Happiness is a full stomach

When I was taking anthropology in college I studied a group of people called the Ik. The Kenyan Government had stripped them of their culture and tried to turn them into agriculturalists, an attempt that did more than fail. By the age of six most girls had turn to prostitution and starvation had become mode of life.

What I learned about those people is something that is important to the lives of parrots as well, especially those who are newly brought into sanctuaries. Colin Turnbull, who studied these people firsthand, learned that the word for happiness was exactly the same word word as the word for full stomach. After watching what happened to Sugar when she came here I now understand that: it is terrible to be hungry; it is terrible to be separated from your former life; how much more terrible it is to be hungry and separated from your former life.

The first goal that should be achieved when rehabilitating a new member of the flock should be a full stomach.