I found Vela on found 10/18/93 in front of my student hostel when it was colder than zero degrees Celsius outside. Somebody had treated her very badly, indeed she had been maltreated in the most horrible way one can imagine. She had several wounds and had been burned, so she was extremely scary and weak due to her infections, the cold and the loss of blood. Mira immediately cared for her when I returned from my vet with the injured Vela. They became a wonderful couple within a few days. Time healed Vela's wounds and even her fear vanished. She became tame and after slightly more than one year in my home she perched on my finger or landed on my head by her own decision.

In November 1995, she suddenly got ill. The vet diagnosed a kidney tumor and told me she will not survive this very long. He spoke of about at maximum six weeks and after that time she would begin to feel the first pain caused by the tumor. I am glad that I decided to give her those six weeks and didn't let her been put to sleep. Her tumor encapsulated what astonished even the vet. At first, the tumor had grown with an enormous speed, and then, however, it just stopped growing from one day to the other and even became smaller after some months. First, Vela lost her capability of flight due to the additional weight of the tumor and the change of the barycenter of her tiny body. But my budgie lady was very courageous and learned to fly again. Even though she had that encapsulated tumor in her body, she felt no pain at all. After her beloved husband Mira had passed away she completely lost her joy of life. Only a few weeks after he left us, she died on 09/16/96 when she was about 16 years old.

Meaning of the name
Since Vela could not fly that good after I had found her outside in the street, I named her after the sail of the Ship Argo, a constellation that is visible only from the southern hemisphere.