10/28/2024
This is the story of a little grey bird, that was larger than life.
Fair warning, you may need a few tissues, but this is the truth of rescue. Heartbreaking, yet beautiful in a way words can't describe, but hearts recognize immediately.
I sincerely hope everyone gets a chance at a love like this.
~Simon's Story~
Simon the Congo African Grey was a mature bird when I first met him. He had quite the story, but I'll stick to the parts I know for sure.
He came into our organization, got a clean bill of health(slightly wonky beak that needed regular maintenance, but that was it), and moved into a foster home.
As often happens with greys, a family was interested & visited with him repeatedly, and finally they took him home, foster to adopt.
Simon quickly decided that the man of the house was HIS man, and a friendship blossomed.
He was officially adopted into the family. Simon became a travel companion, going on family camping trips. A shop buddy, working on projects in the garage & learning to do the riff from "Smoke on the Water". He learned to meow like a cat, and bark like a dog, and entertained his family like every grey does.
Eventually, life happened. Things changed & Simon's chosen person didn't have much time for him. Simon started to get very frustrated, and let a few family members know about it.
They decided that it would be best for all if Simon returned to SWEAR to find someone who could spend more time with him.
So, Simon came back to us.
He did not understand, and most certainly did not agree. In fact, you could say Simon held a grudge.
He wanted nothing to do with anyone. A friendly bird that had never had an issue with coming out of his cage, now did NOT want to come out. He bit the bars if you got too close. He doubled in size with proximity(grey owners know the MAD-POOF they can do!)and let everyone know he needed space.
He did seem to be interested in men more than women, but seemed to be waiting for his human to come back. A few months went by, and he figured out that this was not going to happen. And I figured out ways to engage with him, without getting bit & upsetting him. He started to talk a little, and started to dance a bit. A few bars of music whistled out once in a while.
One day a family came to meet birds and Simon approached the front of the cage.
What was this?!
A man, of course. A big tall guy, like his other dad had walked in. He bit the snot out of him. 😂
But this man was not deterred. The family asked to foster him, and see if he could come out of his shell. And so Simon went to a foster home to remember how not be an angry bird.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Simon at first had to use a perching tool to help him come out of the cage without nipping people. Then, once he started to realize these people were interested in HIS feelings, and HIS happiness, the magic started to happen! His foster mom sat on the floor by his house every night & talked to him, and sang songs with him.
His foster dad won his heart. They called me to tell me that Dan could get Simon to step up from inside the cage consistently with no aggression anymore. I was beyond thrilled, so happy he was remembering what it was to be adored.
Whether he was dancing to music, chasing his ball, or cuddling with his dad...he was back & happier than ever.
The family knew Simon had chosen them, and could never leave.
He was home.
To see this bird who had so much anger in him at one point, puddle into his dad's chest & snuggle in would have melted the coldest of hearts. It's everything rescuers hope for. The connection that brings trust back. That brings love & life back into the eyes.
We made arrangements to finalize Simon's adoption, and then the worst happened. I got the call that something was wrong, Simon seemed to be having trouble breathing, and had fallen from a perch. They rushed him to my house late that evening while I rushed and got the ICU ready. When they came in we immediately got oxygen going, as Simon was struggling to breathe. I did a quick evaluation & could feel that something was very wrong with his heartbeats. Slow & almost sloppy feeling I knew. Simon's time was almost up, and i told his foster family that it would be soon. Simon Face Timed with the eldest who had just left for college, while in the comfort of his Dad's arms. Dan held him, and spoke words of love, and thankfulness for Simon choosing him & his family to love & to open up to & be the wonderful, goofy, so smart & happy bird that he was meant to be.
It took about 20 min, and Simon finally breathed his last, in the arms of his chosen human.
As difficult as it was, to have seen an almost six & a half foot man cradling a whopping one pound bird in his arms, speaking words of love and intense gratitude was a truly magical & humbling experience.
Simon was SO loved. And he was surrounded by that love when he breathed his last. He knew. He knew he was loved. He knew his worth. He was so brave, opening up and deciding to trust a human, yet again. And that human did not let him down.
One of the hardest things in rescue(of which there are a few), at least for me, is to have a bird pass in foster. It feels almost like they didn't get a chance to belong to someone. While they belong to us, all with SWEAR who do everything that we do for them, it's not the same. So, when Kristina told me a few days after the passing of our wonderful boy Simon, that they wanted to finalize his adoption anyway, postmortem, I immediately started crying.
I'm crying now, typing these words.
Because...my God. Someone GETS IT. He belonged. He mattered. He owned their hearts as much as they owned his.
These moments, are the ones that give us the strength to continue. Families that HAVE to show the world that a little senior grey bird with a crooked beak & a wonky wing, MATTERED.
He adopted them, HIS choice. Simon gave them his trust and his heart. In return, they gave him their hearts, and their family name.
In recognition of the amazing love that Simon and his chosen family shared, we are celebrating his life and his belated adoption. Though Simon had already shown his feelings in the matter, and his chosen family shown theirs, it's official.
Congratulations on your adoption Simon Shinn.
We miss you. We love you.
Thank you for teaching me so much.
Thank you for being the awesome bird you were.
As with every bird in the rescue that passes, we had a necropsy done by one of our vets.
Simon's cause of death was heart disease. His dang heart was too big, wouldn't you know it. Otherwise, as our vet said "He was perfect in every other way"...
We could not agree more.
My hope is that many will not see this as a sad story, but one of love. By the Shinns taking a chance on an an angry older bird, they got to be part of an amazing transformation and the most important part of Simon's life. The part where he learned to love again, and be happy in that love.
Im blessed to be able to share this story with everyone, and hope you all go hug your birds & whisper your love to them.
Here is a picture of Simon's chosen human Dan, and Simon. Both now officially "Shinns".
Cute video of Simon in the comments too. You can hear it in their voices, he soooo owned all of them in the best way!❤️
