Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue

Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue is an animal rescue headquartered in Silicon Valley and operating throughout Northern California, focusing on the intake and rehabilitation of unwanted, neglected, and abused companion birds. The term “companion” means essentially any bird living as a pet in someone’s home. On behalf of birds ranging from tiny budgies to enormous macaws, our network of volunteers and foster homes operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help every bird that comes to us. We routinely take in more than 300 birds annually for a variety of reasons.

The birds that come to us have often been neglected and otherwise mistreated. Many are ill, with owners unable or unwilling to foot the bill for urgently needed medical care. This means Mickaboo’s vet bills are significant, averaging $30K+ per month. To ensure that every donor dollar goes toward the veterinary and rehabilitative care of our birds, we have created an organization with no central shelter, no paid staff, and no "infrastructure" to speak of. We exist online and in the homes (and hearts) of our volunteers. When we began in 1996, having no “headquarters” didn’t really matter-- coordinating five volunteers and a dozen birds didn’t require it!  This changed as we grew, however.  Now we have over 400 birds in foster care and hundreds of dedicated volunteers.

Mickaboo provides a spectrum of services to people and birds by:

• Providing behavioral consultation and retention assistance
• Bird Care education (basic to advanced), free to all who want to attend, required for potential fosters & adopters (~500 attendees/year)
• In-home foster care for surrendered birds;
• Avian vet care for injured or ill birds found in shelters, abandoned at veterinary offices, surrendered and fostered;
• Outreach and public relations (via websites, TV and radio interviews, newspaper and blog articles, social media, hosted and attended events, etc.) to highlight the plight of homeless birds and the message of 'adopt rather than buy/breed'
• Adopter recruitment, development, qualification, placement and support.