SIMBA – Female. Moluccan cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis). Simba arrived at the sanctuary in 2001 from another rescue who was unable to successfully place her and her then companion because Simba was a major mutilator. This is different from plucking. She was pretty plucked as well. Mutilation is defined as physical damage to their own flesh. In her case, she had a large crater like wound in her chest, right across her keel bone. Upon examination by the local veterinarian, who also took x-rays, it was discovered that her keel bone had at one time been shattered beyond repair. And judging from the bone shards and calcification, never had any medical care. There was a lot of scar tissue too. And whenever it was particularly annoying or possible painful, Simba would gnaw on herself to try to alleviate the problem. Over the years, we’ve had to treat it surgically, topically and lately, with cold laser therapy. But today she is as healthy as she’s probably ever going to be. She’s happy and mostly healed up. She wears a lot of body armor but appears to be rather comfortable in general. She was Chicky’s best friend.
