Service Macaw For Autistic Boy Needs Help!

[EllenD]

So I'll make this quick, or try to anyway. There is a certain parrot "Vlogger" on YouTube that many of us are aware of and have been critical of, myself included, who is actually doing a wonderful thing in trying to help a parrot family in severe need, so I told her that I would post about it here with a link to their GoFundMe Account.

There is a mother and her teenage son, Mary and Jacob, who have a Greenwing Macaw named Sam. Sam is Jacob's Certified Service Animal (not an ESA, but an actual Service Animal that has been trained to alert Jacob to oncoming health issues), as Jacob suffers from Autism, Epilepsy, Parkinson's Disease, and Schizophrenic Tendencies (all professionally diagnosed and being treated). Sam has been with Mary and Jacob since he was a baby, and was professionally trained to be Sam's Service-Animal, part of which was Free-Flight Training Sam from a baby. Sam alerts Jacob to oncoming seizures, as well as to potential safety situations when Jacob is outside by himself (traffic dangers, stranger dangers, etc.). Sam allows Jacob to have much more independence than he would ever be able to have without him, and he also gives Mary some piece of mind, as well as rest.

Sam was recently diagnosed with Heavy Metal Poisoning. Without going into the massive amount of details, Mary has taken Sam to 4 different Avian Vets throughout the Los Angeles/Southern California area. Sam underwent the standard Chelation-Therapy, by a round of 10 injections and then with the aid of milk/eggs. Sam's metal levels after Chelation show that his lead levels are normal, but his Zinc is through the roof, and this is because he has bits of metal (as well as something else that is not metal, still unidentified) lodged inside of his lower GI Tract and inside of his Crop that are too large to pass. Sam must now have a very dangerous and costly surgery to remove the remaining large pieces of metal from both his Crop and his Intestines that the Chelation could not help pass, before Sam dies of Zinc poisoning. The first 3 Avian Vets that Mary took Sam to absolutely refused to do the surgery due to the danger, and suggested other long, horrible treatments, as well as euthanasia. The fourth vet that they took Sam to is the one who is going to do the surgery...but they don't have the funds. EDIT: I didn't realize when I first wrote this post that Mary has already spent over $4,000 on vet care with the 3 prior vets since Sam became sick! All of Mary's savings and the entire personal loan that she took out are already gone; Mary has a total of $500 left, and the entire total to save Sam's life is right around $2,200...As of the time I'm writing this edit, the GoFundMe is at $230 of the needed $2,200...So any little bit that we can give will help them tremendously. This vet is the only Avian Vet willing to go in and do the necessary Endoscopy, as Chelation did not work, and the vet is unable to go any lower on the price of the surgery, nor will they allow them to make payments (apparently this was discussed)....

To make things worse, Mary is legally blind and cannot legally drive, so she has been relying upon Uber to take them all over Southern California for these Avian Vet visits, and one Uber driver named Alexandria (yes, I'm calling her out) silently went ahead and charged Mary's card an extra $80 after the trip was over, because Sam had gotten sick and vomited ON MARY'S LAP while they were sitting in the back of Alexandria's car. When they arrived at Mary's home they looked at the seat and Alexandria herself told Mary "don't worry about it, there's nothing on the seat, it's all on you", and apparently there wasn't even that much vomit on Mary, it's not like parrots vomit up large amounts. Then the next day, Mary got a message from Uber stating that "A mess occurred on your ride with Alexandria yesterday that required her to get her ENTIRE CAR DETAILED at a cost of $80, which was just charged to your card"...So yes, Alexandria the Uber driver in the Los Angeles area got a free $80 detail to her entire car on Mary's bank card because Sam vomited a small amount on Mary's lap...And I'm sorry Alexandria the Uber driver, but even if some of the vomit from Sam did in fact get on your seat, which you told Mary it hadn't, but even if it did, a bottle of Resolve Cleaner and a rag would have cost you $4! That was just a kick in the ass for Mary.

