Mateo: from solitude back to freedom

Mateo is a yellow-crowned amazon (Amazona ochrocephala). He arrived at Fundación Loros in November 2023, after being voluntarily surrendered to Barranquilla Verde together with his brother Diego. Mateo was identified as B43.

A life within four walls

Mateo and Diego didn't choose to live among people. In April 2018 they were bought at a market in Barranquilla —one first, the other the next day— and became pets, far from the forest and the flock they belonged to.

For more than five years their world was four walls. They lived in a small house, with no yard or trees; in the afternoons the windows were shut to bring them inside. Those who cared for them recall that, the few times they were let out, both would gaze up at the sky.

His family swears that one of them seemed to say, over and over, a phrase that said it all:

One gets bored here, one gets bored here.

Over the years they reached adulthood, and with it the instinct to find a mate awoke. In 2023, Mateo began courting his only companion, with no possible response. A week later he started pulling out the feathers on his chest. Confinement, monotony and a natural instinct with no outlet set off the feather-plucking, until he was left almost bare.

The decision to let them go

Over time, keeping them caged began to weigh on the person who cared for them. He told the foundation that seeing them in the cage saddened him, and that every time he went out and saw free birds crossing the sky, a guilt that was hard to carry would wash over him. To that was added the realization that keeping wildlife at home is illegal, just as the authorities were beginning to make more seizures.

One day he found Fundación Loros on Instagram. He saw a photo of a parrot perched, free, on a tree, and thought: «that''s where mine should be». He wrote to us to ask how to surrender them, and we explained the right path.

Surrendering a wild animal must always be done before the environmental authorities (see how here), never directly to a foundation. So he took Mateo and Diego himself, by taxi, to Barranquilla Verde, the environmental authority of the District of Barranquilla. Barranquilla Verde, in coordination with Cardique, arranged the transfer of the parrots —and other animals— to Fundación Loros. It was not abandonment, but an act of love: choosing the parrots'' wellbeing over his own company.

The story didn't end there. The family that kept them has returned to the reserve several times, to plant trees and donate food for the parrots now in recovery. From keeping them caged, they became allies of their freedom.

Feather-plucking: a complex behaviour

The diagnosis was feather-plucking. It rarely has a single cause: usually several act at the same time. The most likely include:

• sensory deprivation —the boredom of small cages with no enrichment;
• environmental stress from noise, poor lighting or a dirty cage;
• sexual frustration and the loss of social stimulation when the parrot lives alone;
• the bird's own skin or nutritional problems;
• and infectious causes, such as viruses or dermatitis —bacterial, fungal or mite-related.

Telling these causes apart is not something that can be done by eye. That is why both the diagnosis and the treatment must always be in the hands of a specialist veterinarian; when the condition is severe, the bird may even need medication.

In Mateo's case no medication was needed. His history pointed to a combination of factors: the lack of environmental enrichment —years on a perch, with nothing to do— and, very likely, sexual frustration. As the person who cared for him recounted, the plucking began when a courtship behaviour awoke in him with no possible outlet. The answer was not physical, but surrounding him with an environment full of stimulation.

Eating like in the forest

In the wild, parrots feed mostly on berries, flowers, leaves, seeds and fruit. In captivity, by contrast, the diet is usually poor, with an excess of carbohydrates and fats a bird would never find in nature.

That is why a good diet in captivity must be varied: vegetables and leafy greens (carrot, spinach, corn, celery, bell pepper, squash with its seeds, cucumber), legumes (cooked chickpeas, lentils), fruit (papaya, mango, guava, plum, mamoncillo) and, in a smaller proportion, seeds (millet, flax, sunflower).

Sunflower seeds must be given in minimal amounts and never as the main food: in excess they are very harmful to the bird.

At Fundación Loros we are studying what parrots eat in their natural habitat to bring their diet ever closer to a wild one. You can see that work in our wild-foods study.

Food is only one piece: rehabilitation is a complete process and, as such, must always be carried out by professionals.

The story continues

The start of reintegration is not the end of the road: it is the first step toward freedom. From now on, Mateo and his companions can explore farther and farther, but with a safety net around them: feeders and feeding stations, attentive caretakers and continuous monitoring.

The full reintegration of an adult parrot that spent many years in captivity is a slow process: regaining ecological skills —recognizing wild foods, reading the surroundings, moving with the flock— takes time, and we will accompany every stage of that learning.