Chapter 4- taken to three different destinations and into human care

The captured birds and other animals were taken to different destinations from Rio around the world. Most of the animals were in cages but a few of them, such as reptiles, were put in plastic boxes. Among the captured birds was Clarinda, Aurora and Tomas' mother but she eventually succumbed to her injuries inflicted on her by the cockatoo and she died during the journey. Sirius and Aurora were together in one Skyvan while Bruno and Belle were in another and they were taken to a different destination than Sirius and Aurora. One Skyvan travelled to the continent of Europe where some of the caged animals were dropped off and sold to the country of the United Kingdom or the UK for short. Two of the animals were Sirius and Aurora and they were dropped off in the UK's capital city, London with a selection of other animals.

London

The weather in the city was not very cheerful. The skies over the forest of human buildings divided by 'rivers' of roads on which four-wheeled objects, cars and other vehicles drove were a miserable grey and from those clouds poured rain. In the city below, the hustle and bustle of city life similar to Rio in Brazil occurred with people going to different destinations, either on foot on the paths (called sidewalks in the Americas) or in their vehicles on the roads. Because it was rainy today, the walkers were in a rush to get out of the downpour. On one road, a lorry (also called a truck) was driving. This lorry was an exotic animal transport vehicle and it was carrying an assortment of exotic animals to a pet store. In its cargo trailer, the assortment of the animals sat in their cages, many of them in deep despair and fear, their fate in the hands of the current human handlers, the truck drivers. Among them were Aurora and Sirius, the latter who had recovered from his knockout inflicted on him by the wicked cockatoo before they left Brazil. The two rare blue macaw chicks sat huddled together in their cage, their fear-saturated eyes taking in the miserable atmosphere of the truck which was as dismal as the weather outside. Like those other animals, most of them birds, Aurora and Sirius were clearly VERY frightened and wished they were back in their jungle home with their parents and siblings. Further, they wondered where Bruno had been taken but it was clear that he was not among them. Based on this, the pair assumed the worst for him. Sadly, they continued to wait with the other animals in the cargo trailer as the truck continued to drive to a pet store.

Moments later, the lorry arrived at its destination and had pulled up outside the pet shop's entrance. The moment it did, the owner of the shop and his assistants, all of them dressed in coats due to the rainy weather, stepped out of the store's entrance and went to meet with the lorry driver and his assistant. In the cargo trailer, the caged animals including Aurora and Sirius continued either huddling together miserably or gazing down at the floors of their cages when suddenly, the sound of the trailer flap opening alerted them and pulled their attention in its direction. Then the light from the outside world poured in as the trailer's flap was fully opened.

"Right, let's get these animals out of here and into the pet shop out of this rain," said one of the humans, the lorry driver as he climbed into the cargo trailer with his assistant and within moments, the first cages began to be picked up by the two and handed to the shop assistants. The moment the assistants received the first cages, they hastily took them to the shop to protect the animals within from getting wet. Once they had dropped off those first cages, they returned to obtain the next cages. The shopkeeper and his team did this in rotation for quicker transport. As they did this, cars and other vehicles drove past; their wheels sweeping up some surf from the puddles welled on the sides of the roads from the rain. Soon, the lorry driver and his assistant came to Sirius and Aurora's cage and the assistant picked up the barred container holding the two blue macaw chicks. Aurora and Sirius seized hold of the bars as they were rocked by the assistant as he walked through the cargo towards the back end exit where the shop team was waiting. Then he reached his arms out to hand the cage holding Sirius and Aurora to one of the shop assistants, a female. However, as he did that, something happened. As the female shop assistant took the cage from the lorry assistant and turned to take Sirius and Aurora to the pet shop, she stumbled and nearly fell flat on her face with the cage in her hands. Aurora and Sirius were jolted in their cage as the woman managed to prevent that from happening but the jerking had dislodged the lock holding the cage door shut and jolted the door open. When the two blue macaws saw this, they immediately seized the opportunity to escape and immediately darted for the door. The lead shopkeeper seized the woman as she regained her balance and stood up, her hands firmly gripping the cage.

"Be careful," the shopkeeper said firmly, "The road nearby is very busy you know. We do NOT want you getting struck by a passing vehicle," the woman took a moment to regain her composure from the shock and alarm from almost stumbling into the road. She then looked into the cage to check on the two birds in the cage but to her surprise, she saw that the cage was empty.