Sam has had multiple imaging tests, blood work panels, cultures, and been on tons of medications. Mary has already spent her entire savings and has also gone to her bank and taken out a personal loan for the highest amount that she could. She spent her entire month's paycheck last month on Sam's care, and now the surgery to save his life is going to cost thousands of dollars. I believe that the GoFundMe page for Sam lists a goal of only $2,000-$3,000, as the personal loan that Mary took out will cover the rest. And they know that Sam may not make it through the surgery anyway. So they need some help.

To her credit, Caronlin Von Petzholdt has been driving Mary, Jacob, and Sam to Sam's last few Vet appointments, as the current Avian Vet that is going to do the surgery is a 2-hour drive one-way from Mary's house; Carolin lives over an hour from Mary to begin with, so she has been getting up before dawn, driving over an hour to Mary's house, then another 2 hours from Mary's to the Vet's office, then back again; this is the only way that Sam could have made it to this Avian Vet that is willing to try and help Sam, as Mary could have never afforded to hire a driver for that long a trip. So Carolin deserves a lot of credit and thanks for trying to help them in any way she can, I know she's also helping them financially and buying them groceries, etc. So thank you Carolin.

I'm going to add the link to Sam's GoFundMe page as soon as I get it from Carolin, she is going to post it on her YouTube page and under all of her videos once it's up and running. So look for the link sometime today. Anyone that can help with even $1, it's much appreciated. We all know what it's like to lose a fid, but Sam is a necessary part of Jacob's everyday life, without Sam, Jacob cannot do simple things like cross the street or go into a McDonald's safely by himself.

This is the link to the a video that Carolin posted with the first visit with the fourth Avian Vet that saw Sam and is currently treating him, and who is eventually going to do the surgery:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIr5181T-0&t=279s"]THIS BIRD HAS HEAVY METAL POISONING! - YouTube[/ame]


EDIT: So I can't post the link to Sam's GoFundMe page here, as it's against forum rules, but the link above to Carolin Von Petzholdt's YouTube video will take you to the place you can make a donation for Sam. Simply click on the very top "Title" above the video that starts with the word "YouTube" and it will take you to the YouTube video page.

 

[Terry57]

That is a wonderful thing they are doing for sure!
However, we don't allow GoFundMe links, no matter how worthy the cause, on the forum.

 

[EllenD]

Can I simply post the link to Carolin's video then? I understand the issue...

Anyone can simply click on the very top "title" above the video that reads "This Bird Has Heavy Metal Poisoning YouTube" to go to the actual YouTube video that was taken by Carolin at the fourth Avian Vet's office, so that everyone can watch and listen to this Avian Vet's plan of action to try and save Sam. I didn't realize prior to talking to some people on the phone that Mary has sadly already spent over $4,000 on Sam's medical care with the first 3 Avian Vets since he first became sick, along with many, many Uber rides all over southern California! This used-up all of Mary's savings and the entire personal loan that she took out specifically for Sam's care. It's a shame that the first 3 vets did what they did. This is a good example of why taking your bird, reptile, rodent, etc. to a non-specialist vet can be a huge mistake...

 

[Terry57]

Can I simply post the link to Carolin's video then? I understand the issue...

Anyone can simply click on the very top "title" above the video that reads "This Bird Has Heavy Metal Poisoning YouTube" to go to the actual YouTube video that was taken by Carolin at the fourth Avian Vet's office, so that everyone can watch and listen to this Avian Vet's plan of action to try and save Sam. I didn't realize prior to talking to some people on the phone that Mary has sadly already spent over $4,000 on Sam's medical care with the first 3 Avian Vets since he first became sick, along with many, many Uber rides all over southern California! This used-up all of Mary's savings and the entire personal loan that she took out specifically for Sam's care. It's a shame that the first 3 vets did what they did. This is a good example of why taking your bird, reptile, rodent, etc. to a non-specialist vet can be a huge mistake...

That video is fine, and I hope she is able to do well on her GoFundMe, and that the new vet is able to help Sam.

 

[Scott]

What a compelling story, hope the metal can be safely removed. What a beautiful macaw performing such noble work!!

I well know the vet offering to perform the surgery. Brian Loudis DVM has been my CAV for many years and is highly skilled and ethical. If he offered to perform the tricky and highly invasive procedure, the odds are at least even or far better for success. I always enjoy watching him interact during an exam, he is loathe to sequester a bird out of the parront's sight. He brings all manner of portable equipment into the exam room for full explanation in real time.

