WINGS 4 WISDOM AVIARY

I made several payments for a baby African Grey, to the sum of $700.00 & then purchased one of her special cages for another $20 for the baby bird. I was told the baby bird was approx. 69 days old. However, in an email from her, she said he was hatched on July 8, 2008 and I picked him up on Aug. 29th. That made him like 52 days old. He was still on 2 handfeedings a day. I am experienced at handfeeding, handfed a bird of my own & helped my son who owned an aviary in Ohio feed his baby birds from time to time. She attempted to feed the bird before we left with him & he would not readily eat. She said he was just not hungry. I found him to be a very picky eater. On the morning of Sept. 18th, there were no droppings on the towel in his little cage. He refused his food & water. I thought a bit of fresh water in a bird bath would make him feel better. I was VERY careful not to get it in his face. All of a sudden, he went limp & I grabbed him up & he began having horrific seizures, one after another, after another. He died right in my hands! A little part of me died with him. I called the breeder and she said that is what I got for taking him while he was still being handfed. I sent her back a copy of her email: "If you could take Chilo this week it would help out a lot so that my roommate doesn't have as many babies to feed while I'm gone. Let me know and I can give you all the information you will need to feed out Chilo and wean....thanks Sandy". Upon my baby's death I sent her this: "Sandy, I had an experienced bird breeder on the phone, along with daily video's of Chilo eating, etc., with me EVERY day to discuss how Chilo was doing. The one with the most experienced breeder told me that he believed that Chilo had digestive problems the very day I brought him home. You said Chilo was really small. I didn't care if he was the smallest, I just put all I had into raising him as my life long friend. Based on your email below, I presumed that you were comfortable with Chilo being sound enough to come home. The two breeders here were upset, and one enraged that any breeder would turn lose of an unfeathered bird. I made sure he was in a warm, sunny window, handfed slowly so as not to choke him, and spent many hours with him. He seemed frail more times than not. The last minutes of his life were spent having horrific seizures. I would like a replacement bird and that one will be checked by the only certified Bay County Avian Vet." HER FINAL EMAIL TO ME WAS: "Filing a complaint is up to you, you have no ground. You took a chance with an unweaned baby, sorry to say he paid the price." This tells me that she has no intent on showing compassion and put the blame on that beautiful little bird's death on ME, when in fact, if I didn't know what I was doing with regard to handfeeding, that bird would not have survived more than 3 days in my care, per a local avian vet. She won't replace my bird or refund my money.