"Huh? Where have the two little blue macaws gone!?" she asked. The shopkeeper and the lorry driver looked into the cage in her hands and also saw that it was empty. Then they saw that the door was open, leading them to draw one conclusion. Immediately, the three looked all around until they saw two little blue forms disappearing into the rainy sky. The woman went to try and chase them down but the shopkeeper seized her to restrain her.

"Forget those birds," he told his underling helper, "just focus on getting the other animals from this lorry into the pet shop."

The woman abandoned the idea of pursuing Aurora and Sirius and resumed her task, putting down the empty cage as she did.

In the rainy sky, Sirius and Aurora continued ascending, fighting against the downpour on the go. The two frightened chicks shot terrified gazes all around to take in the city, hoping to find familiar landmarks such as the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain. However, to their dismay, they could not find those landmarks. They rose higher and higher to get a better view of the city and still they could not find the key landmarks that defined Rio. The landmarks they did see was a giant white wheel (the London Eye) built next to a large meandering river (the River Thames) with a tall block tapering to a point nearby. That block had four circular faces on each of its four sides, each face possessing two stick things (this was Big Ben clock tower). When the pair saw that they were clearly in a different city to Rio, panic soon set in and they immediately began to seek shelter from the rain. Sirius and Aurora flew over the city of London until their eyes eventually landed on a green island among the sea of drab of cityscape colours (Jubilee Gardens). Seeing that the green island had trees, Aurora and Sirius immediately rocketed for the area. As soon as they were in the green island, they sought shelter in one of the trees from the rain. Then Sirius and Aurora, fright and trauma at the whole ordeal of being ripped from their home in Brazil and brought to a completely unfamiliar location gripping them hard, then huddled together and began to break down and weep as they began to wait for the rain which continued to pummel the Jubilee Gardens and the surrounding cityscape of London to ease or stop.

Australia

On the other side of the world from Aurora and Sirius' location, the Skyvan carrying Bruno the Lear's macaw and Sirius' sister Belle landed in an airport Down Under. Once they had done this, the assortment of animals were sold through the market and taken to various destinations in Australia. Bruno and some of the other animals were taken to Perth on the far western side of the continent and like Aurora and Sirius, the little Lear's macaw chick who still could not fly, quivered with fear at the unfamiliar surroundings. Soon, Bruno and company were sold to another pet shop and unlike Aurora and Sirius who had managed to escape because they could fly, Bruno actually wound up in the store. There he waited to see what fate would befall him.

Back in Tijuca Forest near Rio

Three days after the poachers' attack on the forest, a small flock of blue-and-gold macaws flew through the canopy. A number of birds had returned to examine the aftermath of the poacher attack and to look for any animals that have managed to escape getting captured and/or hurt by the poachers' animal assistants, especially the ravens and crows. They were heading in the direction of the city of Rio, hoping to meet a certain group of humans and the reason was because they had something important in their clutches. It was midmorning, the sun roughly half way between its rising point in the eastern Atlantic Ocean horizon and its highest point in the sky at midday. Because Rio was near the Equator of the Earth, it experienced very little day length changes with the seasons. Despite the bright sun beaming down on the forest and the cityscape, the mood was not at all cheerful and the blue-and-gold macaws were saturated with it. One blue-and-gold macaw, a male, flew through the forest and eventually found a group of humans as they walked through the forest on the forest floor. Immediately, he hid. Nearby, two female blue-and-gold macaws peered out from a large leaf.

"There they are, Gabriel," said one of them in a hushed voice, "The group of bat studiers."

The male blue-and-gold macaw named Gabriel smiled and gazed at them.

"Well done for finding them, Ana and Alice," replied he also in a low voice to avoid alerting the group of humans below, "Now you go and bring in the rest of the group who have Ginger in their clutches here."

The two females who were sisters named Ana and Alice nodded and left to carry out the task while Gabriel continued keeping an eye on the group of humans who were chiroptologists or bat studiers.

Ana and Alice continued flying on until they found the rest of the small group of blue and yellow macaws. One of the macaws, another male, was clutching something gently in his talons.

"We have found the team of chiroptologists," Ana said, "They're visiting the forest now."

"Gabriel is waiting for you," added Alice. The other macaws acknowledged this and with that, they followed the two sisters to Gabriel's location. As they flew along, another female macaw, Gabriel's mate, gazed at the male macaw carrying Ginger hidden in his talons with an uncertain look on her face.

"Are you sure about this, Tobias?" she asked, "I mean flying foxes, and other bats, are not meant to be in a human's building unless they are being medically cared for."