 

[ChristaNL]

OMG, the "Hope-horror-lady" is at it again!
Sorry I was buying the story till that name came up...

 

[SilverSage]

Thank you for sharing this!

As a side note though, PLEASE it’s important that we not propagate the myth of “registered” or “certified” service animals as that only allows more terrible companies to scam families like this one. There are no such certifications or registries, and legally a bird can NOT be a service animal, only canines and equines (dogs and horses) are legally able to hold that status.

By scamming this family into thinking their bird has that legal status (I’m not saying he doesn’t preform the task, I’m
Saying he doesn’t have the legal status) they are putting this family at risk because claiming your animal is a service animal when it legally isn’t one is a crime.

Hopefully once Sam is on the mend this can be mentioned to the family so they can avoid the hassle of criminal charges in the future!

Again thank you so much for sharing! These are the kinds of things we as parrot people need to band together to take care of!


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[SilverSage]

I’m trying to donate but it isn’t working. I’ll try tomorrow from my desktop.


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[EllenD]

STOP!!! DO NOT DONATE!!!

Sam had the surgery, the GoFundMe should be down now...Thank you to everyone who wanted to or who did donate. They did an Endoscopy and a Flush, and got everything out of Sam...He's doing fine as of now. It was an Avian Vet in San Diego that he went to and who did the procedure, and he ended-up lowering his price so that they could get the procedure done. Hopefully Sam will make a full recovery, as Jacob does absolutely need him, and he's a beautiful bird.

 

[Owlet]

Thank you for sharing this!

As a side note though, PLEASE it’s important that we not propagate the myth of “registered” or “certified” service animals as that only allows more terrible companies to scam families like this one. There are no such certifications or registries, and legally a bird can NOT be a service animal, only canines and equines (dogs and horses) are legally able to hold that status.

By scamming this family into thinking their bird has that legal status (I’m not saying he doesn’t preform the task, I’m
Saying he doesn’t have the legal status) they are putting this family at risk because claiming your animal is a service animal when it legally isn’t one is a crime.

Hopefully once Sam is on the mend this can be mentioned to the family so they can avoid the hassle of criminal charges in the future!

Again thank you so much for sharing! These are the kinds of things we as parrot people need to band together to take care of!


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Thank you thank you silver for bringing this up. I really hope this bird is doing well and recovers from his surgery but I see a lot of questionable things about him being a "service bird"

Honestly there's a lot of red flags in this post that make me question is legitimacy, I have yet to watch the video though as I am currently in a hotel and my parents are sleeping a thin wall away. I'm gonna pick apart what was said, again I really question the legitimacy of all of this because there's just so much that is off.

I'm not an expert but I can't see how the bird could alert to the kids seizures as it's a rather smell based thing as far as I'm aware. With dogs they alert to a smell change in blood sugar levels or certain chemicals (it will differ from case to case) and as far as I'm aware birds don't have the best sense of smell. (correct me if I am wrong)

Professionally trained service bird. Professionally trained by WHO? There's not legit service animal trainers who would take on a bird (since they're not recognized under law as service animals) so my guess is either A) They went to a parrot trainer and the trainer wasnt aware of their intentions to make him a 'service' parrot or B) They took I'm to a less than reputable trainer and described their situation and the trainer was just looking for easy extra cash or C) They trained the parrot themselves and are calling it professional (you can handler train service dogs too but it's rather difficult and.. not professional)

Sam has been with Mary and Jacob since he was a baby, and was professionally trained to be Sam's Service-Animal, part of which was Free-Flight Training Sam from a baby.

Free flying would have absolutely no use to a service animal. All that's teaching the bird is it can fly away if wanted. It does teach recall though which is good but a service animal should not LEAVE it's handler at anytime unless required for a task or it isn't working atm.

as well as to potential safety situations when Jacob is outside by himself (traffic dangers, stranger dangers, etc.)

