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in that Perry was severely neglected and abused by his past owner(s), and had been deported from New Jersey, to add insult to injury (his species is illegal to possess in NJ, though no doubt his confiscation by the state saved his life).
When I got Perry he was just a pile of bones with a few feathers attached -- severely emaciated, and so weak he'd sometimes fall off his perch. Even though he is around seven or eight years old, he was completely unsocialized -- no one had been handling him over the years, which for an animal as social as a parrot, is just obscene. He had the stereotypical movements you see in animals who've been confined without sufficient stimulation, and he was terrified at the sight of things like toys, millet sprays, and even someone walking into the room with an ice cream cone. He was cage-bound (would not leave his cage voluntarily). And he was very, very angry. He'd spontaneously fly into rages and, if no human flesh was available for shredding, he'd pluck his own feathers and scratch at his own flesh.
I was not optimistic about outcomes when I took him in. I figured I'd do whatever I could to make the remainder of his life as happy as possible (It's the least the human race owes him, after what some of us have done to him). But little Perry is evidently tough as nails. Hardly a day goes by without evidence of significant progress. His rages are gone, and he rarely plucks. Not only can I handle him without keeping a supply of bandaids at hand, he likes kissing, scritches, and petting (we're still working on him allowing others to handle him, but he's making progress there, too). His fears are like those of others of his species now (parrots being prey animals, they're normally skittish about things that suggest the presence of predators). He plays, and enjoys his toys. He can recognize green, blue, and red by name and retrieve the appropriate color ring when asked to do so (parrots have the intelligence of a small child, and are roughly as smart as chimps and dolphins. They need intellectual stimulation.) And now, he's starting to leave his cage.
Perry is a great little guy to know if one needs a dose of optimism :)
Now I did once train a parrot to remind me of medication times and similar tasks, and he became a registered service animal. I've heard of other birds serving as guide birds for the blind. Given their intelligence I'd think parrots would be suitable for any assistive tasks that are largely cognitive (obviously they don't have the body size to open doors, retrieve "people" items, or pull wheelchairs). The one caveat is that parrots, being highly intelligent wild animals, are very difficult animals to keep. Parrot ownership is absolutely not for everyone. In fact, it's not for most people.
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