Wendy Huntbatch with Andy the Hyacinth Macaw

Wendy Huntbatch died 3 February 2016 according to Times Colonist. Wendy devoted her life caring for unwanted parrots at the 23,000 non-profit World Parrot Refuge in Coombs.

Wendy’s desire to help unwanted parrots started in 1990 after someone broke into an outbuilding and stole their own parrots. When the news spread people started calling and asking them to take their parrots. Within a month they had a dozen parrots and by the end of 2004 almost 400.  Today the number of parrots at the sanctuary is almost 800.

The Refuge

“Wendy spent most of her her working hours caring for the birds. She just had a way of reading them and knowing what they needed.” says partner Horst Neumann. She would start early in the morning caring for the sick birds and then we will drive in the evening collecting unwanted produce from the local groceries.

Her passion and love for parrots was so strong that she never took a penny from the charity.
Her goal was to educate people why parrots are difficult as pets, to stop trafficking and importing of parrots into Canada.

When parrots arrive at the World Parrot Refuge, they are never re-homed and will sped the rest of their lives in large flight areas providing as natural environment as possible.  Wendy didn’t like parrots to be passed from one home to another only for the new owners to realise how difficult it could be to care for a parrot and pass them on again.

The refuge is funded by donation and paying visitors. Today, the refuge receives about 10,000 visitors a year.  A team consisting of board members, senior staff is working on developing a long term plan for maintaining the sanctuary and continuing Wendy’s legacy.

Wendy will be missed not only by her family but also by her feathered friends who she was such a fond of.

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