Honestly, I don't think this is trained behaviour. This just sounds like a parrot being a parrot to me. "Danger ahead?? I don't want to go that way tell the human to stop." which can be beneficial in the case described but at the same time, if these situations really exist around the boy that often and he isn't equipped to handle it himself (I know there are varying levels of autism, psyzophrenia and the like and I obviously don't know how it affects him) maybe he should have a HUMAN with when he is out. Dogs can only do so much and even with service dogs it's highly suggested that if you have a disability that could leave you stranded (collapse from a seizure for example; your service animal cannot call 911 and it's debatable if it's okay to train the animal to go alert to people around you / strangers) that's just my take.

It doesn't really detail what the bird is even FOR. They detail several physical/mental disabilities but not which the bird provides tasks for (only task they described was the one I touched on above). All of these conditions are wildly different and a dog would struggle to manage them all. And I don't think a bird would be able to manage them much at all.

Epilepsy: They described him alerting to oncoming attacks, I've already touched this but it doesn't sound reasonable due to parrots physical inability to detect such a thing. There's some debate on if seizures can be detected through certain behaviors the human may express prior to a spell, but it's not confirmed but that's something a parrot could indeed pick up on possibly. An epilepsy alert dog is also usually trained to help their handler find a safe spot where they can sit/lay down to wait out the seizure and the dog sometimes lays under the head to prevent damage encase medication didn't hell and a seizure does happen.

Autism: Autism service dogs are usually trained based on the handlers needs, but most common tasks are; retrieving wanted items (which a parrot could do depending on the size of the item), DPT or deep pressure therapy. Which... is debatable if a parrot could provide this for a teen boy. It really depends on how much pressure works for the boy / how much the parrot weighs. I'm obviously not equipped to answer that bit. Alert to stimming. Stimming is when a repetitive behavior is happening and sometimes it's harmless but other times it can he harmful (picking at skin for example) so the dog would be trained to alert the kids caretaker (parent, hired caretaker, friend, whatever, just a trusted human) to stop the behavior. A parrot COULD do this but it's already been explained that the kid goes out without any human accompanying him. There are several several other potential tasks that an autism service dog would preform but I'll leave it at this.

Parkinson's: Personally I've never heard of a parkinsons service dog but it would work. Judging by the kids age I doubt it's progressed to the point he would need a service animal for it but if it has then these are some tasks I believe would help parkinsons. Retrieving items. Already described how it could be possibly depending on the size of the object. Mobility. A parrot could not provide this. Other than those two I cannot readily think of any possible tasks. Imo this one heavily needs human help especially in terms of feeding because if the shaking gets bad enough the one with it might not be able to easily feed themselves and the like.

Schizophrenia is largely case to case so I'm not really going to touch on this one. The only tasks I've heard of that's specific to this is letting the handler know that if what they're hearing/seeing is real or a hallucination and I'm not really sure how a dog is trained to determine that so I can't say if a parrot would be able to or not.

I'm sorry this ended up being a really long post but again, lots of red flags and I'm just not sure about this one. It's not unheard of for people to make up elaborate stories in gofundme for some extra cash. Again, I have yet to watch the video so maybe that has some proof (or maybe more red flags) If all of this is true then I really really hope the bird recovers and the boy gets some true help for his disabilities, because even if it is all real I still don't entirely believe a parrot would make an adequate service animal just due to how parrots are. Majority of dogs aren't even suited to be service animals. There's a lot of requirements and laws and standards that go into it and a parrot just doesn't meet the quota imo.

I'll stop rambling now, again If this is all real I truly wish the best for the parrot and the boy.

 

[Scott]

STOP!!! DO NOT DONATE!!!

Sam had the surgery, the GoFundMe should be down now...Thank you to everyone who wanted to or who did donate. They did an Endoscopy and a Flush, and got everything out of Sam...He's doing fine as of now. It was an Avian Vet in San Diego that he went to and who did the procedure, and he ended-up lowering his price so that they could get the procedure done. Hopefully Sam will make a full recovery, as Jacob does absolutely need him, and he's a beautiful bird.

Fantastic news! Couldn't find an updated video or link, though the nonstop drama and added side effects are at the edge of my patience. First time I've watched a video with multiple embedded ads.....

 

[SilverSage]

I’m
Glad the surgery went well!!