"Well, we can't raise her, Bruna," replied Tobias, "One, it is not very safe for a baby Amazon flying fox here, and certainly not for one that is orphaned. Two, we birds cannot raise a bat pup very well and three, our human bat studier friends will be able to take care of her better than us," he then gazed at the bundle of orange fur and black wings in his talons, "It is VERY important that she is put in safe hands knowing how rare her species is."

"But she cannot fly yet," said Bruna, "Neither can she cling to an overhang perch to roost. Are you sure those humans will be able to provide for those needs alongside the other basics she needs to survive?"

Tobias replied with a silent gaze for a moment before speaking, "Well her parents Alberto and Lily are dead, having been killed possibly by some of those horrible ravens and crows sent by those poachers to help catch some of the flying foxes from her clan, obviously to protect their daughter as evidenced by the claw marks on their bodies, and the rest of the flying foxes have disappeared and so have Alvin and Isabella the glaucous macaws. Ginger here is the only surviving bat of that clan and it is important she is put into expert care and those chiroptologists are the only ones capable of such."

"Alvin and Isabella's chicks Sirius and Belle are nowhere to be found either," said another macaw, "And neither are Bruno, Aurora and Clarinda. Tomas and Erico are also dead and I believe the other four chicks and Clarinda have been successfully captured by those poachers. Because of that, there's nothing we can do about them."

Tobias nodded in agreement to this and continued following Ana and Alice to Gabriel's location with little Ginger in his talons.

Soon, the macaws met with Gabriel and Tobias showed the little bat pup with orange fur in his talons.

"Here she is, Gabe," said the macaw, the bat asleep in his feet, "she must have dozed off during our flight to here. Poor girl's lost such a LOT in one day three days ago thanks to those wretched poachers and their VILE animal assistants: those ravens, crows, city dogs and city cats, and ESPECIALLY that cockatoo and swan. Both her parents... her clan... been through so many traumas and must have been exhausted from the shock of everything..."

Gabriel smiled and nodded to another macaw who then descended from the canopy to the group of human chiroptologists to get their attention. While she did that, Gabriel, Tobias and Bruna also descended towards a rock under a large fern leaf. Then as soon as the female macaw got the chiroptologists' attention and began to lead them in their direction, Tobias gently placed the sleeping flying fox pup onto the rock. As soon as they had done that, they immediately disappeared into the canopy and watched as the chiroptologists surrounded Ginger on the rock. Then after some discussion and identifying Ginger as being a baby Amazon flying fox, one young woman came forward and, with gloved hands, gently picked up Ginger and placed her into a box.

"I will take care of this little bat," said she, to which the macaws smiled, their mission accomplished. "Okay, Joanna, then make sure that you raise her well," said the leader of the group. Then after some more discussion, the group left. As the macaws saw the chiroptologists leave and relieved that Ginger was in safe hands, they left also.

"She will grow up safely away from any human hand that snatches animals for the trade like they are mere objects and not living things," said Tobias to which the other blue-and-gold macaws nodded in agreement.

"And when she is old enough and ready, she will return to the jungle," added Gabriel, "Hopefully those chiroptologists will find her a mate so that she will not be alone when she becomes an adult."

"That is easier said than done," said Ana as she flew with Alice, "Her species is so incredibly rare like the Spix, glaucous and Lear's macaws."

Gabriel just breathed a sigh and continued flying. Then the blue-and-gold macaw group disappeared back into the jungle and headed home. Meanwhile, Ginger was taken home by Joanna (who, like the other chiroptologists was vaccinated against any potential diseases bats may carry and they were known vectors to certain illnesses) and was named Ahsoka by her after a certain character from the Star Wars franchise. From then on, Ahsoka became Joanna's foster bat but NOT a pet for bats were not suitable to be pets like macaws, dogs and cats.

