This is a truly amazing story we came across that some people from Queensland, Australia have shared on the internet. They adopted a wild Australian Sulphur Crested Cockatoo who had to have one wing after it flew into a car and broke its wing.
They kept her in a cage for her own protection, but outside where she could be visited by wild Cockatoos. They were amazed to observe her pushing her food through the bars of the cage to offer her visitors a snack.
Soon one male was spending lots of time visiting, sitting on top of the cage talking and courting. Eventually he learned how to open the “tamper proof” latch! This of course led to more courting, as he would go in and out as he pleased, and she would occasionally venture out just on top of the cage and low branches nearby along with him.
He seemed annoyed at first that she wouldn’t fly off with him but once he seemed to learn that she could not fly, he just stayed. Then, of course, nature took its course and along came babies, with faces only a mother and proud father could love! Remarkably, due to mom’s condition, father became the 
primary care giver providing constant protection.
The adoptive family, continued to observe and photograph the Cockatoo family as they grew, then eventually decided to share their story on a website. Then naturally they emailed a few friends and family who passed it on to others, who passed it on to yet others. Within a few days the website was visited by thousands of of people from all over the world. They were at first amazed by the overwhelming response then realized, if you think about it, “love, loyalty and parenting are universal values.”
They receive emails from the USA, Britan, Holland, Mozambique, Denmark… the list goes on. A paper in Western Australia even wants to publish the story, and there are forums on the web discussing the story.
You can read more about the amazing Cockatoo family on their website, we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did!