It gets tricky when kids and “service animals” are involved. Often an ESA is passed off as a service animal because the person has disabilities that really could warrant a service animal, and it tugs the heart strings. I’ve actually been involved in training both alert dogs (primarily asthma and diabetes in this case) and autism dogs. The alert dogs work by smell but it may be possible that a bird on a shoulder could work by sight or touch? The autism dogs worked mainly by providing services that a bird just isn’t big enough to do.

But I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt that the people think the bird is a service animal. Even if they don’t no one wants a child’s pet to die, and I’m glad Sam is on the mend!


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[EllenD]

Okay, so I feel the need to update everyone on this situation...I didn't want to update this until I got the whole story about what was actually going on here. Sam is doing fine, he did have the Endoscopy and Crop Flush done, and he's doing well. The Vet found a ton of "junk" inside of his crop and his stomach, but not metal....Red-Flags indeed...

First of all, I was made aware of this situation by a close friend who lives in Los Angeles (from Pennsylvania) and who also does Free-Flying with his birds. He is friendly with someone who knows Carolin Von Petzholdt, the YouTube parrot Vlogger and Macaw Free-Flyer, and he was made aware of Sam's story by his friend, and they both donated money to Sam's GoFundMe account themselves. So after I read-up on Sam's story, watched the videos, and was sent copies of the invoices from the first 2 vets that saw Sam and who did the Chelation, blood work, and initial x-rays, and who did diagnose Sam with heavy metal poisoning and who located the metal flakes on his x-rays, that's when I too donated. Then I was asked if I would post about Sam in the forum, which I of course said yes to, because I wanted to help the bird....

I don't know Sam's owner, who's name is again Mary, nor did I know anything about her or her son, Jacob, except that Jacob was most definitely Autistic (this is very apparent if you watch the videos with Jacob in them). And Sam, while not a "Service Animal" officially, as I now know, was in-fact specially trained by a professor from UC Davis when he was just a very young baby, to alert Sam to oncoming-seizures and to any approaching people when they are outside of their home. Basically Jacob cannot be approached by anyone at all if they are outside of the house. That's what I know is true. Unfortunately, Mary has apparently been lying about a lot of other things for a long time, and she conned so many people this time, people she doesn't even know.

It's a long story, and I'll write it all out later today. For now, just know that I am extremely sorry, had I known that Mary was not being completely truthful about the situation with Sam, I certainly would not have posted anything about it here, nor would I have donated to her GoFundMe myself. I feel terrible about this, I'm not one to get scammed by people like this, not at all, but so many people got scammed in this one that only wanted to help this bird get well again, and it's sad all the way around. But i feel terrible about exposing anyone in this forum to possibly getting conned.

***GoFundMe is fully aware of this situation, and will fully refund any money that anyone may have donated to Sam's account. Carolin Von Petzholdt notified them immediately and has gotten her money back already, as have I. So if anyone here did in-fact donate to Mary's GoFundMe, please simply contact GoFundMe to get your money refunded. Again, i'll tell the entire story here in a bit, so that everyone knows exactly what happened. I just now got all of the details, I wanted to wait until I knew what actually happened so I wasn't spreading anymore falsehoods.

I don't know why people do things like this, but anyone who uses their misfortunes, or rather their son's and their pet's illnesses/psychological conditions for their own, personal gain is a very sick person with no sense of empathy or compassion. And I'm so sorry that I fell for this and then brought it into our community.

 

[ChristaNL]

:smile015: If you helped save Sams life ... you did a good thing!
(at least the vets got paid for all the good work they did - so thats another plus, they get to stay in business to help other birds)


Mary as wel as Caroline will get wat is comming to them, one day/way or another!
They both abuse creatures who cannot defend themselves to get attention, money etc. etc. and are as such despicable beings.

 

[Scott]

Looking forward to the backside of this story, Ellen. If Sam was indeed filled with all sorts of errant materials, and if his life was saved, some good came from the story.

I know Dr. Loudis fairly well, and he seemed a bit subdued while Mary was directing the conversation. My impression was he wanted to cut through all the crap and decide whether he could save Sam.

 

[SilverSage]

Ellen, I don’t think YOU have ANYTHING to be ashamed of.

