03 Feb 42 Interview with Melanie Canatella: Working with Special Needs Parrots
This episode is a juicy one! In our interview with self-proclaimed bird nerd and parrot lover, Melanie Canatella, Founder of Fluff and Feathers, we chat about working with birds with special needs and creating a more harmonious environment and relationship with them. Melanie has been a professional trainer since 2015 and has multiple college degrees in behavioral modification and psychology.
She is passionate about animal welfare, as well as rescue and rehabilitation work, so in this podcast, we dive into her work with birds with special needs, adopting a number of parrots that no one wanted to adopt – including a Double Yellow Headed Amazon from one of our close partners, PEAC of San Diego – and we even riff on really aggressive parrots.
This is an in-depth conversation about how minimizing fear and stress responses can weave tight the fabric that connects us with the animals in our care. Melanie is a treasured member of the Avian Behavior Lab!