Vet Program gets ready to welcome eight adopted parakeets

Jose Albarran

          The Agricultural Science Building at Pierce College will soon be the home to eight fortunate parakeets that were adopted from the East Valley Animal Shelter last month.

            These eight parakeets belonged to a much larger group of 82 that were found caged and abandoned in the backyard of a foreclosed home in North Hollywood.

            Patricia Ott, animal care technician supervisor at the shelter said, “the parakeet owners were more than likely home breeding these birds. It’s alarming to see an increase in the number of  pets being left behind in foreclosed homes in the 16 years that I’ve worked here. This is due to the failing economy of this country. Luckily for these birds, they were found by a neighbor that lives next to the foreclosed home and then were brought here. Thanks to the media coverage, all 82 parakeets were adopted within two days.”

              The four female and four male parakeets adopted by Pierce will allow the registered veterinary technician program on campus to maintain accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association. The RVT program had been using chickens as a way to fulfill the requirement.

            “Parakeets are more of a common typical household pet than a chicken is so I’m really excited RVT students will have the opportunity to learn to take care of these birds,” said RVT Program Director Liz White.

            “We could have gone to PETCO to buy parakeets but many animals taken to the shelter don’t always have the same luck in finding a home and end up getting euthanized. This is another reason for the adoption. And I’m glad we were able to help in providing these parakeets a safe and welcoming place to live,” said White.

            In the past few weeks, Angela Killips, who is the instructional assistant to RVT program has been in charge of purchasing the necessary supplies such as: food cups, toys, food and the cages.

            “We’ve ordered two large cages to avoid the parakeets from mating. But we also needed a certain type of cage that would protect the parakeets from being taken,” Killips said.

            The RVT program on campus has adopted other animals in the past. The parakeets will be the newest addition to the family of dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, alpaca and one pot belly pig that are housed in the Pierce Farm.

            RVT student Raisa Vega seemed excited in anticipation of the parakeet arrival. “We deal more with birds in clinical practice since its more hands on. I’m glad the college has provided the students this opportunity to learn from these birds and take care of them.”