Sometime later, back in London

Sirius and Aurora continued to shelter in the tree in the Jubilee Gardens until the rains cleared. Once this happened with the clouds parting to allow the sun's rays to slash through the air and dispel the dismal greyness in the sky, the Spix and glaucous macaw chicks moved on. However, as they did, they felt their stomachs growl and send shooting pain through their tummies, indicating one thing. Sirius and Aurora could not remember the last time they had eaten a meal but it was probably either breakfast or lunch back in their original home before they were snatched by the poachers. Desperately, the Spix and glaucous macaw chicks began to look for food. Firstly, they realised to their dismay that none of the trees in the gardens were fruit trees much like the trees back in their original home in Rio. Based on this observation, the pair began to look around for their own food. Foraging for food and what to eat and what not to eat was something a macaw chick usually learnt from their parents but because Sirius and Aurora were both torn from their own parents by poachers, they were forced to learn foraging early and on their own. Further, they were forced to look for food in places not normal for macaws to look, such as bins (also called trash cans) and discarded rubbish tossed aside by humans and the pair went for the first option having spotted an overfull bin built next to a seat. Immediately and desperate to fill their stomachs, Sirius and Aurora flew to the bin and began to rummage around the discarded rubbish for any fruit they could find. However, as they did that, then two little blue birds found themselves in the gaze of a young male human. Immediately, the pair froze and the three began to gaze at each other for a while. The young boy had brown hair, brown eyes and a fairly slim build and clutched under his left arm was a sphere, coloured white and black. He was stood there, stock still, his eyes glued to two little blue macaws digging through the rubbish in the bin like scavengers while the two birds gazed back, stunned at being caught in the act. There was silence above the three for a while until finally, the boy made the first move, having taken pity on the two blue macaw chicks and assuming them to have somehow escaped a pet store and getting lost. Slowly, he reached out his other hand to them. When Aurora and Sirius saw the incoming hand, they emitted timid whimpers and hid in the former food packaging in the trash bin.

"Don't worry," the boy said calmly and with assurance, "I won't hurt you."

He continued to slowly extend his hand to them. Aurora and Sirius continued cowering in the rubbish as the boy's hand slowly neared them, the boy uttering calming and gentle shush noises until finally, they reluctantly warmed up to the boy and allowed them to pet them. Then the boy carefully scooped up the two chicks from the trash and immediately took them home to his house which was close by to the Jubilee Gardens. This boy was named Brendon and he was just on his way home after a ball game with some friends. When he arrived at the house with the two blue macaw chicks, he showed them to his parents, explaining to them that he had found them in a trash bin in the Jubilee Gardens. His parents were initially stunned at the two blue macaw chicks but upon seeing that they were ravenously hungry, they immediately gave them some fruit which they quickly devoured. It was their first proper meal they had had in more than a day possibly. Then Brendon begged his parents to allow him to keep them which they granted provided that he looks after them well. Brendon was glad at this and immediately, he and his parents bought the appropriate parrot materials for the chicks, such as a cage, some large perches and the appropriate food. After having his new pets settle into his home, Brendon named the pair Aurora and Sirius, the EXACT names they were named by their original parents back in Rio, to their UTMOST surprise. Despite this, Sirius and Aurora settled into their new home under the care of their new owner.

Back in Perth, Australia

Bruno the Lear's macaw, who was taken to Australia, soon found himself in the hands of an owner as well. He was purchased from the store he was in and given to a young girl named Audrey by her parents as a birthday present. Audrey was a special needs girl and had speech developmental problems so she struggled to learn to talk and form words and sentences. She was roughly Brendon's age but unlike Brendon who was a single child, Audrey had an older stepsister named Ana who was born from her father's first marriage but her mother had passed away giving birth to her. Ana was extremely jealous of Audrey and often mocked her speech troubles. After all, her father and stepmother had given her more attention due to her developmental problems and Ana had felt utterly left out. Rather than being told by her parents to help her little half-sister in her development, Ana had instead turned her nose up. And the purchasing of a macaw chick for Audrey had been the final straw for the embittered sister but her parents had forbidden her from owning animals for she was not very nice to them and she was prevented from interacting with Bruno for he was strictly Audrey's and Audrey's alone. We'll hear more about this rotten sister later on. Then as soon as Audrey had received Bruno, she was overjoyed and she named him Milo. The Lear's macaw, upon receiving his new name, decided to this will be his name from now on as he wanted to forget all about his troubled past in Rio and start anew.

Bruno, now Milo, was a very lucky macaw, as were Sirius and Aurora who had been found by Brendon in London on the other side of the world. They had been found or given to loving owners while back in Rio, Ginger the Amazon flying fox, now Ahsoka, had been taken in by Joanna, a chiroptologist-in-training to be raised as a foster bat. Belle, Sirius' sister, however, had not been as fortunate. Unlike her brother, Aurora and Milo, she had been purchased by a cruel owner and had sadly died at their abusive hands, a sad ending compared to the other four and as tragic as Aurora's brother Tomas who was killed by the swan during the kidnap.