In December 2006, an animal activist whom I know well told me about something terrible. She has been asked by a vet to come with her and rescue some budgies because they live under terrible circumstances. Of course she accompanied the vet and soon was shocked about which suffering people can cause by just neglecting their animals... They entered the home of a woman who didn't clean up her house for years as it seemed. In this mess, there were dozens of budgies - in fact there were about 150 budgies living in the home that reminded of a garbage dump. Once she owned four to six budgies, the owner claimed. They started to breed and she allowed them to do whatever they want. That's why there were so many birds among dross and incredible dirt. Apparently the owner didn't ever clean the bird's cages or anything else. Some of the birds were ill or injured; and there were some casualties among them who could not be saved. Nearly 40 birds died or had to be put to sleep. But the animal activists and the vet fought for each life. 115 birds were rescued and after they have recovered, most of them moved into new loving homes.

A handful of budgies were unlucky because the bad circumstances of living had caused disabilities that were more or less severe. One of these unlucky birds was a yellow-green and very young male budgie. One of his toes was broken and the fracture healed in the wrong position, so his toe was twisted. But what was even worse: One of his wings had been injured by a rat or a rat when he was a nestling. There was only one intact wing left - the poor little guy was a flightless bird. I heard about him and hadn't seen any photo of him, but I immediately decided to take him to my place because my bird room is handicapped accessible. On 01/07/2007 I first met this little guy when he arrived at my place - and it was love at first sight. He is indescribably charming, he doesn't fear humans and what's best: he loves to be caressed all day long. Without any doubt Shiva - that's his new name - had been living under bad circumstances. But no human ever harmed him and therefore he is very faithful.

Even though Shiva is unable to fly, he loves life and he's always gentle. Together with his love Indira who also had been rescued from the dirty house in Mannheim, he moved into my bird room. There he became a close friend of Satyr who treated him as if he was his father when Shiva had just moved in. Also Woodstock is a close friend of Shiva. They are much alike because they're both yellow-green birds. Together with his two friends and Indira, Shiva loves to stay on his favourite perch which can be seen in the photo on the right.

I have seen many loving budgie pairs before, but none of them was like Indira and Shiva. They are soul mates and they do everything together: eating, taking a bath, climbing around the twigs and branches, and even sleeping. Since Indira's hips are both dislocated, she rests on a cork platform I built for her. Each night he lays right beside her and the couple loves physical contact. And sometimes they climb onto my lap and love to be caressed by me. It's the greatest gift you can get as a bird owner to have two loving birds who like to share their relationship with you.

Meaning of the name
Shiva is the name of a Hindu God who stands for destruction on the one hand and for regeneration on the other. I thought it might be a good name for this bird because I was hoping his destroyed wing would heal - in fact it didn't, but I still like the name. In Sanskrit, the word shiva means kind or friendly what perfectly describes my budgie's character and mood.