The Veterans
The work carried out at the sanctuary serves two populations who have sustained severe trauma: parrots and veterans. As part of our mission to promote parrot welfare, we have established an aviary and trauma recovery program at Serenity Park Parrot Sanctuary. Here, formerly homeless veterans suffering from war-induced traumas tend to over 50 rescued Amazons, macaws, cockatoos, and other parrots.
The program began in 2006 to address the pressing needs of both people and birds. Los Angeles has the largest population of homeless veterans in the U.S., nearly 20,000 living on the streets, comprising 11% of all homeless veterans nationwide. These numbers are predicted to rise significantly as Iraq War veterans return, which will present us with new challenges for facilitating healing. Many returning from the current conflicts suffer from dehabilitating brain injuries stemming from roadside bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), as well as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related conditions resulting from combat experience. Parrots, too, are vulnerable to high-stress conditions such as illegal capture and confinement in undersized cages for their long lifetimes, without any of the stimulation common in the natural environments of these highly social and intelligent creatures.
The program has been extremely successful both in terms of the numbers of birds rescued and veteran recovery, according to research psychologist Dr. Gay Bradshaw. For example, the attending psychiatrist of one participant diagnosed with 70% PTSD disability has discontinued psychopharmaceutical medications, and instead has prescribed "parrot therapy". Scientifically, the success of the Serenity Park "Birds of a Feather" program is based on the fact that birds and people share similar emotions and psychology that render them vulnerable to stress and amenable to similar programs of recovery.
By working together, veterans and birds heal and experience what it is like to live without fear of violence, build trust, be cared for, and be loved. Further, because PTSD undermines the capacity for social trust, parrot-veteran therapy provides the critical medium for rebuilding such capacity that will enable veterans to transition into post-war life and community.