YOU have a big heart and a generous soul

YOU did your due diligence

And YOU came back to protect e everyone when you realized there were lies involved.

Others were dishonest, you are just a nice person. You are constantly going out of you way to help others, and we love you for it.


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[SammyAndyAlex]

Note:

According to ADA law (in the US) only dogs (and in some cases miniature horses) can be considered service animals.



I am in no way hating on the family or on the autistic person nor am I denying the wonderful resource that I am sure the macaw is to the boy and his family. I am in fact autistic myself and my parrot helps me greatly, but calling it a service animal is illegal in the US.

Service animals that are accepted legally for autism are dogs only (as miniature horses are exceptions to the law). I have a service dog because of my autism.

PS: There is no official registration for service animals in the US. The only thing you have to do to get an "official" ID card is to fill out a form online and pay about 50 bucks. Through those websites I could register my pillow as an "official" service animal.

Again, I am not hating on the boy or his family, but laws are laws and should be followed. I hope that they are able to gather the money to treat their sick bird.

 

[SilverSage]

Note:



According to ADA law (in the US) only dogs (and in some cases miniature horses) can be considered service animals.







I am in no way hating on the family or on the autistic person nor am I denying the wonderful resource that I am sure the macaw is to the boy and his family. I am in fact autistic myself and my parrot helps me greatly, but calling it a service animal is illegal in the US.



Service animals that are accepted legally for autism are dogs only (as miniature horses are exceptions to the law). I have a service dog because of my autism.



PS: There is no official registration for service animals in the US. The only thing you have to do to get an "official" ID card is to fill out a form online and pay about 50 bucks. Through those websites I could register my pillow as an "official" service animal.



Again, I am not hating on the boy or his family, but laws are laws and should be followed. I hope that they are able to gather the money to treat their sick bird.

You are correct and others including myself have pointed this out. It’s frustrating that 9/10 people seem to have no idea what the laws really are.

I recently got in trouble on a ringneck group when someone stated that her ringneck was her service animal and can legally go with her anywhere. When I brought up the facts as they stand she changed her story to the bird being her Emotional Support Animal. I myself have an ESA and I’m well aware of the differences between ESAs abs SAs. I explained as gently as possible that ESAs DO NOT HAVE PUBLIC ACCESS but it was not well received.

I’ve pointed out to people often that most of the time parrots are welcome in businesses that are not medical or food related if you simply ask. Lots of places love seeing them; my UPS lady is one of many local business workers who regularly asks after my birds if I don’t have one with me, but being WELCOME is not the same as having RIGHTS.


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[Owlet]

As a service dog handler it is EXTREMELY stressful seeing ESAs / fake service animals in public where they aren't allowed / shouldn't be. I work at a hospital and the amount of times I see ESAs and "therapy dogs" (cmon cant you at least get your terminology for the dog correct at least even if its fake) come in is just stupid. Now, the hospital DOES have a therapy dog program and pet dogs are allowed during end of life care if the proper paperwork and what not is filled out.. but the people I interact with aren't part of either of those things. This is a HOSPITAL it has to stay CLEAN. Service animals are an obvious exception but they still have to remain clean. To work there I had to fill out lots of paper work and what not to confirm my dog was clean and healthy and wouldn't cause a problem while there. There's a TON of other issues that comes with faking a service animal and it heavily affects legit service dog handlers greatly.

Therapy dog:
- Helps many
- Doesn't by law require any training but certain programs will have different requirements.
- Does not have public access rights
- Only allowed in facilities that the program it is working with is allowed in

ADA Service dog:
- Helps ONE person
- MUST be task trained
- MUST be public access trained
- Protected by fair housing act
- MUST be allowed anywhere where the GENERAL PUBLIC is allowed.
- DOES NOT require any form of ID (certification, paperwork, ID card, vest, etc) anything that claims to sell legit forms of ID is a SCAM
- Illegal to interact with dog without handler's permission


ESA:
- Can be ANY animal as long as it provides the human with emotional support
- Doesn't by law require any training.
- Protected by fair housing act
- NO public access rights.

 

[ChristaNL]

He Owlet,
thanks


this is very clear.