probably never will, the damage is done. He still doesn’t like being touched. But he is happy with his new family – and having sweary arguments with the other feathered occupants Milo and Sparky.
This is Sparky, I only got one shot of him through the bars before he screamed bloody murder at me and began to growl. Typical Glaswegian is Sparky! Another failed foster…I’m seeing a pattern here.
Lastly and definitely not least is cheeky Milo.
And if you are really lucky I might do a blog post of the puppies hiding in the background here!
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Some words from Elaine…
“I wanted some really nice photographs taken for my new website and for my own pleasure. My dogs are used to being photographed but two of my parrots are very shy. I needed someone who understood my animals and would be sensitive to their needs when photographing them.
I knew of Ewan and approached him and asked for his honest opinion if he could take some photographs of my beloved parrots. Ewan agreed to come to my house for a photo session. He spent time allowing the parrots to get used to him and used to the camera before he took their pictures…. that day he took amazing pictures of my puppies. I can’t thank Ewan enough as all of the pictures are simply stunning- and no creature was stressed.”
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If you would like your own Mutley’s Snaps Pet Photography session, please contact us to book or to request our brochure.
