Written by Dee Hendrickx, founder of Brainy Birds – Parrot Rescue and Rehabilitation
Professional photography by Framed Media
The Story of Two Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and Their Second Chance at Life
For more than 50 years, Booitjie and Jacky lived lives that were never truly their own.
As Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, they were considered valuable – not for who they were, but for what they could produce. Caged and paired off, they were used solely as breeding birds, their lives dictated by cycles of egg-laying and baby-rearing, all for the sales trade. Year after year, they brought new chicks into the world, only to watch them taken away and sold.
No toys. No perches in sunlight. No time to play or fly.
Just wire enclosures, routines, and the quiet sorrow of lives unlived.
Eventually, age caught up – not just with Booitjie and Jacky, but with the people who bred them. As the breeders grew older and could no longer maintain their operations, most of the “best” breeding stock was sold off. Booitjie, Jacky, and two other parrots were deemed no longer wanted – not young enough, fertile enough, or flashy enough for sale.
But their story didn’t end there.
It finally began.
They were surrendered to Brainy Birds Rescue – and with that, everything changed.
For the first time in their lives, Booitjie and Jacky were seen not as breeding machines, but as individuals with hearts, stories, and an incredible capacity for resilience. They stepped out of the shadows of their past and into a sanctuary of love, sunlight, freedom, and healing.
In the two years since arriving at Brainy Birds, these beautiful birds have been given what was always their birth right: space to stretch their wings, fresh air to breathe, and the dignity of choice – to fly, to perch, to nap, to squawk, to simply be.
They’ve discovered the joy of enrichment toys, the gentle touch of kind hands, and the simple happiness of sitting in the sun with nothing expected of them. They’re still learning what it means to be cockatoos – playful, noisy, clever, affectionate – after a lifetime of being denied that chance.
While scars from the past don’t disappear overnight, the healing Booitjie and Jacky have experienced at Brainy Birds Rescue is nothing short of extraordinary. They are no longer “stock” – they are beloved, unique individuals, surrounded by care and compassion every single day.
Their story is a reminder of why sanctuaries matter.
Why second chances matter.
And most of all, why every bird – regardless of age or background – deserves to be loved, not for what they can give but simply for who they are.
Please help us to keep helping them, please consider signing a monthly debit order.
Our bank details are as follows:
Brainy Birds NPO
First National Bank
Account number: 62638346678
Bank code: 201510
Swift code: FIRNZAJJ
All Brainy Birds media and donation platforms: paypal.me/4brainybirds
Email brainybirds.socialmedia@gmail.com, visit brainybirds.co.za, follow them on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter. Click for links to all Brainy Birds social pages and donation platforms.
