Exotic Inspiration

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I attended a church bazaar this past weekend, and my son and I had the pleasure of our booth being next to a family who rescues and cares for exotic birds. Their companies name is Parrots of Paradise and they reside in Henrico, Virginia.

They purchased their first bird in 2005, a beautiful Umbrella Cockatoo named Coconut.  Since that time, they have rescued and currently care for 82 birds!  Susan and Spencer spend most of their time traveling to stores, schools, churches, preschools and many other locations educating the public about these endangered creatures as well as providing therapy to some.  While talking to Susan I learned that a lot of these beautiful birds are rescued from abusive homes, which was shocking to me. Why would anyone want to abuse a bird?  But the stories she told me about some of the birds, that had come to them was simply heart breaking.

As we watched these birds all day, we noticed that they LOVE people and especially children, they love showing their colorful feathers and for the most part are just like children.  They sat on shoulders, walked on arms and love to be cradled like babies!

They recently exhausted a lot of funds in rescuing a bird from Texas and because I enjoyed watching the birds so much, I plan to design a special gift for Parrots of Paradise to auction or raffle off at their next event to help raise money for their continued effort in saving these beautiful creatures.  From the photos I took, several features of these wonderful creatures inspire me, so keep an eye out for the finished piece coming soon.

Find more of Dee’s jewelry creations on her website at www.runakojewelry.com, also follow the day and life of Runako Designs and other great things with a cause on her blog at www.runakodesigns.blogspot.com.