A 33-year-old woman was willing to do anything to get her dream parrot. After five months of paperwork, permits, quarantine and spending $18,000, she was finally reunited with Tazz, an exotic bird imported from the United States less than a year old.
“The first time I put it on the headrest of the car, I was overwhelmed. It’s an amazing feeling,” says Sabrina Rogers.
Having long dreamed of adopting a parrot, Sabrina Rogers and her partner took the plunge with Rico seven years ago. This bird died of cancer a few months ago.
“I said to myself when he died [que] I did not do [voudrais] Never again. In the end, it left a big void and we said to ourselves that we will see it at some point,” notes the woman from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
Sabrina Rogers often travels, goes to work and goes on vacation with her parrot.
“There are so many little reasons why it’s so good. It’s hard to say a bird, but it fills a big void,” says Sabrina Rogers.
47 days in quarantine
However, adoption is not without risks, particularly due to different rules for importing and exporting birds in Canada and the United States.
Maude Larin-Kieran/QMI Agency
Sabrina Rogers says she received conflicting information from the government regarding the permits needed to bring the parrot home.
“We saw a vet and paid several hundred dollars to get certified for macaques, parrots. [L’ACIA] Confirmed to me that everything was fine. Then, the day before departure, I got a call from the government, no, Mom explains.
The government finally required a health certificate for the chicken, which the US vet refused to sign because it was a parrot.
Upon her arrival in Canada, Sabrina Rogers was required to spend 47 days in a CFIA-approved isolation room set up in her home.
Photo courtesy of Sabrina Rogers
“We have [installé] Quarantine signs, biosecurity measures, visitor registration. It was worse than the movies when there are big disease outbreaks,” he explains.
“Everything that entered the room could not come out, including the garbage. A small room in the house had 47 days of leftover fruit and vegetables in garbage bags,” he continues.
In case of disease like avian flu, the parrot should be euthanized. A stressful situation for Sabrina Rogers, after spending so much effort and several thousand dollars.
Maude Larin-Kieran/QMI Agency
Twice the price as expected
The Parrot costs US$6,000 (CA$8,165), and eventually costs twice as much. The bill for all procedures reached CA$18,000.
“Initially, $6,000 was already more than we wanted to pay, but [Tazz] Perfect for us,” says Sabrina Rogers.
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